Employers may require as a qualification standard that an individual not pose a "direct threat," if this standard is applied to all applicants/employees. ADA-related situations must be handled on a case-by-case basis. Please note that, aside from OSHA, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may be involved as it prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals with disabilities in employment. So, it is ultimately up to each employer (with a physician's guidance, if you choose) to determine if an employee can operate the forklift in a safe manner, both for himself and his coworkers.
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If the employer knew this fact, but allowed the employee to operate the vehicle, OSHA could cite under the General Duty Clause, which guarantees all employees a safe and healthful workplace – free of known hazards.Īdditionally, the ANSI/ITSDF B56.1-2005 safety standard for low lift and high lift trucks states in Section 4.18 "Operator Qualifications" that operators must be qualified as to visual, auditory, physical, and mental ability to operate the equipment safely. If the employer can show that a physically impaired employee would be a danger to himself and other employees when operating equipment such as a forklift, the employer has the right to not allow that employee to become a forklift operator. In general, OSHA states that it considers physical impairments on a case-by-case basis. (Reference: OctoOSHA Letter of Interpretation, which was edited in 2000.)Īnd, OSHA has issued other interpretations addressing both visually and hearing impaired potential forklift operators.
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In fact, OSHA has issued a letter of interpretation stating that an employer must determine if full vision is mandatory for the operations and advises that appropriate medical personnel be consulted. However, even though Federal OSHA doesn't specifically address it in the regulation, there are obviously some potential concerns and safety issues and these need to be evaluated in light of the specific operations. Our deep knowledge of federal and state agencies is built on a strong foundation of 70+ years of regulatory compliance experience.įederal OSHA's powered industrial truck standard does not specifically address vision/hearing requirements for operators. You can trust our expertise across subjects relating to labor, transportation, environmental, and worker safety.
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