Today we’re talking about something that can literally save lives, protect equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, prevent product damage, eliminate downtime, and even set you up for success outside the warehouse. It’s called the pre-trip. Now, I know what some of you are thinking, Yeah, yeah check the forklift and move on. But today I want to challenge that thought. A pre-trip isn’t just paperwork, and it’s not something regulatory agencies dreamed up to slow us down. It’s one of the greatest habits successful people ever develop. I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. And I thought we’d look at the pretrip a little differently today.  

Aviation, railroads, trucking and manufacturing all adopted inspection checklists because investigations repeatedly showed that many accidents weren’t caused by equipment failures, they were caused by failures to discover problems before using the equipment. 

Our pre-trip really answers only four questions. Is it safe? Is it operational? Is it legal? And am I ready? That simple framework works for every machine in the building. And as we’ll learn in a few minutes several other positions!  

Think about one of the most talked about pieces of equipment. The counterbalance forklift. We’ll check out the forks, mast, chains, and look for any hydraulic leaks. We’ll inspect the tires, the steering and brakes, seat belt, horn, backup alarm, lights, the capacity plate, LP tank or battery and our overhead guard.  

Another biggie is the Reach Truck. We’ll have a few more things to check here like the load wheels and outriggers, the reach mechanism, joy stick or lever controls, more hydraulic hoses, the battery connection and stability.  

Let’s see, we don’t have to hit them all but I did want to talk about a few or our more common ones. I’ll skip these, let’s see, oh here, the Rider Pallet Jack. Many people underestimate the pallet jacks. First up, the belly button reverse switch, its brake operation and plugging, the fork tips, the drive wheel, its battery, steering arm, and horn. How many foot injuries have you seen here because operators become too comfortable? I hope we’d all agree that even one is too many right?  

And the Floor Scrubber. People laugh until it floods an aisle. We’ll need to Inspect things like the squeegee, pads, brushes, the water tanks, and the recovery tank. And its battery, warning lights and dashboard.  A bad scrubber creates slip hazards instead of removing them. 

Oh, and I wanted to mention the cardboard and shrink wrap Baler. We need to check the emergency stop, safety gate, interlocks, and look for any hydraulic leaks, and inspect the chains and door latches. The most dangerous baler isn’t the broken one. It’s the one someone bypassed something on. 

And of course, any type of Manufacturing Equipment will need a pre-trip, checking the guards, emergency stops, sensors, air pressure, lubrication points, tooling, and the product path. The first product shouldn’t be the test piece. The inspection should be. 

And there’s dozens and dozens of other pieces of equipment or machines. Like our conveyor systems, the yard jockey, another important piece is the clamp attachment and slip sheet attachment. Pretrips are a must for all of them.  

So, what if you don’t operate equipment? Guess what? I think you still need a pre-trip. 

What if you’re an Office Employee? I feel you should be asking yourself. Do I have today’s priorities? Laptop? Chargers? Calendar? Checking for my Meetings? Deadlines? Did I answer yesterday’s emails? 

Or if I’m a Recruiter? Have I prepared Today’s interviews? Applicants confirmed? Backgrounds complete? Job descriptions ready? Do I know the Hiring managers expectations? 

And I think there’s a few questions every associate can pretrip themselves with.  Our minds deserve a pre-trip too. Am I distracted or tired? Am I frustrated or am I bringing yesterday’s problems into today’s shift? Those questions may be more important than checking tire pressure. 

The pre-trip isn’t about checking things off on a sheet of paper or program. It’s about respecting what could happen if you don’t. Professionals don’t inspect their stuff because they expect something to be wrong. They inspect because they refuse to be surprised.  

We all know that most accidents don’t begin with the accident itself. They begin with a decision. I’m in a hurry, I’ll check it later, It worked fine yesterday, or It’ll probably be okay. 

Every incident investigation, insurance claim, equipment failure, damaged product, or near miss has a starting point. Many times, that starting point was someone choosing not to spend five minutes looking over their equipment. 

A pre-trip isn’t just looking for what’s broken. It’s looking for what’s changing. That tire that’s lost a little air. The hydraulic hose beginning to rub against the roller. A chain that’s becoming loose. A battery cable that’s starting to fray. Problems rarely appear all at once. They grow little by little. The pre-trip is our opportunity to catch them while they’re still small. 

And we need to remember that finding a problem isn’t the end of the pre-trip. It’s actually the beginning. We may need to Lock it  Out and Tag it Out. Or remove our favorite piece of equipment from service, and notify supervision, calling maintenance and using another truck if available. Professionals understand production never comes before safety. 

A pre-trip protects People, Product, Customers, our Buildings, the Company’s reputation, our Production schedules, Inventory accuracy, Budgets, and well, our Careers.  

Ok, I need to get back to work myself but tomorrow morning, No matter what your job is, let’s Perform a pre-trip. Not because someone tells you to. But because professionals prepare before they perform. Inspect your equipment or machine. Inspect your workspace. And look over your schedule. Let’s check our attitude and our priorities. Inspect your day. Success rarely depends on what happens after productivity starts. It depends on what you did 5 minutes before that time.  

So, I won’t go on and on here. We hear about the pretrip every day, I hope we put a different spin on it today and gave you a little different way to look at it. Yall be safe out there, in both your personal and professional lives.