Hillside Ventures announced a new STEM branch, a student-run venture fund at the University of Connecticut, to support and engage students in entrepreneurship. The student group’s first investment for $50,000 was to SIERA.AI. SIERA.AI is a venture backed provider of an AI technology platform to make material handling equipment safe and smart. Our Safety Solutions can be retrofitted on existing equipment thus extending their productivity and safety.
According to their release, “There’s not another option on the market that’s as comprehensive, that can attach to any forklift,” Cameron said of SIERA.AI. “Oftentimes in warehouses, they might have lots of different forklifts, but not one automated safety solution.” The student organization said that SIERA.AI’s advantage was due to its patented technology that “addresses real-world issues” and “ties with other well-established companies.”
Statistics continue to show over $30 billion is spent in the U.S. each year on forklift accident costs. The latest figures show that in 2022, there were 73 fatalities and over 7,000 injuries due to powered industrial trucks.
In a recent post, we discussed how the forklift truck rose in the OSHA’s Top 10 ranking showing that since 2021, PIT accidents were #9, and now PIT accidents are at #5. The article goes into further details on the reasons for the increase including the shift of labor. However, we need to watch for the up and comers of new violations including overdose and workplace violence. Next, we’ll need to watch how these may be tied to PIT accidents in the workplace.