Your first-day checklist

Your manufacturer's manual prevails. This sheet gives the order of the steps; every figure must be read in your own manual, as it changes from one model to the next.

1. 1

   On delivery

   • Walk around it BEFORE you sign
   • LOAD CHART present, legible, and the one for YOUR attachment
   • Manual, log book and inspection report requested
   • Forks, carriage, attachment lock all checked
2. 2

   Unloading

   • Firm level ground, well clear of edges
   • Never correct your steering on the ramp
   • Boom retracted and low, forks just off the ground
   • Once loaded: chock and lash down
3. 3

   Before the first start

   • All fluid levels, machine on level ground
   • Tyres: pressure and condition — they carry everything
   • Frame levelling rams and stabilisers
   • Belt, mirrors, alarm
4. 4

   Before lifting

   • FRAME LEVEL — 0° — before the boom goes up
   • Read the chart for the reach AND height you are aiming at
   • Ground that bears, under wheels or stabilisers
   • Power lines located before lifting
5. 5

   What tips it

   • Capacity FALLS as the boom extends
   • An unlisted attachment = the wrong chart
   • Driving with the boom raised: forbidden
   • Levelling the frame with the load in the air
6. 6

   Regulatory frame

   • CACES R482 category F (rough-terrain handlers)
   • The authorisation to operate comes from the employer
   • Periodic inspections according to use
   • Lifting people: only in an approved work platform