Proximity warnings offer layer of protection

Depots and warehouses can be very busy and very dangerous as moving vehicles and on-site workers on foot are sharing relatively confined spaces. There are obstructions like containers, pallets or crates. There are lorries driving in and out, probably reversing, forklifts conveying large loads and the drivers may not be able to see clearly. Sometimes the warehouse may be dimly lit, or just too noisy to gauge the approach of a vehicle from around a corner. Before you know it, you’re about to get too close to a reversing lorry or approaching forklift and the driver may not have seen you through the confusion of activity.

The HSE (Health & Safety Executive) and RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) report that over the period from 2009-10 to 2013-14, the most common cause of a fatal injury to logistics employees was being struck by a moving vehicle. The non-fatal injuries involving workers on foot and vehicles amounted to a substantial 525 over the same period.

OnGrade’s site safety awareness campaign – ‘Don’t burst the bubble’ – was started to help workers across various sectors better understand the risk of collision with vehicles. Consider that each vehicle has a danger zone or ‘bubble’ around it, which for safety’s sake, should never be breached or ‘invaded’. It’s the last boundary of physical protection between a person and a moving vehicle.

An RFID proximity warning alarm system can help.

Using SiteZone as an example, when someone walks too near to a vehicle being driven or operated on site, an alarm goes off in the cab. Another alarm also goes off on a wearable tag fitted to the worker’s hard hat or sleeve, to let them know they’re too close to the machine in question. There’s no chance that either the driver or the worker are going to ignore the alarm. When it goes off, they will know that the danger of collision is imminent, therefore the operator must stop the vehicle and look around to see where the risk is.

With wireless RFID proximity warning alarms, visiting vehicles can be incorporated into the system. It just gets mounted on the visiting vehicle at the gate and instant proximity warning capability is enabled.

Using data

This system acts as a real-time alert and allows for all activities to be logged online via a telematics option. Any incidents detected by the alarm are sent to the Cloud, accessible at any time for analysis. This enables site or health and safety managers to identify any repeat offenders – those at most risk of injury from approaching vehicles without permission. Armed with this information, safety training can then be targeted where it will be most effective, and individual workers can be monitored to check safe working practices are being embraced.

This data can be shared across multiple sites, can be compared and benchmarked. Managers can do their part to cultivate a holistic standard of site safety practice across the company and enable continual improvement. In this way site managers can focus their time and resources more efficiently for the wider benefit of employees and delivering required services.

Vehicle operators who have used an RFID proximity warning alarm system for a sustained period have expressed that they would miss having the assurance of the warning system to use every day as it lessened their stress level about possible collisions with workers on foot.

The RFID tag really helps because when it goes off they must neutralise the alarm and physically turn and look to see who is behind them.