Forklift Compliance Check

Ten yes/no questions that check your forklift program against the core OSHA rules: operator training, the hands-on evaluation, certification records, refresher training and daily truck examinations. Each gap comes back with the exact rule and a link to the fix, ready to print.

Question 1 of 10

Training before driving

Has everyone who drives a forklift at your site finished forklift training before driving one on their own?

Trainees may drive while they learn, but only under the direct supervision of someone qualified to train them, and only where no one is put at risk.

About two minutes. No sign-up, no email.

What does OSHA require for forklift compliance?

For operators, it comes down to paragraph (l) of 29 CFR 1910.178: train them, evaluate them in the workplace, certify it, then keep it current. For the trucks, paragraph (q)(7) adds an examination before each day's use. The age limit comes from federal child labor law, not OSHA. These are the points the check above covers.

Requirement Rule When
Formal instruction and practical training on the truck and site topics (l)(2)(ii), (l)(3) Before driving, except as a supervised trainee
Evaluation in the workplace by a qualified person (l)(2)(ii), (l)(2)(iii) Before driving, except as a supervised trainee
Certification with name, training date, evaluation date and trainer or evaluator (l)(6) After training and evaluation
Refresher training, with an evaluation of how well it worked (l)(4)(i), (l)(4)(ii) After any of five triggers
Performance evaluation (l)(4)(iii) At least once every three years
Truck examination before use (q)(7) At least daily, or after each shift on round-the-clock operations
Operator at least 18 in non-farm work 29 CFR 570.58 Always

The rest of 1910.178 covers truck design and approvals, fueling and battery charging, travel, loading and maintenance. Our guide to OSHA forklift regulations walks through all of it, and the full text is on osha.gov.

Does online forklift training make you OSHA compliant?

Not on its own. OSHA's rule lists "interactive computer learning" as one form of formal instruction, so an online course can cover the classroom part. The same sentence, 1910.178(l)(2)(ii), also requires practical training and an evaluation of the operator's performance in the workplace. Those happen on your trucks, with a qualified person watching. Our guide Is online forklift certification legit? goes deeper.

That is how our course is built. It covers the knowledge portion of 1910.178 in under an hour per operator, and you add the hands-on training and evaluation. Team seats cost $50 each for 2 to 4 operators, $40 for 5 to 9 and $30 for 10 or more, managed from one dashboard. The free forklift operator evaluation form covers the hands-on check.

What records does OSHA require for forklift operators?

Under the forklift standard, one per operator: the certification in 1910.178(l)(6). It must include the operator's name, the date of the training, the date of the evaluation, and the identity of the person or people who did the training or evaluation.

The standard does not prescribe a form, and it does not set how long to keep the record. Daily inspection sheets are not required by the rule either, but a signed sheet is the easiest way to show the (q)(7) examination happened. See what a forklift certification record must show and our printable daily inspection checklist.

Do you need forklift compliance software?

No. Nothing in 1910.178 requires software. A spreadsheet with one row per operator can track the certification side: name, training date, evaluation date, who trained and evaluated, the truck types they are cleared on, and the date their next evaluation is due.

Software can help when you have many operators across several sites and want automatic reminders. For a single site, the spreadsheet plus our certification expiry calculator, which works out each three-year date and can send a reminder, is usually enough.

Found gaps? What to fix first

Start with anything that puts someone on a truck who should not be there. Our suggested order:

  1. Untrained or unevaluated drivers. 1910.178(l)(1)(ii) bars them from operating, except as supervised trainees. Park them until training and evaluation are done. The same goes for anyone under 18 in non-farm work.
  2. Trucks going out unexamined. The examination before use under (q)(7) is what keeps a truck with a safety defect out of service.
  3. Missing evaluations and records. Evaluate anyone past three years or never evaluated, then write the certification with all four items.
  4. Site topics and refreshers. Add your own site's conditions to training, and set a rule that any of the five triggers means refresher training plus an evaluation.

Our forklift training program guide shows how the pieces fit into one written program.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same as an OSHA inspection or audit?
No. It is a self-check on ten core points: operator training, the workplace evaluation, the certification record, refresher training, the three-year evaluation, the daily truck examination and the federal age rule. It does not cover the rest of 29 CFR 1910.178, such as truck design, fueling, battery charging, travel and loading rules, and it is not legal advice.
Do forklift operators need retraining every three years?
Not by rule. 1910.178(l)(4)(iii) requires an evaluation of each operator's performance at least once every three years. Refresher training is required when one of the five triggers in (l)(4)(ii) happens: unsafe driving is observed, an accident or near miss, an evaluation showing unsafe operation, a different type of truck, or a workplace change that could affect safe operation. Our certification expiration guide covers the three-year date in detail.
Who is responsible for forklift compliance, the employer or the operator?
The employer. Paragraph (l) is written as employer duties: "The employer shall ensure that each powered industrial truck operator is competent to operate a powered industrial truck safely" ((l)(1)(i)), and "The employer shall certify that each operator has been trained and evaluated" ((l)(6)). OSHA does not certify operators itself.
Can we accept training an operator got at a previous job?
Partly. Under 1910.178(l)(5), you do not have to repeat training on a topic the operator already covered, if that training fits your trucks and working conditions and the operator has been evaluated and found competent. You still evaluate them and certify them yourself, since (l)(6) puts the certification on the employer.
How often should we run a forklift compliance check?
OSHA does not set a schedule for self-checks. A sensible habit is to run one when you hire operators, when you add a new type of truck or change the layout, after any forklift incident, and once a year to catch evaluations coming due.
Are my answers saved anywhere?
We do not store them. Your answers and company name stay in this page and are cleared when you close it. Our site analytics records tool use, such as a check being started or finished and which of the ten topics came back as gaps. It never receives your company name.

Last updated:

More free forklift tools

See all resources

Close the Training Gap for Your Whole Crew

Online formal instruction for every operator, under an hour each, with volume pricing from $30 per operator. You add the hands-on training and evaluation.

Certify Your Operators