As more plants turn to second-hand forklift trucks, safety specialist Pyroban is warning of the dangers.
"There is nothing more dangerous than buying and using a poorly maintained, supposedly explosion-proof forklift in a hazardous area," warns Darren Boiling, customer services manager for Pyroban.
Despite attractive prices, he says, some Pyroban trucks in the second-hand market are so old, they are not even ATEX compliant.
However, the real danger, he says, is those built since 2000 - which are ATEX compliant - now coming onto the second-hand market.
"This is where it could become dangerous, as some dealers do not understand what they are selling. What may appear to be an explosion-proof truck can be completely unsafe," points out Boiling.
And he adds: "Even if it is safe, how does the dealer know if it meets the specification? What zone, T class, gas group was it built for?"
Whether a company owns, leases or hires a forklift, there is an obligation to ensure that it holds a valid annual report of thorough examination. If the truck is explosion-proof, there should also be safety checks by a competent person, states Pyroban.
Boiling says an annual safety audit (ASA) by a Pyroban inspector is the only way to be sure. He says that an EX-ASA is carried out each year from new, but advises that buyers and sellers of used equipment should insist that an EX-ASA or EX-ASA+ is carried out before it is re-deployed.
"If there is an explosion resulting from the use of a second-hand explosion-proof truck, an investigation will look at the history, service regimes, parts used, if the engineer was trained and when it was last audited by an independent inspector," adds Boiling.
