Data-Driven Safety: How AI Can Reduce Warehouse Incidents and Improve Operations

 

This article will discuss how you can create a data-driven safety warehouse through standard safety practices and impact management solutions like those found at ELOKON. AI and automation can play a significant part in increasing the safety of your warehouse. At ELOKON, we are focused on using new technology to create the best possible workplace for you.

Warehouse Safety Best Practices

When it comes to reducing warehouse incidents, improving your operations, and ensuring the safety of your warehouse, there are a variety of practices you can put in place. Here are just a few of the best practices you can implement.

Personal Protective Equipment

PPE, including high-vis clothing and bright vests, can help make sure workers are visible at all times and remind forklift operators to reduce their speeds.

Signage and Mirrors

Proper signage and safety mirrors can help keep workers aware of the safety hazards around the facility. They help create risk awareness, which can help keep employees on the lookout and cautious.

Safety Systems

Active safety systems can be a game-changer for workplace safety. Programs like impact detection systems and fleet management can help prevent collisions, upkeep maintenance, and more.

Common Forklift Hazards

In any data-driven safety warehouse, it is important to know exactly the types of hazards you are protecting yourself and your workers against. Having a full understanding of what you may face in the workplace, especially regarding forklifts, can help you curate the right solutions for your workers. Here are some of the most common forklift hazards you might see in the workplace:

• Improper Use and Operation: Speeding, sharp cornering, and other improper operations can be disastrous.
• Blind Spots: Unexpected impacts can cause serious injuries and damage.
• Overhead Obstructions: Any objects placed above and out of view can be damaged or cause damage to the forklift.
• Insufficient or Incorrect Maintenance: Failure to check any maintenance issues can result in breakage or injury.
• Load Hazards: Overloading the forklift or improperly securing items can cause tipovers and injury.

Best Ways To Prevent Hazards

Impact management solutions are not the only way to prevent hazards. In fact, when it comes to warehouse safety best practices, there are some very simple ways to help prevent common workplace hazards like the ones listed above. Here are just some of the ways that you can maintain healthy and safe practices in your workplace beyond any more complex systems or safety solutions:

• Follow the set speed limits
• Put down floor tape to mark safe passages for forklifts
• Ensure compliance and proper training for all forklift operators
• Conduct pre-operation inspections on all forklifts
• Only travel in directions that you can see

ELOKON Impact Detection Systems

One step you can take toward creating a data-driven safety warehouse is through impact detection and prevention systems. At ELOKON, we have created a series of systems that operate with sensors and ultra-wideband proximity detection technology to help avoid any collisions or sudden accidents. ELOshield forklift technology is one of the best ways to prevent collisions and further damage in your workplace. The system comes with two sensor areas: warning and protection. When a person or object enters either zone, the operator will immediately be notified. Additionally, these zones can be shaped and configured to best suit your facility and work.

Warning and Impact Notification Solutions

The ELOshield system notifies forklift operators whenever pedestrians or objects enter the warning and protection zones. However, how exactly do these warning notifications manifest? To begin, it is important to note that warning lights, some red and some flashing, are a staple throughout forklift operations and serve as an excellent way of visually alerting pedestrians of moving vehicles nearby. However, sometimes these lights are not enough.

ELOshield uses audible, visual, and vibration alerts to notify pedestrians and operators that someone has gotten too close to the forklift. This way, the alert is essentially unavoidable for anyone in proximity and is accessible to workers who have limited vision or are visually impaired.

Impact Management Solutions - AI Pedestrian Detection

Another means of creating a data-driven safety warehouse is combining your forklifts into a single fleet that can be easily managed from your smartphone or tablet. In a central hub, all of your vehicles can be managed at once. In ELOKON telematics systems, you can connect other systems like ELOvision to your fleet management system to offer extra help in pedestrian detection and safety.

ELOvision is powered by advanced artificial intelligence and helps detect pedestrians in real time as they move throughout the warehouse. If anyone is too close to a vehicle, ELOvision’s detectors will automatically cause the forklift to slow down or even stop to avoid a collision.

Telematics Systems

Impact detection systems like ELOshield and ELOvision can be game changers for your warehouse safety best practices. Plus, telematics systems can help you centralize every vehicle in your fleet. Telematics can help you keep track of every vehicle’s maintenance needs, location, and status, all from one singular hub. This can make it much easier to ensure that every vehicle is safe and operational, and you can also be notified if there are any issues that need to be addressed before a forklift is brought out to work for the day.

“Telematics” is a combination of the words “telecommunication” and “informatics”. It is a way of collecting technological data and transferring it to a central hub or a secondary location for examination. It uses GPS, ultra-wideband technology, and more for improved efficiency in a variety of industries for any vehicle you can think of, from regular cars to box trucks to forklifts.

Improving Operations with AI at ELOKON

Creating a data-driven safety warehouse can be easy with the help of impact notification solutions from ELOKON. ELOshield, ELOvision, and other fleet management software combine artificial intelligence with technology and human capability to create the best possible safety conditions for your business. Contact our team of professionals at ELOKON today to get started.