Warning devices.Vehicle equipment

Are your vehicles equipped with required emergency warning devices ... 

All vehicles shall be equipped with an adequate audible warning device at the operator s station and in an operable condition. 

A. Section 1926.601(a)(3) requires all motor vehicles to be equipped with an adequate audible warning device at the operator s station and in an operable condition. Section 1926.602(a)(9)(l) covers material handling equipment and requires all bidirectional machines, such as rollers, compactors, front-end loaders, bulldozers, and similar equipment, to be equipped with a horn, distinguishable from the surrounding noise level, which shall be operated as needed when the machine is moving in either direction. The horn is required to be maintained in an operative condition. The construction standards do not contain a grandfather clause for the use of horns. 

Vehicles subject to the law must be inspected eveiy 6 months. For trucks, truck tractors, trailers, and semi-trailers, the inspection shall be conducted in accordance with Appendix G to Part 396 procedures. Required safety equipment emergency warning devices and fire extinguisher) is not subject to inspection during an Appendix G inspection. 

Vehicles should be equipped with back-up alarms, to warn personnel in the dock area of truck movement. They can also have backing safety devices such as a contact-sensing rear bumper, which automatically applies the brakes if contact is made with a solid object. 

OSHA does not have a requirement that forklift vehicles be equipped with a backup alarm or warning light (although these features are standard on most new equipment). Aforklift must have, at minimum, some type of sound-producing device that an operator can use at cross aisles and blind intersections where vision is obstructed to warn pedestrians and other forklift drivers that they are approaching. The sound-producing device mentioned in the Powered Industrial Truck standard is a horn. 

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