Keeping large machinery in good working order is essential to overall business success and employee safety. Skipping maintenance now to save time or money could result in even more expense or lost time later, and failing to keep workplace equipment in good condition can result in legal problems if someone is hurt.

By planning your maintenance rather than responding to a broken forklift or other problem after the fact, you reduce downtime and show your staff safety matters.

Taking a proactive approach to maintenance lets you keep employees safe, work moving and customers happy. Here are some tips for caring appropriately for forklifts and other machinery.

• Regularly inspect equipment to ensure it’s in good operating order. Create policies that require inspection daily or weekly, and train operators to look over machinery before they use it.
• Have routine maintenance needs attended to by a professional; for material handling equipment, this could include inspections, fluid changes or replacing parts that wear over time.
• Never let employees operate machinery that appears broken or is not functioning as expected.

Maintenance and repairs on heavy machinery should be conducted by trained and certified professionals. DIY fixes can turn into risks for everyone on the job site, and just because someone is mechanically inclined doesn’t mean they are qualified to repair a forklift. You wouldn’t let someone drive your forklift without the right certification, so why would you let someone add or remove parts without a professional background in the niche?

If your business is located in the mid-Atlantic region, then trained service pros from Mid Atlantic Industrial Equipment can offer preventative and standard maintenance as well as troubleshooting and repairs. Service includes on-site repairs, 24-hour emergency service and pick-up/delivery for shop repairs.

You can also search for a local provider for material handling equipment repairs in regional business listings, and your dealer can either provider service or a reference to certified forklift mechanics.

Make it a point to inspect your material handling equipment today and schedule maintenance on forklifts if it’s been awhile.