A series of tip-over and off-the-dock impact tests were performed with stand-up forklifts to investigate the potential for injury to the operator of a forklift in these types of accidents, when the forklift is equipped with an operator’s compartment door. One Crown Equipment Company 35RRTT Model and one 35RCTT Model stand-up forklifts were used in the impact tests. The only modification to the forklifts for the tests was the placement of a door on the entrance to the operator’s compartment. A Hybrid III anthropomorphic test device (ATD) was placed in the operator’s compartment as a human surrogate. During each test, head accelerations, chest accelerations, neck loads, and lumbar loads were measured on the ATD. The motion of the forklift and the ATD were filmed with real-time video and high-speed cameras. Results from the impact tests indicate that there is a high risk of head injury in a right-side tip-over accident and a high risk of head injury and neck injury in a left-side tip-over accident. There is a high risk of a head injury, neck injury, and thoracic injury in off-the-dock forks-trailing accidents. In an off-the-dock forks-leading accident, there is a high risk of arm/shoulder injury, head injury, and neck injury. In both tip-over and off-the-dock forks-trailing accidents, there is a high probability of an entrapment injury under the overhead guard on the forklift.

References

1.
Zoghi-Moghadam
,
M.
,
Watkins
,
C. B.
,
Sadegh
,
A.
, and
Dunlap
,
D.
,
2002
, “
Simluation of Stand-up Lift Truck Accidents to Evaluate Their Design and Operator Training Implications
,”
Proceedings of the 5th International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exposition
,
November
,
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
,
New York
.
2.
Zoghi-Moghadam
,
M.
,
Sadegh
,
A.
,
Watkins
,
C. B.
, and
Dunlap
,
D.
,
2008
, “
Biodynamics Model for Operator Head Injury in Stand-up Lift Trucks
,”
Comput. Methods Biomech. Biomed. Eng.
,
11
(
4
), pp. 
397
405
.10.1080/10255840701848806
3.
Human Tolerance to Impact Condition as Related to Motor Vehicle Design
,
2011
,
Society of Automotive Engineers
, Warrandale, PA, SAE J885.
4.
Prasad
,
P.
, and
Mertz
,
H. J.
The Position of the United States Delegation to the ISO Working Group 6 and the Use of HIC in the Automotive Environment
,”
Society of Automotive Engineers
, Warrandale, PA, SAE Paper No. 851246.
5.
Trosseille
,
X.
,
Chamouard
,
F.
, and
Terrière
,
C.
,
1988
, “
Reconsideration of the HIC, Taking Into Account the Skull Bone Condition Factor (SBCF)—Limit of Head Tolerance in Side Impacts
,”
Proceedings of the 32nd Stapp Car Crash Conference
,
Society of Automotive Engineers
,
Warrandale, PA
, SAE Paper No. 88710.
6.
Mertz
,
H. J.
, and
Irwin
,
A. L.
,
1994
, “
Brain Injury Risk Assessment of Frontal Crash Test Results
,”
Society of Automotive Engineers
, Warrandale, PA, Paper No. 941056.
7.
Vander Vorst
,
M.
,
Stuhmiller
,
J.
,
Ho
,
K.
,
Yoganandan
,
N.
, and
Pintar
,
F.
,
2003
, “
Statistically and Biomechanically based Criterion for Impact-Induced Skull Fracture
,”
47th Annual Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine
,
Lisbon, Portugal
,
Association for the Advancement of Automotive Engineering
,
Chicago, IL
.
8.
Vander Vorst
,
M.
,
Chan
,
P.
,
Zhang
,
J.
,
Yoganandan
,
N.
, and
Pintar
,
F.
,
2004
, “
A New Biomechanically Based Criterion for Lateral Skull Fracture
,”
48th Annual Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine
,
Key Biscayne, FL
,
Association for the Advancement of Automotive Engineering
,
Chicago, IL
.
9.
Takhouts
,
E.
, and
Eppinger
,
R.
,
2003
, “
On the Development of the SIMon Finite Element Head Model
,”
Stapp Car Crash J.
,
47
, pp. 
107
133
.
10.
Schmitt
,
K. U.
,
Muser
,
M. H.
, and
Neiderer
,
P.
,
2001
, “
A New Neck Injury Criterion Candidate for Rear-End Collisions Taking into Account Shear Forces and Bending Moments
,”
Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles
,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
,
June 4–7
,
U.S. Government Printing Office
,
Washington, DC
, DOT 809 220.
11.
29CFR571.208, Standard 208, Occupant Crash Protection,
Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Government Printing Office
, Washington, DC.
12.
Kuppa
,
S.
,
2004
, “
Injury Criteria for Side Impact Dummies
,”
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA)
, Washington, DC.
You do not currently have access to this content.