January 2019 Safety Topic: The Real Cost of In House Maintenance

Happy New Year!!! I hope your holiday season has been wonderful!!!

While making sales calls, I have noted a several companies prefer to handle their forklifts and other highway equipment in house. I absolutely understand the move to control costs, and in some cases the flexibility to have work done immediately and/or during slower shifts will always outweigh an "outsider" setting their own schedule.

If you are trying to decide to go "in house", or have already made the move, I would like to point out a couple of things. In my travels, it is very rare to come across an in house mechanic who is specifically trained on all of the issues pertaining to forklift safety. OHSA has several specific points of concern regarding forklift operation and safety, and fines levied from OSHA for violations seem to start at $10,000.00!!! (my own personal observation). In house mechanics need to be flexible enough to work on anything, and in some cases forklift/ equipment maintenance/repair is one of multiple maintenance department assigned. The unfortunate truth is a general mentality that forklift/equipment maintenance is no different than an oil change for a car. As it is possible to incur a fine for a missed "maintenance" item on a forklift and not on a car - there is a HUGE difference! Now when you look at the cost savings of in house work, is it worth the risk?

Some possible solutions and reasons why to consider calling in reinforcements:

Even if you only call in an outside company to perform an annual safety inspection, not only do you gain a professional point of view, now you have a partner to protect your interests. One service call once or twice a year can save cost in downtime and accidents caused by mechanical failure, not to mention those pesky fines!

The bottom line is, make sure you have all of your bases covered to protect ALL of your investments!!

We would love to talk to you about your equipment maintenance needs! We want to work with you to provide the program that is right for your unique situation - if that is an annual inspection, or enrolling in our Scheduled Preventative Maintenance program (fully tailored to you AND your budget's needs!)

Thank you for your time, looking forward to providing you service (and more!) in 2019!!!

Tom Kassen
(509) 939-0926
tomkassen@mobilemachineryservice.com