Forklift accidents rarely happen by chance. Often, they stem from familiar hazards: pedestrians and forklifts sharing the same space, unstable loads, poor visibility or equipment that should not be in service.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires operators to be trained and evaluated before using powered industrial trucks, but compliance alone doesn’t prevent accidents. In fact, forklifts caused 84 work-related deaths in 2024 and more than 25,000 days missed in 2023–24, according to the National Safety Council.

Facilities that follow best practices are continually identifying risks, investigating near misses and improving both operator performance and workplace design.

The Most Common Types of Forklift Accidents and Why They Happen

Experienced forklift trainers see the same accident patterns—and the same warning signs—again and again. Recognizing those patterns gives safety leaders the opportunity to intervene before an incident becomes a recordable injury.

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Below is a list of the most commonly occurring forklift accidents along with a preventive best practice:

Forklift Tip-Overs

Tip-overs remain one of the most common forklift accidents.

“Tip-overs, especially while turning, operating on uneven surfaces or traveling with raised loads, are often underestimated because operators treat these situations as routine and discount the effects of speed and traction,” says Gil Truesdale, leader of safety services at MSC, who has trained workers on forklifts and mobile elevated work platforms.

Fast turns, uneven surfaces and elevated loads all reduce a forklift’s stability margin. Operators may become comfortable with routine tasks, but complacency can quickly lead to a rollover when conditions change.

Best practice: Investigate every tip-over and near miss to identify the root cause, not just the operator’s immediate action. Use those findings to customize refresher training around the issues occurring in your facility.

Pedestrian Strikes

Forklift incidents happen more often in busy manufacturing environments with bustling aisles, blind intersections and dock areas.

“When people and forklifts share the same space without clearly defined walkways or crossings, the risk increases dramatically,” Truesdale says. “That’s why having walkway markings—and training employees to use them—are an absolute necessity.”

Operators might think that pedestrians will see their approaching truck and move out of the way, but that assumption creates unnecessary risk. Pedestrians may not hear backup alarms or expect equipment to emerge from behind racks or through dock doors.

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“Layout, sightlines and traffic flow are often the enabling factors, while operator actions are simply the immediate trigger,” Truesdale explains. “Design gaps allow operator mistakes to become repeatable.”

Physical barriers, bollards, dedicated forklift lanes, controlled crossings and protected dock interfaces help eliminate opportunities for dangerous interactions.

Best practice: Post approved forklift traffic maps on every truck and reinforce designated travel routes during onboarding and refresher training.

Falling Loads and Load Instability

Load-related incidents are frequently viewed as material-handling problems, “so unstable pallets, wrapping, fork setup and load-handling steps get skipped,” Truesdale says.

Damaged pallets, loose shrink-wrap, off-center loads, improper attachments and incorrect load-center assumptions all can compromise stability. So can carrying loads too high or traveling with top-heavy loads.

Consistent load-height rules, pallet inspections and clear guidance on attachments and configuration-specific capacity charts help operators make safer lifting decisions.

Best practice: Use photos from your own facility during annual operator training. Real examples of load-handling mistakes are more memorable—and more effective—than generic training materials.

Collisions with Racking and Structures

Even small rack strikes should be taken seriously, since they can signal larger problems with visibility or traffic flow.

“Repeated near misses and minor rack or structure contacts often become normalized instead of being documented and corrected,” Truesdale notes.

Blind intersections, congested aisles and poor sightlines increase the likelihood of impacts. Rather than treating each collision as an isolated operator mistake, investigate whether traffic patterns, floor markings or visibility contributed to the event.

Best practice: Treat every rack strike and near miss as valuable data. Small incidents often reveal recurring problems before they result in personal injuries or property damage.

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Building a Forklift Safety Program

OSHA expects powered industrial trucks to be inspected before they’re placed into service, making pre-shift inspections one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent mechanical failures from becoming safety incidents.

Operators should verify that brakes, steering, tires and wheels function properly while checking forks, chains, mast and carriage for excessive wear or damage. Seat belts, horns, backup alarms, hydraulics and visible leaks also deserve close attention.

“A pre-inspection process allows each new-shift driver to identify possible mechanical issues before work begins,” Truesdale says. “That helps instill the mindset that safety is part of the culture, not just another task to complete.”

Best practice: Empower operators to identify unsafe equipment and remove it from service immediately. Prompt repairs can head off larger mechanical issues and safety risks.

Moving to a Continuous Improvement Culture

Strong forklift safety programs not only meet OSHA’s training requirements but also reinforce safe behaviors with ongoing coaching, observations and site-specific refresher training.

“Training needs to be fully customized—from policy through hands-on instruction,” Truesdale says. “That sends the right message and has historically reduced injuries and recordables.”

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Instead of relying on generic annual training, successful organizations use real incidents from their own operations to shape future instruction. Truesdale recommends that safety managers reinforce “obvious on paper” rules that get violated the most, such as seat belt use, authorized operation and sticking to designated travel routes.

“Review every forklift-related mishap, near miss and recordable from the previous month,” he says. “That helps build a true mindset of continuous improvement.”