Forklift Pedestrian Collision Avoidance System

Q: Should I or should I not invest in a forklift pedestrian collision avoidance system

Well, what does it take for a distribution center, manufacturer and warehouse facility to take action on forklift safety?
…When a pedestrian gets injured…or worse.

Some companies claim that they have gone for years without a serious accident. Therefore, they can ‘hold off’ on implementing the protection or data collection a forklift pedestrian collision avoidance system provides. Unfortunately, even the best of companies that have implemented every precaution possible has an accident sooner than later.

What is a Forklift Pedestrian Collision Avoidance System?

A forklift pedestrian collision avoidance system is an electronic device, or a sensor installed on lift trucks to detect the presence of a pedestrian nearby and prevent collisions. A collision avoidance system should be installed on lift trucks wherever there exists a high risk of vehicle to pedestrian interaction, e.g., operations where forklifts and pedestrians operate in the same physical space without physical barriers to separate them.

Forklift Pedestrian Collision Avoidance: Responsibility of the Pedestrian

Pedestrians just like forklift operators need to understand and take safety measures when within the vicinity of a forklift. Why? Because the pedestrian is the one at risk. The forklift driver is working on his job responsibilities and the forklift is the tool for him to get his job complete. By having pedestrians present, it adds a layer of complexity for the forklift operator and slows down productivity. He now needs to multi-task: drive the forklift, do his tasks, watch for pedestrians turning corners, walking in front of aisles, bending over, standing or bending behind boxes…all at the same time.

Forklift Pedestrian Collision Avoidance: Responsibility of the Forklift Driver

All forklift operators undergo training in order to become certified. Once certified, they can begin to operate the vehicle within a facility, however, caution still needs to be taken as the ‘rules’ in a distribution center is different than the ‘rules’ of the road. Forklift drivers are assigned numerous tasks to complete in a given shift in order to keep the facility operational. They are given goals to achieve, and metrics track their progress and success rate. By adding the pedestrian element into the mix, causes disruption to the effectiveness of the driver and his productivity.

Safety Solutions in the market are good, but not good enough. If they were 100% successful, there would be zero accidents.

Today’s Collision Avoidance Solutions

There are a variety of safety solutions that are meant to keep pedestrians and the forklift operator safe. Some of the one’s everyone currently has on their forklift consist of blue lights, horns, and flashing lights to name a few. These safety solutions are warning signals, but don’t prevent an accident from occurring.

Utilizing technology has helped. There are some solutions out there that utilize RFID. In order for the solution to be successful, each and every pedestrian that steps foot in a warehouse, distribution center or manufacturing facility must wear a device. The device identifies where you are and alerts the driver that a person is nearby. That certainly is progress, but is it stopping an accident? Is it stopping a person from entering a facility without a wearable device? It was good for its time, but now you need something more effective to reach zero accidents.

The technologies SIERA.AI uses in its S3 Forklift Pedestrian Safety solution gets you to where you want to be. It utilizes AI machine learning or deep learning in order to lessen the responsibility on the forklift driver. The forklift driver nor the pedestrian needs to wear a device. Instead, the AI technology does all the work based on when you want it to be activated such as 10’ safe zone, 8’ warning, etc.

Here’s how it goes…

The forklift driver goes about his/her shift and takes goods off the truck and transports it to staging and/or puts it away. As the forklift moves to its destination, it has its forks full. A pedestrian is performing his/her job by bending down and reaching up in various directions in order to pick and put-away goods. As the two begin to encounter one another, the forklift is watching out on behalf of the driver. If neither one sees each other in order to take preventative action, the forklift pedestrian collision avoidance system kicks in and alerts the driver audibly and visually that there’s a pedestrian nearby.