The majority of forklifts and lift trucks are available with many common security features, including seat belts on sit-down vehicles. Stand-up vehicles will almost always have dead-man petals. Additionally, certain manufacturers are providing more features like for instance speed controls which can decrease the overall speed based on steering angle and load height. For more info, there are many available articles on Lift Truck Safety and Loading Dock Safety.
Support and Service
A huge part of lift truck selection is to make sure that you maintain access to high levels of support and service. Each and every year, there seems to be a wider array of new players in the forklift industry. Although they offer a nice price and a decent forklift design, if they do not offer the regional or local support and service infrastructure, you have to be prepared for significant aggravation when the forklift goes down. Each and every type of lift truck goes down at some point and service, parts and general questions must be answered at some point.
Generally, you will want a local repair shop or dealer with a huge supply of parts for the specific make and model you are purchasing. Be sure to visit the repair shop or the dealership and check their parts room in order to try to know how many parts they stock. Make certain to inquire that if they do not have the component you require, where will it come from? With any luck, the answer will be from a local or regional distribution facility.
Additionally, try to get some ideas as to how many of those particular models are currently being used in your vicinity. This is very vital for specialty trucks including turret trucks. If there are only a small amount of trucks in use in their service area that you should assume they might not be stocking many if any parts for them. Moreover, they can have very little overall experience in servicing that model as well.