Damage to modular building panel from run in with fork truck tine

Regardless of how much training you’ve had, or how careful you are, accidents can happen.  Even your best fork truck driver can make a mistake. I recently had a customer contact me with just such a situation.

Last year the customer had put in a quality assurance lab and office using our A-wall modular building system.  Unfortunately, their best fork truck driver slipped up and ran into the wall. They were lucky: no one was injured, and he was able to stop before he caused any significant structural damage.  It did however knock a knock a 2”x4” hole on the one side of the wall panel and a larger hole on the inside where it pushed through. Since the damage was localized to a couple small holes in a single panel and there was no structural damage to any of the other components, the customer contacted a local drywall contractor to repair the damage to the panel, and we were able to provide him with a sheet of vinyl to cover the patches with.

Industrial guardrail protects your equipment from fork traffic

This all could have been avoided if the customer put up a line of industrial guardrail around the perimeter.  Our industrial guardrail is available in single and double rail configurations, and our standard non-liftout system is designed for a 10,000 lb at 4 mph breakthrough.  It’s bolt together design is easy to install and comes with all required hardware, including the concrete anchors. We offer a wide variety of lengths and off-center welded baseplates to configure a layout that will best fit your facility’s layout.  We can even provide you with a heavy duty gate system that can stop a 13,500 lb fork truck moving at 6.5 mph, yet fold out of the wall to allow passage. Next time you’re thinking about putting in a structure in an area with fork traffic, don’t forget about adding guardrail to protect your workers and your equipment.  You might not be as lucky as this customer was.