Figure 8-21.—Direction of travel on a grade.floors, uneven terrain, special load-handlingattachments, or loads with a high center of gravity.Under these conditions, the safe working load is wellbelow the rated capacity. Under special conditions, youmust reduce your load so your forklift will remain stable.5. Handle only stable loads. Many loads are madeup of unstable items that can be easily dislodged. Thisrule is critical to your safety when the forklift is notequipped with an overhead guard or roll over protectionstructure (ROPS).6. Center the weight of wide loads between theforks; otherwise, the load may topple off the forks whenyou turn a corner or hit a bump.7. Watch “swing” when handling long loads.Failure to watch clearance at the ends of your load cancause you to strike persons or objects.8. Keep the load against the carriage bymaintaining a slight backward tilt.9. Do not travel with the load raised higher than 6inches from the floor until you are ready to deposit theload. When loads are carried in an elevated position, thestability of the forklift is reduced. The load or part of itcan fall on someone or something.10. Drive carefully, observe traffic rules, and be infull control of the forklift at all times.POSITIONING.— When loading and stackingmaterial, move the forklift truck forward until the loadarms are entirely under the load to be lifted. Ensure theload is centered on the arms and that it is well-seatedagainst the face of the lifting carriage. When picking upround objects, first tilt the uprights so the forks slidealong the floor or ground under the object to be lifted,as shown in figure 8-22. Then decelerate, tilt backwark,and accelerate until there is enough backward tilt of themast to allow safe handling of the load.NOTE: Lifting speed is controlled by the speed ofthe engine and the extent the control lever is pulled.Engine speed has no effect on lowering speed.Never race the engine while hoisting a load. Toomuch engine speed will not increase the speed of thehoisting mechanism but may result in fast wear andpossible damage to the engine. From practice andexperience, you will be able to determine the besthoisting speed by sound, sight, and feel. When a loadhas been raised to the desired height, ease the hoist leverto the neutral position and move the forklift to the baseof the stack the load is to be placed.Figure 8-22.—Tilt position for picking up round objects.8-11
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