What do Tesla, Mercedes-Benz and Whirlpool all have in common with regard to materials handling systems?
They all have programs to reduce or even eliminate use of fork trucks in their manufacturing and/or distribution operations, according to recent article in the Wall Street Journal (John Keilman).
The reason: safety issues, with high levels of accidents with fork trucks causing injuries and even deaths, often from a fork truck hitting a walking worker or flipping over on the driver.
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In fact, some 7500 US workers are injured in accidents involving fork trucks of all sorts annually, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Somewhere about 100 workers are killed each year in accidents in which fork trucks were either the primary (the majority) or secondary cause of the fatality.
And increasingly, companies are taking steps to change the status quo and reduce and even eliminate use of the material handling staple used for more than a century.
“The occasional lift truck might be kept in the spare room or something, but definitely, if I’m a futurist, I see it going away,” Larry Pearlman, founder of Safety and Consulting Associates, told the Journal.
There is even a name for the initiatives: going “fork free.”
In that quest there are a number of alternatives that are deployed, including use of “tuggers,” manual carts, and autonomous fork trucks, which eliminate the need for a driver who could be injured or make a mistake that can cause an accident.
Orders for forklifts fell 28% in 2023, according to data from the industry. That was the largest annual drop in 14 years, but most believe was reflective of an expected pull back after a surge in new warehouse construction in the two years following the pandemic in 2020. Still, safer alternatives could be a factor.
Pearlman estimates that about 10% of companies currently have programs to reduce use of fork trucks, up from almost none just a few years ago, and growing.
Those fork truck-related injuries of course can have financial as well as humanitarian risks. Case in point:
A woman high up working an order picker truck, where the operator stands to do their work, fell out of the vehicle after it hit a big bump in the floor. She was seriously injured from the fall, eventually losing part of a leg, according to the Journal, and sued lift truck maker Raymond, arguing there should have been a door on the truck to protect against such falls.
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 In 2024, a jury awarded the woman $13 million. Raymond is appealing, saying federal regulations mandate an open operator compartment to allow the driver to quickly escape if needed.
In its giant appliance factory in Clyde, OH, Whirlpool has eliminated forklifts from its production area, using instead simple robotic tuggers to deliver parts to assembly lines, with other company plants looking to do the same.
The Journal quotes a company executive as saying the tuggers have reduced injuries and near misses in the factories. They also have improved efficiency by delivering “right-sized” loads of parts that don’t need to be portioned into smaller containers.
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