As Forklift Safety Technologies Continue to Evolve in Material Handling, is this the Right Time to Adapt? Part 1

Forklift safety technologies has continued to rise with its innovations especially with the increase of new workers, and newly constructed facilities. As we all know, forklifts play a crucial role in maintaining the productivity and continuous flow of operations. This has led to an increased awareness and importance of safety, especially lift trucks. As technology continues to advance, the focus has been on enhancing forklift safety technologies through innovative and cutting-edge developments. These advancements aim to mitigate risks and protect both operators and the surrounding environment. By embracing these advancements, warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities can further ensure the well-being of their workers while optimizing efficiency and productivity in their material handling processes.

The Increased Need for Forklift Safety Technologies

According to Globest.com, there were over 6,700 warehouses built in 2023 and over 10,000 in 2022. Over the next 5 years, they state that another 28,500 new construction warehouses will be popping up all over the United States. With many new workers finding jobs in warehousing, this increases the risk of a forklift accident. Let’s take a closer look.

Collision Avoidance Technologies

One of the technologies used to detect dangers in the path of a forklift is the use of sensors. There are various types of sensors, some that can simply detect that there’s ‘something’ there, but not sure what it is, or smart sensors, or the type of sensors SIERA.AI uses, that detects and can tell the difference between a human and an object. This last scenario then informs with operator with audio and visual warnings providing crucial information of what type of an obstruction is there. This forklift safety technologies are a proactive safety solution that will reduce the risk of collision.

Why is Collision Detection Good?

By automating the collision detection with audio and visual warning, the operator and those around the operator can continue to work without interruption. Let’s take a look at a few of the benefits collision detection brings:

• Rid of Blind Spots – The operator can only see so much that goes around the forklift. As we know with cars, there’s a blind spot when another car is next to us. By having the detection system in cars, it notifies us when a car is coming too close. Same concept. The intelligent sensor notifies if a person or object is within a defined distance. If within the defined distance, the intelligent sensor will let the operator know it’s time to take action.
• Warnings – As we discussed, audio and visual alarms are crucial. But you need to know which one it is: human or object. The forklift safety technologies will sound the warning alarm and let the operator know that a person or an object is what you need to look for. To ensure the best attention, the symbol of a person or object will flash and an audio alarm will also sound.
• Decrease in Impacts and Accidents – Based on the technologies, you may experience a percentage of decreased impacts and accidents. That’s exactly what is to happen. The operator is learning, knowing what the forklift safety system does, and begins to change their behaviors. They are adopting better and more productive behaviors.

Impact Detection and the Dashboard

Impact detection gives you insights into who and where so you can better determine what occurred with a particular impact. You have three levels of impacts: Low, Medium and High. Because each facility and environment are unique, you get to choose the G-force associated with each level. All the results get recorded in the telemetry Dashboard and you can opt to get real-time notifications on one, two or all three levels of impacts. This type of forklift safety operation ensures that the operator is aware that these events get recorded and helps them to take better and greater care of the lift truck.

Get more details on the impact detection and telemetry Dashboard with a one-on-one with a SIERA.AI representative.

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