There are actually a range of safety features which are common to certain kinds of trucks such as seat belts on sit-down vehicles. On the majority of stand-up vehicles there are dead-man petals too. In addition, some manufacturers are providing more features like speed controls which could reduce the overall speed based on steering angle and load height. For more info, there are numerous available articles on Loading Dock Safety and Lift Truck Safety.
Support and Service
A huge part of lift truck selection is to make sure that you maintain access to high levels of service and support. Each and every year, there seems to be a wider array of new players in the lift truck industry. Even if they offer a good price and a decent forklift design, if they do not offer the local or regional support and service infrastructure, you have to be ready for significant stress when the lift truck goes down. Each lift truck model goes down eventually and service, parts and general questions must be answered at some point.
You will generally want to have a nearby dealer or repair shop with a complete supply of the components you require for your specific model. Be certain to visit the repair shop or the dealership and take a look at their parts room in order to try to know how many parts they store. Make sure to inquire that if they do not have the part you need, where would it come from? With any luck, the answer would be from a regional or local distribution facility.
In addition, try to get some ideas as to how many of those particular models are currently being utilized in your area. This is very vital for specialty trucks like turret trucks. If there are only a small amount of trucks being used in their service area that you should assume they might not be stocking many if any parts for them. Additionally, they can have very little overall experience in servicing that specific model too.