As an EH&S compliance engineer with 20 years experience, this is a huge failure in training, management, and engineering.

Every forklift in America in use in an industrial setting has a tag listing maximum loading under various conditions that would have clearly indicated not to have done this.

And, to suggest that exceeding manufacturer labeling is acceptable, there is one word for folks who operate machinery (in this case, powered industrial trucks) knowingly in an unsafe manner at work-Criminals as they are likely to be criminally prosecuted for their negligence and incompetence