What's the best way to protect a cinderblock wall from forklift trucks?

[Howard]

The block wall is built on a concrete warehouse floor. The forks may or may not be carrying pallets when they hit the wall.

 

[jlee]

Hire better forklift drivers.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

One would think that the Cinderblock wall would be the protection for something in danger of being hit by a forklift

 

[TwiceOver]

Ditch the illegals and get some experienced workers? Double up the wall to a certain height?

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
Ditch the illegals and get some experienced workers? Double up the wall to a certain height?

Eh, mistakes happen. The wall is already tall enough - I don't see what the benefit of adding on more blocks would be.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
One would think that the Cinderblock wall would be the protection for something in danger of being hit by a forklift

Not if it eventually falls over.

 

[bctbct]

Pipe bollards and a guard rail. I have seen angle iron bolted to the floor to stop the wheels also.

 

[magreen]

Bunnies.

 

[MotF Bane]

Originally posted by: magreen
Bunnies.

With pancakes?

 

[OdiN]

Cement-filled steel poles. About a foot in diameter.

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Shelve the walls

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure
Shelve the walls

Huh?

 

[venkman]

Bubble wrap?

In all honesty, when I first saw this thread topic, I imagined a Braveheart-esque battle with a thousands of forklifts charging over a rolling Scottish hill towards a giant cinder block.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: bctbct
Pipe bollards and a guard rail. I have seen angle iron bolted to the floor to stop the wheels also.

How durable is the angle iron method, and what should the height of it be? I'm assuming we'll probably be needing at least 3/4" wedge stud anchors.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: JLee
Hire better forklift drivers.

QFT. There's no excuse for hitting the wall with the forks on any lift truck.

 

[Demo24]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: bctbct
Pipe bollards and a guard rail. I have seen angle iron bolted to the floor to stop the wheels also.

How durable is the angle iron method, and what should the height of it be? I'm assuming we'll probably be needing at least 3/4" wedge stud anchors.

Pretty damn strong, same kind of concept they use to protect important buildings/places from vehicles. Vehicle not authorized? Giant slab of metal rises out of the ground and effectively stops the vehicle immediately.

Best to place that far enough from the wall so that if the forklift rocked when being stopped it won't hit the wall.

 

[bctbct]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: bctbct
Pipe bollards and a guard rail. I have seen angle iron bolted to the floor to stop the wheels also.

How durable is the angle iron method, and what should the height of it be? I'm assuming we'll probably be needing at least 3/4" wedge stud anchors.

Its pretty stout and a common practice in a lot of plants. You probably want 4X4 3/8" or 1/2". Yeah you want a large anchor bolt.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Drill holes into the blocks and fill it up with concrete is another way beside posts.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
One would think that the Cinderblock wall would be the protection for something in danger of being hit by a forklift

A forklift can easily punch two neat holes in a concrete wall. Those things can weigh more than a normal car, and the force is concentrated into two pretty thin plates of steel.


Maybe some kind of bumpers to keep the drivers from getting too close?
Or as someone else said, get better drivers. I drove sit-down and stand-up forklifts for a few years, and the worst things I ever damaged were those crappy plain-wood pallets (not the heavy blue Chep pallets). Even that was rare.

 

[BoomerD]

An alternative might be to bolt sheets of 1/4" plate to the walls...what heights is this happening? Just at ground level, or are they doing it in stacks too?

 

[Leros]

Your drivers are morons. They should put the pallets halfway on the shelf, then lower the fork a bit, slide the fork out a bit, lift up the fork, and push the pallet in the rest of the way. This will insure the forks don't get anywhere near the wall.

Or they could just not push the fork through the pallet, leaving the ends inside the pallet.

<---- drove a forklift last summer (except for ripping a 440v socket out the wall , i did pretty good)

 

[OUCaptain]

Short of steel barriers, truck bed lining might do the trick. Coating concrete blocks with bed liner made them more resistant against explosives. Might help against fork lifts.

 

[0roo0roo]

old tires tugboat style wee!

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
An alternative might be to bolt sheets of 1/4" plate to the walls...what heights is this happening? Just at ground level, or are they doing it in stacks too?

I would think more like 1/2"+ otherwise the wall will look like a rural stop sign.


I'd say the best thing would be to raise the concrete up a couple of inches for the last pallet station so that the wall is out of harms way. The only problem with this is if you use forklifts with different length forks. Although, the leading edge of that curb would be need to be reinforced too.

 

[Rubycon]

Bollards with mounting flanges about 30cm from end. 20mm diameter with 1cm wall thickness (cold rolled steel) should work. Core drill the floor to accept then use 12mm bolt drop ins (Hilti) to secure. Fill bollard with high strength cement and paint a bright color.

Walls are easy to protect. It's the overhead doors that are the real problem with the tow motor knuckleheads. Spending lots of time at docks I tend to see all kinds of mishaps with these things. It's amazing that more people aren't killed.