What MOM Looks At When It Inspects Your Forklift

In June 2026, after seven workplace deaths in four weeks, MOM called a nationwide voluntary Safety Time-Out and raised its penalties. It also told employers where to look first, and one of the three things it named was vehicle-related activities. In a warehouse, that means the forklift.

What was announced

Workplace fatalities stood at 21 for 2026 at the time of the announcement, against 18 over the same period the previous year. Sources: Human Resources Online, Allen & Gledhill, read August 2026.

Read the stop-work number again

A fine is an amount. A Stop-Work Order is your operation switched off.

Eight weeks is two months of not moving pallets. Staff still paid. Rent still paid, at the highest industrial rents since 1996. Customers served late or not at all, and some of them not coming back. For most warehouses in Singapore, the fine is not the punishment. The stoppage is.

That is the honest reason to read the rest of this page.

What gets looked at on a forklift

None of this is exotic. It is the same short list every time, and almost all of it can be put right in an afternoon.

1. The operator

A valid WSQ Operate Forklift certificate, and from 1 January 2027 refresher training completed within the previous three years. The duty to check sits with the employer and the principal, not with the driver. MOM's own inspections found close to 8 in 10 forklift-related contraventions involved operators who had not refreshed within three years. The full rule and a month-by-month plan are in our refresher training guide.

2. Whether the daily checks are actually being done

Not whether you own a checklist. Whether there is a completed one for yesterday, and the day before, signed by the man who drove the truck. A blank pad in a drawer is worse than no pad, because it shows the system was designed and then abandoned.

3. The truck itself

• Data plate present and readable. No plate means no proof of rated capacity, and capacity is the root of most load-related findings.
• Seat belt fitted and working. In a tip-over, staying in the seat is what decides the outcome.
• Horn, lights, mirrors, reversing alarm all functioning.
• Brakes and parking brake holding on a slope.
• Forks without cracks, and heel wear within limit.
• Mast chains not stretched past the manufacturer's wear limit, and no hydraulic leaks.
• Tyres of the right type for the floor, and not worn past the marker.

4. Where the truck and the people meet

MOM named vehicle-related activities specifically, and in a warehouse most of the risk is not the machine, it is the layout. Separated walkways. Marked crossings. Convex mirrors at blind corners. Speed discipline near doors. Barriers where racking legs and pedestrians share a corner. Trucks and people in the same unmarked floor is the finding that turns into an accident.

5. The paperwork behind the truck

Servicing records that show a truck was maintained rather than merely repaired when it failed. A rented truck is not an exception: the hirer still has duties on their own site, and "it belongs to the rental company" is not an answer.

The checklist itself, free to use

Everything above is easier to answer if the daily checks are actually being written down. So here is the sheet we give our own customers. It is one A4 page, it covers the items an inspector looks at, and it has a column for each day of the week.

Download the PDF checklist

One page. Print it, put it on the wall by the charger, and have the operator tick it before the first lift.

Section A is the daily pre-shift check — forks, mast and chains, tyres, fluid leaks, brakes and steering, horn and lights and reverse alarm, seat belt and seat switch, data plate, and the hour meter reading. Section B is weekly, and it includes the line most fleets miss: attachments, side shift, clamps and fork extensions.

And the rule printed at the bottom of it is the one that matters most: if any check fails, take the truck out of service until it is repaired. Not after this pallet.

What keeping a truck maintained actually costs

Records only exist if the servicing happened. For what a year of planned servicing costs, against waiting for the breakdown, see what forklift servicing costs in Singapore.

What to do this week, whatever MOM is doing

1. Pull the last two weeks of daily checklists. If they do not exist, that is the finding, and you have found it before anyone else does.
2. List every operator with the date of their last course. Anyone past three years is already the problem the 2027 rule is aimed at.
3. Walk one aisle at the busiest hour and watch where people cross in front of a truck. You will know within ten minutes whether the layout is the risk.
4. Check the seat belts. All of them, physically, today. It takes ten minutes across a fleet and it is the single item most often found defective.
5. Look at the data plates. A missing plate is cheap to replace and expensive to be found without.

The attachment question

One area catches more companies than any other: anything fitted to the truck that is not plain forks. The original capacity plate no longer describes the machine, and a lifting attachment must be manufacturer approved with its own load capacity chart. See forklift attachments in Singapore.

Common Questions

What is the MOM Safety Time-Out?

A nationwide voluntary pause called by the Ministry of Manpower in June 2026 after seven workplace deaths in four weeks, with fatalities at 21 for the year against 18 over the same period the previous year. Employers were asked to spend the time reviewing work processes, reinforcing risk controls and engaging staff on risks, with particular attention to vehicle-related activities, individual worker lapses and immediate post-accident response.

How long is a Stop-Work Order in Singapore?

Under the enhanced measures announced in June 2026 the minimum duration rose from five weeks to eight weeks for companies with safety lapses. For most warehouses the stoppage costs far more than the fine, because staff and rent are still paid while nothing moves. Check the current position with MOM, as the enhanced measures were announced as running to 31 July 2026 with extension possible.

Does a rented forklift still need daily checks?

Yes. The hirer has duties on their own site regardless of who owns the truck. Servicing and breakdown support may sit with the rental company, but the daily pre-use check, a certified operator and a safe layout are the responsibility of the company operating the machine.

What do inspectors look at on a forklift?

In practice: a certified operator with current refresher training, completed daily checklists rather than a blank pad, a readable data plate, a working seat belt, functioning horn, lights, mirrors and reversing alarm, brakes that hold, forks without cracks, chains within wear limits, no hydraulic leaks, correct tyres, and a layout that keeps people and trucks apart. Servicing records sit behind all of it.

Are forklifts a common cause of workplace injury in Singapore?

Struck by moving vehicles, which includes forklifts, has been among the top causes of fatal and major workplace injuries in Singapore for several years running according to MOM's national statistics. That is why vehicle-related activity was one of the three areas MOM named when it called the 2026 Safety Time-Out.