Written approval from the manufacturer of a powered industrial truck is required for modifications and/or additions if the modifications and/or additions affect the capacity and safe operation of the truck. However, please be aware that OSHA would consider the lack of manufacturer’s approval to be a de minimis violation if the employer has obtained written approval from a qualified Registered Professional Engineer after receiving no response or a negative response from the powered industrial truck manufacturer. If the manufacturer’s response was negative, then the engineer, prior to granting approval for the modification or addition, would need to perform a safety analysis and address all safety and/or structural issues contained in the manufacturer’s disapproval.
The following pictures are from a large manufacturing plant near Cincinnati, Ohio. These modifications were done to a mast on a brand new Hyster forklift. The salesperson from a local forklift repair business spec’d the truck wrong and the mast was too tall to go through the customers doors with a load on the unit.
Instead of replacing the mast on the unit or taking the unit back and giving the customer the correct machine, the local independent shop decided to save money and go the cheap way out. Which is the wrong way in this case due to any mast modification done without the manufacturers permission, simply makes the mast only eligible for the scrap pile.
Do Not Try This at Home
This unit that was ordered is a two-stage mast without a free lift cylinder, this allows the center rail to raise at the same time as the forks and as a result the center mast rail rises higher than the outer mast rail. Now the unit will not fit through the overhead door at this location. The local forklift repair shop had to take matters into their own hands to make the unit fit.