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Seat belt rule for construction forklifts

Summary A lift truck engineer asked whether the construction seat belt rule applied to forklifts. OSHA said section 1926.602 applied to forklift-type trucks on construction sites, including the types identified in two ANSI truck standards, and listed other covered earthmoving equipment.
Document
Federal opinion letter
Agency
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Document number
1980-04-17
Date issued
April 17, 1980
Status
Active
Status last verified October 10, 2026
Topics
Workplace Safety OSHA 1926 Powered Industrial Trucks
Source
View the official document

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About this page: The full text below is the official document from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Ezel adds the plain-English summary and tracks the document's status. The official source linked on this page is authoritative for any reliance.

April 17, 1980

Keith Pfannenstiel, P.E.
Lead Engineer
ATI-Advance Technology, Inc.
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Pfannenstiel:

This is in response to your inquiry requesting an interpretation of the seat belt usage requirement included in 29 CFR 1926.602.

29 CFR 1926.602 is applicable to fork lift type trucks used on construction sites, including those referred to by ANSI standard B56.1 and ANSI standards B56.6. The rules in 29 CFR 1926.602 apply to the following types of earth moving equipment: scrapers, loaders, crawler or wheel tractors, bulldozers, off-highway trucks, graders, agricultural and industrial tractors and similar equipment.

If I may be of further assistance, please feel free to call or write.

Sincerely,
Grover C. Wrenn Director,
Federal Compliance and State Programs

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