Is it Possible to Increase Forklift Safety with Warehouse and Manufacturing Labor Shortages?
Warehouse and manufacturing labor shortages has been in the news…everywhere. Recently, the Washington Post, Forbes, and even Supply Chain Dive all reported on the challenges for warehouse and manufacturing labor shortages. This really isn’t news to us in the industry as the challenge to hire warehouse workers has been reaching impossible levels for the past few years. However, with the holiday’s coming up, the Washington Post said it best and to the point, “We are overwhelmed, understaffed and without applicants.”
As companies ramp up production, how are they going to meet customer demands with current staff, temporary or new workers? With the increased speed of just about everything in the facility, how will worker injuries, pedestrian safety, product damage and forklift safety reach zero?
Warehouse and Manufacturing Labor Shortage with Current Workers
As companies continue to do all they can to meet the increase in customer demand, they are relying on the current staff to work additional hours, work at a faster pace and deliver on results. According to JJ Keller, working overtime hours or double shifts can have safety consequences. They found that injuries during evening shifts increased 18% and overnight shifts by 30% as compared to day shifts. One of the main reasons is worker fatigue. As we all know, a lack of sleep can increase physical stress and mental stress. If fatigue goes on for too long, workers will either get injured or leave their job. Both factors will contribute to the warehouse and manufacturing labor shortage within the facility.Warehouse and Manufacturing Labor Shortage with Temporary, Seasonal and New Workers
As the holiday season approaches, temporary workers or seasonal workers have always been in demand. However, in order to attract any type of worker, the benefits have soared including bonuses, higher wages, even college tuition. Anything to entice workers to take your open position as appose to another warehouse or manufacturing company looking for the same worker.
How do you keep this additional group of workers safe within the warehouse or manufacturing company since a high percentage of these new temporary or seasonal workers have never worked in a warehouse or manufacturing company before?
Increase Forklift Safety to Reduce Worker Injuries
Sure, easier said than done. You already have purchased the blue lights, horns, beeping sounds, seat belts and you’ve even designated aisleways for pedestrian traffic and safety. Yet, you know the increased risk of worker injuries and pedestrian accidents when forklifts are around.We’re going to skip over the impact detections and the pedestrian detection forklift safety solutions and we’re going right to the S3 Slow to a Safe Stop. It’s the ultimate in forklift safety.S3 Slow to a Safe Stop
The S3 Slow to a Safe Stop is a forklift safety solution that constantly monitors every 60ms around the lift truck in all 4 directions. If a worker, pedestrian or object such as your customer product or the racking system gets too close and the forklift driver is unaware, the S3 slow to a Safe Stop will automatically override the driver, slow down the forklift and enable safe stopping.Safe and Warning Areas
The S3 Slow to a Safe Stop is constantly monitoring around the forklift. If the product or person stays at the green or beyond the green area, all is safe and everyone continues to work.
Setting the Distances
You set the distances for each of the areas. You know your environment best and what would work to keep everyone safe. Through the web-based Dashboard, you can set the distance for red, yellow and green.
What do you want the safe distances to be before it begins to warn the forklift operator and then override the operator in the event product and/or a person gets too close to the forklift?
Watch how the S3 Slow to a Safe Stop works. This forklift safety solution is installed in numerous facilities all around the country and the world.
Data in the Dashboard
Now you want to know how many times did the S3 Slow to a Safe Stop override the forklift driver. How many near misses were there? This is where the graphical Dashboard comes in. You’ll get all of the information in a fast, easy to read format so you know everything to need to know. Want more details, you can get all of the numbers for all the forklift trucks all the way down to a particular forklift at a site anywhere in the world. When you get a chance to try out the S3 Slow to a Safe Stop, we’ll be capturing all the data for you. Even with warehouse and manufacturing labor shortages, your safety and business decision to move forward will be an easy one.
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