Forklifts and many other powered material-handling vehicles are classified by OSHA as "powered industrial trucks," and they are governed by OSHA's powered industrial truck standard (29 CFR 1910.178). Among other things, that standard addresses operator training and certification, the requirement that operators be evaluated and authorized, and safe-operation and maintenance expectations. OSHA requires that operators be trained and certified for the type of truck they operate before operating it in the workplace. This is one of the clearest examples of a federal requirement in the material-handling world — much of how warehouses and docks are expected to operate rests on a combination of OSHA requirements like this one and the individual requirements companies impose on their own operations. This post describes what the standard covers; it does not address any specific incident.