An impact log is more useful than a list of damaged trucks. When it records the movement around each contact, it can expose a recurring blind turn, rushed shift change or unsuitable pallet approach before the next collision involves a person, stock or racking.
Short answer
Record each forklift impact against the exact location, truck, operator, shift, task, load direction and immediate conditions. Review the entries as a pattern at least monthly and after any serious event. The aim is to identify a repeatable circumstance that management can change, not merely count incidents.
What this means in practice
A cold-store may find that four rear-corner impacts occurred at the same freezer threshold during the final hour of despatch. That evidence points management towards condensation, visibility, pedestrian interruptions and collection pressure at that time. A generic reminder to drive carefully would not address those conditions.
The decision point is whether to alter the route, protect the structure, repair a visibility aid, change the task sequence, coach named operators or review truck suitability. Records should be detailed enough to choose between those actions and then check whether the selected control reduced contacts.
Key checks
- Plot every impact at a precise point on the site plan.
- Capture travel direction, load height and whether the truck was laden.
- Compare events by hour, shift and dispatch or production peak.
- Separate infrastructure, pallet, product and truck-to-truck contact.
- Assign an action, owner and review date to each recurring pattern.
Common mistakes
Logging only the operator name and repair cost turns the record into a blame list. It omits the location and task evidence needed to decide whether supervision, layout, equipment or workload is driving the risk.
What good looks like
Managers can identify their three highest-frequency impact circumstances, show what was changed and demonstrate whether the rate fell over a comparable operating period. Serious events still receive individual investigation, while lower-level contacts provide early warning instead of disappearing into repair spend.
When to ask WRMH for help
WRMH can review impact and repair records alongside truck condition, operator observations and the affected route. That helps convert raw events into targeted maintenance, training or equipment actions and gives the site clearer evidence that the chosen control addresses the collision pattern.
Helpful next step: select one repeated impact location and review its last five events together rather than as separate repairs.