Forklift daily inspection checklist

A forklift gets examined before it’s placed in service— that’s the rule, not a best practice. OSHA 1910.178(q)(7) requires the examination at least daily, and after each shift where trucks run around the clock; a truck found in need of repair, defective, or in any way unsafe comes out of service. Canadian provincial OHS codes carry the same pre-use duty for powered mobile equipment. This is the walkaround that satisfies it, in the order you’d actually walk it.

Engine off — the walkaround

• Tires, wheels, and lugs — cuts, chunking, pressure (or splits in solid tires), missing lug nuts. Yard debris eats tires; this is where it shows first.
• Forks — cracks anywhere, bent or unevenly worn blades, heel wear past the wear line, the positioning latch seating properly.
• Carriage and load backrest — secure, straight, no cracked welds.
• Mast, lift chains, and rollers — chain tension even side to side, no kinked or rusted links, no debris in the channels.
• Hydraulics — hoses and cylinders dry; look for weeping at fittings. Then look under the machine: a fresh puddle is a failed check.
• Fluids — engine oil, hydraulic oil, coolant; fuel level or LP tank mount and connections; battery charge, connections, and hold-down on electrics.
• Overhead guard and seatbelt — guard undamaged and tight; belt present, latching, and not chewed up.
• Data plate— legible, and matching any attachment fitted: the capacity you’re trusting is the one on the plate.

Engine on — the function checks

• Horn and backup alarm— both, every time. In a yard with mobile shears and material handlers working, the horn is the machine’s only voice.
• Lights and beacons — head, tail, and warning lights working.
• Service brakes and parking brake — the truck stops where you asked and stays where you left it, loaded.
• Steering — no excessive play, no groaning at full lock.
• Lift, tilt, and side-shift — full travel, smooth, no drift with the controls released.
• Gauges and warning lights— nothing lit that shouldn’t be; hour meter reading noted.
• Listen — new noises are the machine filing its own report.

When something fails

The regulation is blunt: a defective truck is removed from service until it’s fixed. Practically, that means the defect gets recorded, the machine gets tagged out where the next operator will see it, and the repair becomes a job somebody owns — not a note on a whiteboard.

Keep the proof

OSHA doesn’t demand a written record of the daily examination — but your insurer’s loss-control auditor, an incident investigator, and your own memory all do. A signed-off, timestamped checklist with a verdict on every defect is the difference between “we inspect daily” and being able to show it.

How wearpoint runs this checklist

wearpoint ships this walkaround as a built-in forklift starter pack. Every item takes a verdict — OK, action required, or N-A — a defect is flagged with a quick note, and open defects carry forward to the next inspection until the fix is recorded. A failed machine goes to maintenance with a work order attached, and the yard gets an alert when a machine goes down. The record keeps itself.