The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a notice of proposed rulemaking Feb. 16 for Powered Industrial Trucks Design Standard Update (Docket No. OSHA-2020-0008).
OSHA proposes an update to the design and construction requirements of the powered industrial trucks standards for construction and general industry. OSHA would incorporate by reference the applicable parts of the current versions of consensus and national industry standards from the American National Standards Institute relevant to the design and construction of powered industrial trucks. Any provisions in OSHA’s powered industrial truck standards that do not relate to design or construction will continue to reference only the 1969 edition of ANSI B56.1—for example, operator requirements for stability, inspection, testing, maintenance and operation—and would not be amended in this proposal.
OSHA has not updated its forklift standards since it adopted the 1969 version of the ANSI B56.1 standard in 1971. Since then, ANSI has revised the B56.1 standard 12 times and beginning in 1978 narrowed the scope of the standard from covering powered industrial trucks generally to only covering low-lift and high-lift trucks. Additional ANSI standards were subsequently created, including B56.5—2019 Safety Standards for Driverless, Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles and Automated Functions of Manned Industrial Vehicles and ANSI B56.6—2021 Safety Standards for Rough Terrain Forklifts. OSHA’s proposed rule would update the references in the general industry and construction standards to recognize the design and construction requirements in the latest editions of ANSI standards B56.1, B56.5 and B56.6.
For all powered industrial trucks manufactured on or after the effective date of the final rule, the proposed rule would require this equipment meet the design and construction requirements established in the applicable ANSI B56 consensus standard. For powered industrial trucks manufactured before the effective date of the final rule, OSHA would maintain the existing reference to ANSI B56.1-1969, grandfathering that equipment under the original 1969 ANSI B56.1 standard.
OSHA is accepting written comments on the proposed rulemaking until May 17.
