Know What May Happen…Before it Happens

If I only had a forklift early warning system. That is a statement that is said all too often. This means that the company had a forklift accident and didn’t invest in a forklift safety system. According to the NSC or the National Safety Council, forklifts were the source of 70 work-related deaths in 2021 and 7,290 nonfatal injuries involving days away from work in 2020. If the forklift driver was aware of the pedestrian or another piece of equipment, then maybe the 7,290 number could be cut in half…or more. How would that help your company? But first…

What is a Forklift Early Warning System?

A forklift early warning system alerts the forklift operator in advance of an accident, product damage or injury to workers or other pedestrians. The purpose of the forklift early warning system is to save pedestrians and workers from harm. That’s first and foremost. By keeping them safe, you’ll also save on workman’s compensation, worker downtime and insurance costs. A small price to pay for big savings in the end.

SIERA.AI’s Forklift Safety System

SIERA.AI sells forklift early warning systems to companies that have 1 to 1 billion lift trucks and everything in between. The forklift safety system allows the forklift operator to focus on their work at hand while the forklift early warning system scans every 60ms searching for a person or object. These are eyes that are on the constant watch. And when the AI eyes detect a person, it will notify the operator with a flashing symbol of a person along with a loud beeping sound to gain the attention of the forklift operator. But wait… not only does it detect a person; it also knows if it is an object. These two distinctions are important. But let’s add to that story.

If the forklift driver sees a stack of boxes, and doesn’t know there’s a person behind it, guess what happens…he take the forklift forks, can place the forks underneath the boxes, or he may take the forks and use it to move the boxes before picking them up. If there’s a person behind it, that individual gets injured or killed as a result. This is called partial human detection, only found on SIERA.AI’s forklift safety system. Now that we’ve saved some lives, what other savings can there be?

Additional Savings

As a result of reducing injuries and accidents with pedestrians, other savings are also made and should be recognized.

• Workman’s compensation. If the worker is hurt or injured, they will be off of work and as NSC says it ‘days away from work’. This costs money to pay the workman’s compensation, and it also costs in any ongoing aches and pains they may have after the return. In addition, you’ll need to bring in a temporary worker to complete the tasks (at a slower pace), but the work will get done. There are costs associated with each one of these. Items.
• Insurance Costs. This is not workman’s comp, this is the company’s insurance policy that gets audited by the insurance company. The insurance premiums can go up, as well as the insurance company taking a look at the entire company, wondering what else needs to be done to keep the company safe.
• Product Damage. Sometimes we forget to look at the other aspects of accidents. The customer’s product can be damaged and the company’s facility can be damaged too. These both are costly expenses and need to be controlled. That’s why SIERA.AI identifies each of these separately. Now you can have better control over managing costs.

Summary

Forklift early warning systems can help reduce injuries and fatalities for your forklift operators, the workers and pedestrians in the facility. Let’s not forget there are also other cost saving measures your company can realize as well. It’s time to get your arms around the consistent problems within your facility by investing in a forklift safety system.

Contact us today at sales@siera.ai or call us at (512) 817 0702.