There are a range of security features that are common to particular kinds of trucks including seat belts on sit-down vehicles. On most stand-up vehicles there are dead-man petals also. Moreover, some manufacturers are providing more features such as speed controls that can reduce the overall speed based on steering angle and load height. For more info, there are many available articles about Lift Truck Safety and Loading Dock Safety.
Support and Service
A big part of forklift selection is to make certain that you maintain access to high levels of service and support. Every year, there seems to be a wider array of new players in the forklift business. Even though they offer a decent lift truck design and a nice price, if they do not offer the regional or local support and service infrastructure, you should be prepared for major stress when the lift truck goes down. Each lift truck model goes down at some point and service, parts and general questions would probably have to be answered at some point.
You will generally want to have a nearby dealer or repair shop with a complete supply of the parts you require for your specific model. Be certain to visit the dealership or the repair shop and check their parts room in order to try to know how many parts they store. Make sure to inquire that if they do not have the part you require, where would it come from? Hopefully, the answer will be from a local or regional distribution facility.
Additionally, try to get some ideas as to how many of those specific units are currently being used in your vicinity. This is really important for specialty trucks including turret trucks. If there are only a small amount of trucks in use in their service area that you should assume they might not be stocking many if any parts for them. What's more, they can have very little overall experience in servicing that model as well.