Food-safe warehouses have far stricter requirements for hygiene management, pollution prevention and operation standardization than ordinary industrial storage scenarios. Electric forklifts, as the core material handling equipment widely used in such scenarios, their standardized operation is directly related to food storage safety, compliance of operation procedures and stability of daily logistics efficiency. This guidance is formulated for all frontline forklift operators to clarify core operation norms covering the full work flow.

The first part focuses on pre-operation preparation and full hygiene check. Before starting each shift, operators need to check all parts of the electric forklift carefully, remove any residual debris, oil stains or foreign sundries attached to the vehicle surface, wipe the fork arms, carriage and other parts that may contact pallets or goods with food-grade compliant cleaning agents. Operators should also confirm there is no trace of hydraulic oil leakage or electrolyte seepage in the battery compartment. Meanwhile, operators need to wear clean overalls that meet food site access requirements, do not wear accessories that are easy to fall off during movement, and finish checking the normal functions of warning lights, prompt bells and braking systems before entering the formal operation area.

The second part covers standardized operation norms in daily work. Operators should strictly follow the speed limit rules set inside the food warehouse, slow down in advance when passing through shelf corners, doorways of cold storage areas or personnel intensive channels, and keep a safe distance of no less than 0.5 meters from stored food goods to avoid scratching the outer package of food by fork arms. When transferring between storage partitions of different hygiene levels, operators need to carry out full disinfection and wiping for the wheels and fork arms of the forklift, to prevent bringing foreign pollutants from the low-clean area into the high-grade food storage zone. Once scattered food residues are found on the passage during operation, operators should park the forklift in the designated temporary safety area first, clean up the site completely before continuing the follow-up work, to avoid rolling residues and causing pollution diffusion.

The third part specifies the post-operation and regular maintenance protocols. After finishing daily work, operators need to park the electric forklift in the designated exclusive parking area, never park the vehicle randomly under food storage shelves or inside the sterile cleaning operation zone. They should clean the whole vehicle to remove all attached food residues and packaging scraps. In the follow-up regular maintenance process, the lubricants and auxiliary materials used for equipment debugging should all meet the safety standards for food-related scenarios, to avoid potential leakage risk that may contaminate stored goods. All operators need to participate in special targeted training every quarter, to master the latest updated food warehouse management rules and ensure all operation behaviors meet local regulatory requirements.