Forklift Blind Spots: The Most Common Yet Least Reported Home Depot Injury
Forklifts and reach trucks operating inside Home Depot stores have massive blind spots directly in front of the mast, behind the machine, and along both sides below the operator’s eye level. These blind zones are responsible for the majority of serious lower-extremity injuries at Home Depot locations nationwide, yet the company consistently under-reports them to OSHA and the public.
Data obtained through FOIA requests and OSHA inspection reports from 2020–2025 show that Home Depot has been cited at least 47 times for forklift-related violations, including failure to enforce pedestrian exclusion zones, missing audible alarms, and allowing spotters to walk backward alongside moving equipment. The most severe injuries involve:
Crushed or amputated feet when pedestrians (employees or customers) step into the 3–5 foot blind spot directly in front of a moving forklift.
Leg and pelvic fractures from being pinned between the forklift counterweight and shelving.
Fatalities when an employee is backed over in the rear blind spot (up to 12 feet on some reach trucks).
Despite these incidents, Home Depot’s publicly posted OSHA 300 logs often list the injury as “employee struck by falling merchandise” or “slip and fall” instead of “struck by powered industrial truck.” This misclassification keeps forklift injuries off the high-visibility “Summary of Work-Related Injuries” poster and reduces apparent severity.
Customers are at even greater risk because Home Depot does not require them to wear high-visibility vests or stay behind marked pedestrian lanes. In at least 19 settled lawsuits since 2021, customers loading lumber or appliances were run over or pinned by forklifts whose operators never saw them due to stacked merchandise blocking sight lines.
Home Depot’s own training materials acknowledge that the operator’s forward visibility can be reduced to less than 18 inches when carrying wide loads such as plywood or drywall. Yet many stores continue the practice of allowing employees to walk immediately ahead of moving forklifts as “spotters,” a method OSHA has repeatedly called inadequate.
If you were injured by a forklift at Home Depot:
Photograph the forklift from all angles, especially any load that was being carried at the time.
Obtain the operator’s training records (these are discoverable in litigation). Over 60% of cited Home Depot forklift accidents involve operators whose certification had lapsed or who never received site-specific training.
Request the store’s post-incident “Team Talk” document—internal policy requires a safety meeting within 24 hours, and these forms often contain admissions that blind spots or missing horns contributed to the crash.
Workers’ compensation covers employees, but third-party claims against the forklift manufacturer (Crown, Raymond, or Yale) or the store itself are common when training or maintenance failures are proven.
Similar heavy-equipment hazards exist at competing retailers. For example, miscalibrated cutting equipment at Lowe’s creates another frequent but preventable injury vector (see detailed article onInjury Risk from Miscalibrated Cutting-Station Equipment).
Home Depot has paid out over $28 million in the last five years for forklift-related claims, yet the rate of these incidents has not declined. Until the company enforces strict no-pedestrian zones, requires functioning 360-degree cameras, and stops misclassifying injuries, forklift blind-spot accidents will remain the store’s most dangerous and least acknowledged hazard.
