Seyfarth Synopsis: Powered Industrial Trucks (forklifts) are the focus of a new OSHA Regional Emphasis Program(REP). The program covers Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota—the federal-OSHA states in Region 8.
As we noted in a previous blog, Another Year In The Books – OSHA's Top Ten Safety Violations for Fiscal Year 2022, forklifts came in at number 7! As we previously blogged, OSHA Region 3 issued a Regional Emphasis Program (REP) for Warehousing and Logistics on August 3, 2022 that included forklifts as one of the key inspection topics.
Following Region 3, on August 22, 2022, Region 8 issued a Regional Emphasis Program for inspections of employers utilizing forklifts. Region 8 started REP inspections on November 23, following a three-month education effort. This Region 8 REP reflected OSHA's consistently high number of forklift inspections and forklift-related citations
OSHA uses national and regional emphasis programs to target aggressive enforcement efforts against specific industries and workplace hazards. Federal OSHA continues to shift enforcement towards warehousing, logistics, and e-commerce. In discussing its recent Region 3 emphasis program on warehousing and logistics, OSHA explained that "with the rapid growth of e-commerce, the warehousing industry has significantly expanded." The further augmentation of OSHA's forklifts REPs continue this enforcement re-orientation.
Nearly all OSHA regions have some form of REP in place with respect to forklift operations:
| 10/1/2019 – Region 1 – CPL-04-00-023G [CPL-04-00-023F] – Local Emphasis Program for Powered Industrial Trucks |
| 8/3/2022 – Region 3 – 2022-01 (CPL 04) – Regional Emphasis Program (REP) for Warehousing Operations |
| 10/1/2020 – Region 4 – CPL 21/07 (CPL 04) – Regional Emphasis Program (REP) for Powered Industrial Trucks |
| 10/1/2018 – Region 5 – CPL 04-00 (LEP 002) – Emphasis Program for Powered Industrial Vehicles |
| 10/1/2019 – Region 7 – CPL 2-15-01F [CPL 2-15-01E] – Regional Emphasis Program (REP) for Powered Industrial Trucks and Other Material or Personnel Handling Motorized Equipment in Construction, General Industry, and Maritime |
| 8/22/2022 – Region 8 – CPL 2022-03 – Regional Emphasis Program for Powered Industrial Vehicles |
| 10/1/2019 – Region 10 – 21-09 (CPL 04) – Local Emphasis Program for Powered Industrial Trucks |
As always, for more information on this or any related Workplace Safety or Environmental topic, please contact the authors, your Seyfarth attorney, or any member of the Workplace Safety and Health (OSHA/MSHA) Team.
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