Heavy loads need to be transported carefully while operating a forklift in your garden center. Improper use of a forklift could cause damage to products and could also result in a serious injury or fatality. Upon entering the center, ensure that your staff members and visitors are aware of safety regulations that you have imposed.

Use Formal Training and Refresher Skills

Formal training will teach your garden center staff about the mechanical parts of a forklift, the main purpose of the machinery, how to remain vigilant while moving loads, and proper maintenance techniques that are needed for each forklift's longevity. Training will consist of one or more classroom sessions that include reading over material, watching visual techniques, and replicating what has been taught.

Before getting into a forklift, insist that your employees read over the material that has been presented and that they speak up and request additional information if they have any uncertainties about a particular skill. If training is being held in a trade school or public venue, the forklift that is being used during the certification process may differ somewhat from the forklifts that are used at your garden center.

This will make it essential for you to divulge any discrepancies between the various types of equipment and to monitor your workers' progress as they attempt to use the machinery that you own. Do this during hours when customers are not inside of your business.

Alert the Public

People can become immersed in looking at products that you are selling when they walk through the confines of the landscaping center, making them unaware of heavy loads that are being moved across the aisles in the center. Although your workers should always be on high alert when operating a forklift, it is also imperative that your customers remain aware of their surroundings. 

Minimize problems by hanging signs up that state the fact that forklifts may be in use during the normal hours of operation. Signs should have bold lettering that is dark or fluorescent-colored. Bright-colored caution stickers and clothing should also be used and worn so that individuals will spot a forklift and its driver when it is moving through the garden center.

If some of the aisles in the garden center are used solely for the storage of excess materials, restrict your clientele from walking through these areas. At the end of each shift, instruct the forklift drivers to park the forklifts in a designated area and remove the key from the ignition of each vehicle.

For more information on forklift training, contact a company like Hidden Potential Consulting.