While forklift accidents have always carried serious consequences, the financial stakes have never been higher. A single incident involving a vendor or outside visitor can quickly escalate from a routine claim into a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, especially when the defendant cannot produce training records or maintenance logs.
As social inflation and nuclear verdicts push claim severity to new levels, it's critical that companies review their training, maintenance and safety protocols. Producers can help their clients understand their exposures and put practices in place before an accident forces the conversation.
The Rising Costs of Forklift Accidents
Forklift accidents represent a growing risk in many industries. In 2024, 84 workers died and over 25,000 were injured in accidents in the United States involving forklifts, order pickers or platform trucks, according to the National Safety Council.
While forklift-related claims have remained steady at Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual Insurance over the past five years, claims severity is rising, with more serious injuries, rising litigation costs and nuclear verdicts. Workers' compensation insurance typically covers the claim when the injured party is an employee. However, when the injured party is a vendor, delivery driver or outside visitor, the claim falls under a business's general liability policy. And in today's environment, the costs associated can quickly accrue.
In one claim example, a forklift operator did not see a delivery driver working with his tarp and struck him, resulting in serious injury. In two other cases, an operator ran over a bystander's ankle, while another operator hit an independent truck driver. Not only do these incidents alter the victims' lives, but the claims can be particularly costly, ranging from a couple of hundred thousand to potentially millions of dollars.
There are two broader trends exacerbating the severity of forklift-related claims. Social inflation is driving up claims' costs and nuclear verdicts, where courts are awarding increasingly large judgments, which are far more common than ever before. Investigation costs, litigation expenses, and large court awards all compound the cost of a claim. Such costs can grow much larger when the plaintiff's attorney gets involved and requests training records and maintenance logs that do not exist.
Paper Trails Can Save or Sink Clients
Human error remains the number one cause of forklift accidents. However, these errors rarely happen in a vacuum and are usually a symptom of something missing upstream, typically a lack of formal, documented training or thorough maintenance practices.
OSHA notes that proper training can reduce forklift accidents by 70% and is most effective when it is consistently reinforced. OSHA Standard 1910.178, Powered Industrial Trucks, identifies specific, detailed requirements for industrial truck training. It includes classroom and hands-on training, during which operators must demonstrate a pre-operational check of the unit and competency in the tasks they would perform on the job.
Adequate training must also address the specific hazards present on the premises where an operator works. This might include establishing clearly defined loading and unloading zones and setting protocols for where vendor drivers and outside personnel should stand. In the case of the delivery driver struck while rolling his tarp, a documented standard that kept the driver clear of the unloading area may have prevented the accident.
A common problem in smaller businesses is assuming a forklift operator is competent. A business owner with one or two forklifts may believe their employees know how to operate the machines because they have been doing it for years. However, experience alone doesn't hold up in court. With no training records to show, the legal exposure and costs compound.
Another major cause of forklift accidents is inadequate or inconsistent maintenance. Informal arrangements with a mechanic down the street will not hold water in the event of a claim. As with operator training, documentation is critical. If maintenance is not documented as being performed by a certified mechanic and in accordance with manufacturer standards, from a liability standpoint, it may as well not have happened.
The Conversations Producers Should Have About Coverage and Risk Gaps
One of the most important steps an insurance professional can take is to identify coverage gaps their clients may not know exist. Many business owners list forklifts under general contents and business property when they should actually be scheduled under an inland marine policy. Inland marine insurance offers better protection for mobile equipment, such as forklifts and piggybacks. Rather than lumping it into a blanket coverage amount, the policy assigns a specific schedule value to each piece of equipment. It is especially important for operations with multiple locations, as an inland marine policy will cover the forklift even if it is moved to another location.
Beyond coverage, producers should equip clients with key risk-mitigation recommendations such as:
- Implement a formal, documented training program that meets OSHA 1910.178 Powered Industrial Truck standards, covering both classroom instruction and hands-on training.
- Establish defined loading and unloading zones with protocols for where forklifts operate and where outside personnel are not permitted to be.
- Adopt a formalized maintenance program where maintenance is documented and performed by a certified technician according to manufacturer standards.
- Establish protocols on how to respond in the event of an accident. This includes caring for the injured person, documenting the incident and calling the broker as soon as possible.
- Consider technology as a secondary layer of protection. There are now telematics and collision-avoidance systems available for forklifts that can sense people and objects and alert the operator.
Forklift accidents are often preventable, and insurance professionals can help reduce operational risk and financial exposure. Across all areas, documentation is critical because, in litigation, if you did not document it, you did not do it.
