Slinging a Load From Forklift Forks: What MOM Actually Requires

Between February and April 2022, three workers were killed in separate Singapore workplace accidents involving forklifts. Two of them involved loads slung from the forks. MOM issued a circular because of it. This is what that circular says, quoted rather than paraphrased.

The short version

A forklift is designed to carry goods on its forks. The moment you hang a load from them — a chain, a sling, a hook, a jib — you are using it as a lifting machine, and a different set of rules applies. MOM’s words:

“Both forklifts and excavators are, in general, not intended for use as lifting machines to carry out lifting operations.” MOM circular MOM/OSHD/2022-02, para 2

It is not banned. It is conditional, and the conditions are specific.

The seven criteria, in full

A forklift may be used as a lifting machine only if all seven of these are true. This is MOM’s list, paragraph 3:

1. The machine was originally designed and manufactured, or supplied, to also function as a lifting machine — including whether the load will be slung from it and whether it will travel with the load.
2. It is fitted with manufacturer- or supplier-approved attachments or hooks with a safety catch for lifting.
3. It has a load capacity chart furnished by the manufacturer or supplier.
4. It has a safe working load not exceeding 5 tonnes when used as a lifting machine.
5. The maker’s information on safe use of the machine and the attachment is available.
6. A risk assessment has been done on the additional risks the lifting use creates.
7. Any other applicable requirement in the Workplace Safety and Health Act and its subsidiary legislation is met.

Criterion 1 is the one that stops most operations. A standard counterbalance truck was not designed or supplied to function as a lifting machine. If yours was not, the other six do not rescue it — and a hook welded on in the workshop fails criterion 2 as well.

The Authorised Examiner question, answered honestly

You will find Singapore forklift companies stating that annual examination by a MOM-Authorised Examiner is mandatory for every forklift. We read the circular and the Act before writing this, and that is not what they say.

The Authorised Examiner requirement sits in paragraph 4 of the circular, and paragraph 4 opens with the words “excavators to be used as lifting machines must also be…”. It is written for excavators. It is not, on its face, a forklift requirement.

But we are not going to tell you that you do not need one. Criterion 7 above points back to the WSH Act and its subsidiary legislation, and the Act’s own definition of “lifting machine” — crane, crab, winch, teagle, runway, transporter, piling frame, piling machine — does not name a forklift with a hook one way or the other. The Fifth Schedule also lists “All lifting equipment” and “Forklifts” as two separate items, which tells you they are not treated as the same thing, but does not settle what happens when one becomes the other.

So: if you intend to sling loads, ask MOM or an Authorised Examiner directly. Do not rely on a supplier’s summary of the law, including this one. The honest position is that the circular does not impose it on forklifts and the Act does not clearly resolve it, and anyone telling you they are certain in either direction has not read both.

What every forklift needs, whether or not it ever lifts a slung load

What it costs to get this wrong

Breaching a WSH regulation carries a fine of up to $20,000, imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both — rising to up to $50,000 where the breach could cause death, serious injury or a dangerous occurrence. Those are the Act’s general caps under section 65.

The circular exists because three people died in three months. The fine is not the reason to get it right.

What to do this week

1. Walk the yard and look for hooks, jibs, slings and chains near the trucks. If any are being used with a forklift, stop that use until criteria 1 to 3 are confirmed in writing by the manufacturer or supplier.
2. Ask your supplier for the load capacity chart for any approved attachment. If they cannot produce one, the attachment does not meet the criteria.
3. Do the risk assessment for the lifting use specifically, not the general forklift one.
4. If you still intend to sling loads, contact MOM or an Authorised Examiner and get the examination question answered for your machine, in writing.

Where this leaves attachments generally

Not every attachment turns a forklift into a lifting machine. A fork extension, a clamp, a rotator or a jib each change what the truck can safely do and what it can safely carry, and all of them need manufacturer or supplier approval and a revised capacity figure. What triggers the lifting-machine rules specifically is the suspended load — anything hanging rather than sitting.

We service and maintain forklifts of every brand, and we will tell you plainly when a truck and an attachment do not belong together. See forklift servicing and maintenance contracts.

Common Questions

Can you sling a load from forklift forks in Singapore?

Only if all seven criteria in MOM/OSHD/2022-02 are met — designed or supplied to lift, approved attachment with a safety catch, manufacturer load chart, SWL not over 5 tonnes, maker’s safe-use information, a risk assessment of the lifting use, and any other applicable WSH requirement.

Does an ordinary forklift need a MOM Authorised Examiner?

The circular’s Authorised Examiner paragraph is written for excavators, not forklifts. But criterion 7 points back to the WSH Act, and the Act does not clearly settle it for a forklift with a hook. If you intend to sling loads, ask MOM or an Authorised Examiner directly rather than relying on any supplier’s summary, this page included.

What is the maximum safe working load for a forklift used as a lifting machine?

5 tonnes, per the circular. That caps the lifting use and is separate from the truck’s ordinary rated capacity on the forks.

Can we fabricate our own attachment?

No. It must be approved by the manufacturer or supplier and have a safety catch, and a manufacturer load capacity chart is separately required.

Sources

The seven criteria, the 5 tonne cap and the training requirement on this page are quoted from MOM’s circular itself. Read it yourself:

• MOM Circular MOM/OSHD/2022-02 — Safe Use of Excavators/Forklifts as Lifting Machines (PDF) — Ministry of Manpower, Occupational Safety and Health Division. Issued 18 July 2022, revised 28 September 2022. Paragraph 3 is the forklift criteria; paragraph 4, which requires examination and registration by an Authorised Examiner, is written for excavators. Read 30 August 2026.
• Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006 — Singapore Statutes Online, Attorney-General’s Chambers. Section 4 defines “lifting machine”, “lifting appliance” and “lifting gear”; the Fifth Schedule lists “All lifting equipment” and “Forklifts” as separate items.

This page explains what the circular and the Act say. It is not legal advice. If you intend to sling loads, ask MOM or an Authorised Examiner directly.

Related reading

• Forklift risk assessment: the duty that sits behind every control measure here.
• Forklift safety rules in Singapore: licensing, the 2027 refresher change, and what MOM checks.
• Forklift attachment approval: what the manufacturer has to sign off before an attachment goes on.
• Refresher training from 2027: who has to retrain and who has to check.
• Forklift servicing and maintenance contracts: keeping the truck in the condition the Act requires.