The article includes important factors for all stages - during construction or after starting of operations - If planning to use a Forklift. These 7 important factors must be considered for seamless and low maintenance operations.

The main features of a Forklift floor:

1. It should be perfectly leveled
   To avoid a bumpy ride for the forklift

2. It should have an optimal frictional coefficient
   Too smooth will lead to slipping and too rough will lead to tire wear and low battery life

3. It should have suitable hardness (MOHS scale > 5.5)
   To withstand damage from metal forks. Epoxy is not hard enough and gets damaged by forklifts. Concrete Floors generate dust – not resistant enough to abrasion.

4. It should remain unaffected by heat
   A Forklift slightly heats the floor while running. Epoxy becomes sticky when heated. It sticks to forklift tires leading to tire marks and Epoxy damage

5. The corners should be protected
   While turning, Forklifts often end up damaging walls.

6. Plan for a dedicated area for charging station
   Battery acid leakage might damage the floor

7. Plan dedicated forklift pathways of appropriate width
   The pathways are most prone to damage by forklifts

Here are the details for each of the above features and solutions that will help you achieve them within budget for long term.

Perfectly Levelled Floors

Half the problems due to forklift operations can be solved with a perfectly levelled floor. Depending on the stage at which your flooring is, we have suggested various ways in which a levelled floor can be achieved and maintained. You can use a combination of these methods too.

Method of Laying Concrete

1. Make sure the floor is laid by Trimix/ VDF. Achieving a levelled floor manually is a close to impossible task.

2. LASER screed is also a good option to lay floors that are in perfect level

3. Use RMC concrete rather than mixer concrete. This will help you achieve a constant ratio of concrete mix throughout the floor.

Initiatives during floor laying that will help to keep the level intact

1. The grade of concrete used in base floor should always be more than M25. It is also recommended to use dry shake hardener on top of concrete. Concrete floors of grade less than M25 are not able to withstand forklift operations and will get damaged thus created an undulated surface.

2. Don’t mix steel fiber in concrete mix. A lot of contractors recommend mixing of steel  fiber  in concrete mix to increase the surface tensile strength of floor and prevent cracks due to forklifts.
   Even though steel flakes do increase surface tensile strength. But causes another problem. These steel flakes pop out of the floor surface and then become a source of floor damage themselves. When they are removed, they take concrete also along with them. Resulting in shallow marks and rough patches on the floor. When forklifts move above these areas – the floor starts to get damaged.

3. Rather than steel fibers, PP fibers are a better option. These fibers tie concrete together and even when cracks come, these fibers don’t let them propagate. Thus, preventing future damage of floors – keeping the level intact.

   Pro Tip: Even if they pop out of the floor, can just be melted by showing slight flame.
   Ideal ratio: 100 g of PP fibers for each bag of cement.
   Recommended size of fibers: Min 24 mm

4. Cut expansion joints within 24-48 hours of laying the floor. This is the best time as concrete has an optimum hardness at this time.
   If joints are cut after 48 hours – concrete hardness increases and cutting of joints leads to cracks near these joints. These cracks then become a permanent problem. Also, they get worse due to forklift movement. Thus, creating a non- levelled floor

5. Don’t use Epoxy or Bitumen based fillers for joints.

   • Epoxy doesn’t have the strength needed for forklift operations.

   • Bitumen sometimes makes the floor black – due to heat from forklifts.

   • Polysulphide based fillers are recommended

Maintaining the Floor level after Operations start

1.     Don’t use Epoxy

A lot of industries rely on Epoxy coatings for dustless surface. However, Epoxy floors and Forklifts are the biggest enemies. When forklifts run on Epoxy floors, it damages the Epoxy surface – creating an uneven surface – which in turn damages forklifts.

• This is a safety hazard – as might lead to toppling of forklifts

• Also, re-laying and patching of Epoxy becomes a repetitive cost

• Due to running on a patched surface, forklifts end up bumping a lot. Resulting in reduced battery life, increased maintenance and repair cost

2.     Treat with Odus

Rather than coating with Epoxy, treating concrete floors with Odus is a better option. It gives a smooth and hard surface which is not damaged by forklifts. Thus maintaining the floor level.

• The hardness of Odus Floors is more than Forklifts. Therefore, Odus floors are resistant to scratches and damage from Forklifts

• It can be done on both old and new floors

How will above initiatives help in Forklift Operations?

• Increasing Battery life

• Increasing Tire life – no tire marks

• Ensuring safety for Forklift operator – by preventing it from toppling

• Reducing the need for Forklift maintenance

• Increasing Forklift life

Optimal Frictional Coefficient

Frictional coefficient of factory floors needs to be within an optimum limit.

• If more, it will lead to tire damage and reduced battery life.

• And if less, it leads to a safety hazard – as forklifts might slip

As per American standards, the minimum coefficient of friction needed for safe operations is 0.25.  The flooring option being selected should be within the allowed friction limits. Here are various flooring options and their respective friction levels.

How will this help in Forklift Operations?

• Increasing Battery life

• Increasing Tire life – no tire marks

• Increasing the floor life

• Maintaining a safe environment for Forklift Operations

Suitable Floor Hardness

Floor Hardness vs Compressive Strength

It is very easy to confuse the compressive strength of a floor with its hardness. While compressive strength (defined in Newtons) tells us what will happen if perpendicular pressure is applied on the floor. Hardness (determined by a relative scale – Mohs) tell us what will happen if the floor is scratched.

How is Floor Hardness measured?

Floor hardness is measured by Moh’s scale. It is a relative measure of hardness of various materials and ranges from 1 to 10. Where 10 is for diamond. It is determined by a simple scratch test. Based on a simple principal that harder substance will be able to scratch softer substances.

To determine the Mohs scale for a floor - it is scratched by various stones of different Mohs level. For example the floor doesn’t get a scratch by Mohs scale 3 and gets scratched by Mohs scale 4. We say that the floor hardness is 3.5.

Recommended Floor Hardness for Forklift Operations

As the Moh’s scale of a forklift is 5, a floor on which Forklifts are being operated should be harder than Mohs scale 5.

Here are Mohs scales for various flooring options:

It is therefore highly recommended to go with Odus Flooring for appropriate hardness when using forklifts.

How will this help in Forklift Operations?

• Reduce frequent floor damage because of forklifts

• Save maintenance cost for both – Forklifts and Floor

• Increased tire life – no tire marks

• Uninterrupted operations

Heat Resistant Floors

When forklifts run on the floor, a little heat gets generated due to friction. This might damage the floor coatings present on the floor.

Epoxy Floors for example, get mildly heated by forklift operations and end up sticking to the tires. Thus damaging both – tires and Epoxy flooring. This impact can be seen in form of tire marks on the floor.

It is better to use Concrete based floors which are resistant to heat. But while using concrete floors, it is important that the frictional coefficient is optimum.

Odus flooring is an optimal solution that gives a smooth slip-free surface as base for forklifts – which gets unaffected by heat of friction

How will this help in Forklift Operations?

• Increased tire life

• No tire marks on floor

Protected Corners and Edges

While turning, forklifts might end up dashing with the wall corners. This again leads to wall and forklift maintenance frequently.

The same might happen near parking areas of forklifts, if left unprotected, the walls near forklift parking areas also face damage.

Therefore, it is important to install corner and wall protectors. These come in various varieties as can be seen in the images below.

[Image Source: https://www.seton.ca/rubber-corner-protectors-ff0480.html; https://sunlighthardware.en.made-in-china.com/]

How will this help in Forklift Operations?

• Prevent damage of walls and corners

Dedicated Charging Station

Battery acid leakage damages the floor when Forklifts are parked in one area for long. Therefore it is important to have a dedicated area for Forklift charging.

It is recommended to either have plain concrete floor or acid proof tiles for flooring in this area.

Epoxy is a big no for this area- as it will get decomposed releasing harmful fumes after coming in contact with battery acid.

How will this help in Forklift Operations?

• Reduce floor maintenance need in charging areas

• Maintain a non-toxic environment

Dedicated Pathways

Most factories and warehouses have dedicated lanes for forklift operations. This is necessary as the pathways are most prone to damage from Forklifts.

Have a clear demarcation on storage, production and pathway areas help to decide the infrastructure requirements in each area.

This also results in significant savings as protecting floor and walls from potential forklift damage comes at an additional cost.

How will this help in Forklift Operations?

• Reduce infrastructure cost