Join HSI Chief Safety Officer Jill James as she visits environmental health and safety professionals in their workplaces to explore important workplace safety topics. This video covers how to properly mount a propane tank on a forklift, the hazards associated with improper propane mounting, and how to inspect these forklifts.

Video Transcript:

My name is Jill, Chief Safety Officer with HSI. I'm a former OSHA inspector here to help you identify and correct workplace safety hazards.

Today we're looking at a propane-powered forklift. It's really important that the propane tank on the forklift is mounted the correct way. Now how do we know if it's mounted the correct way? First of all the propane tanks are going to have a hole in the tank themselves. Now, this hole will often line up with a pin that comes out of the body of the forklift and you can line up the pin and the hole so that it's mounted the correct way.

Now, why do we want to make sure that this tank is mounted correctly? Well right here we have the vent pipe to the tank so this tank can breathe. So this vent pipe is a little tube and it stretches through the length of the tank and it curves up on the end. So let's say this tank was mounted sideways or all the way upside down. The vent pipe itself would be in the liquid space rather than the vapor space of the tank and then the tank couldn't breathe.

So another way that we can check to see if this tank is mounted properly is by looking at the gauge itself. The gauge should be easy to read without you having to curb your head to one side or another or look at it upside down. So if the gauge is reading vertically it will also it's also an indication to you that the tank is properly mounted.

Another thing to remember is that forklifts, propane-powered forklifts specifically produce quite a bit of carbon monoxide or they can. So I'd like to encourage you to remember to do what's called tailpipe emissions tests and they can make adjustments to the motor to make sure that your forklift isn't emitting too much carbon monoxide and you as an employer can also choose to do indoor air quality testing for carbon monoxide to make sure the breathing air is safe for your employees as well.

I hope you gained a safety skill today. If you know someone who needs this go ahead and pass it on.

Safety is everyone's business.