The Rise of Hybrid Safety Systems in Modern Warehouses
Hybrid safety systems are the future of warehouse design and safety across the globe. By combining human and AI systems, collisions and other hazards can be significantly reduced across workplaces. This article will walk through different types of hybrid safety systems and highlight what ELOKON offers, demonstrating the benefits of these approaches.
The Importance of Warehouse Safety
Before we jump into different kinds of hybrid warehouse safety technologies, like sensor fusion and AI forklift detection systems, it is important to highlight why warehouse safety is so important and what it entails.
Warehouse safety is made up of a set of regulatory guidelines set by organizations like OSHA to ensure the well-being of all personnel on your warehouse floor. Warehouses can be incredibly dangerous, with an average of 16 fatalities every year and a 20% illness and injury rate in the United States.
Dangers Of Forklifts And Other Vehicles
When it comes to safety in warehouse design and regulation, one of the most frequently cited hazards is the use of forklifts and other warehouse vehicles. These large moving vehicles are critical in a warehouse environment; however, they are also one of many large moving parts seen in warehousing. In the presence of other workers, other vehicles, and any sudden accidents or changes, forklifts and other vehicles can become serious hazards. Workers can be injured, materials can be damaged, and more. This is part of the reason why the use of ultra-wideband and other hybrid safety systems can be so valuable: they can help detect movement and prevent accidents before they occur.
How Hybrid Safety Systems Can Help
Hybrid safety systems can be one of the best ways to keep your warehouse safe. They can help prevent accidents and improve safety for your employees. But, to begin, we should discuss what a hybrid safety system is.
In simple terms, a hybrid safety system uses a combination of automatic and manual operations. This allows workers to maintain control over the equipment while adding tools like AI forklift detection systems to enhance safety. There are some things that a human simply cannot react to fast enough, like sudden movements or unexpected stops. Automated systems can detect things faster than a human can, therefore preventing accidents and helping keep the entire workplace safer.
As one example, our safety systems at ELOKON include equipment safety sensors, which use wideband technology to detect things like speed, proximity, and more.
What Is Ultra Wideband?
One feature used in hybrid safety for warehousing is ultra-wideband systems, or UWB. UWB is most typically used for vehicle detection. While it is most commonly seen in standard automobiles, it can be great in warehouse and construction settings as well.
UWB can utilize a few different features, like a smart-key option, which can put smart devices in contact with the vehicles to help unlock doors or even start the vehicle. You can use this in construction and warehouse vehicles to prevent just anyone from driving a forklift.
Additionally, these vehicles can use sensors and radars to help detect when other vehicles or objects are in close range. This can help prevent accidents throughout your warehouse and ensure that your vehicles are safely spaced.
What Is Sensor Fusion?
Sensor Fusion is another safety feature found in different kinds of hybrid safety equipment. This is essentially a feature that allows you to bring together a wide variety of radars and sensors to help detect objects, vehicles, and people around you. Here are three different sensor settings that can be combined with the help of the fusion system:
Radar: Helps with long-range sensing, object movement, and all-weather performance in case you need to work outdoors
Lidar: Precise 3-D object detection, range accuracy to tell exactly how far away an object is, and free-space detection
Camera: Object classification, object angular position, and gathering scene context
AI Forklift Detection Systems
What does it look like when intelligent safety systems are integrated into different warehouse vehicles and equipment? At ELOKON, one way that we combine AI safety systems with our vehicles is through forklift impact detection. A collision can be absolutely disastrous to your company, your equipment, and your employees. Our ELOshield proximity detection systems can help prevent collisions with other forklifts and with any other objects on the floor.
Fleet Safety Systems
There are a variety of great hybrid safety systems to use in warehouses. Another one of these is fleet safety systems, which can help keep all of your vehicles well-connected. Each individual vehicle can be equipped with ultra-wideband sensors and other systems, but you can also combine every individual forklift into a singular system to track their maintenance needs and locations. This can help ensure that equipment gets repaired or looked at if something is wrong before it becomes an active safety hazard on the warehouse floor. You can also handle speed management, power, and more, all in an effort to keep your vehicles in a centralized hub for easy maintenance and tracking.
Improve Safety At ELOKON
No matter what your warehouse design or layout, safety is essential to your industry. Especially when it comes to motorized vehicles like forklifts, it is important to make sure your workers are following all of the necessary safety protocols and have proper training. However, sometimes, all the training in the world cannot account for the simple errors and delayed reactions humans make. This is where hybrid safety systems can be such an asset. Technologies like sensor fusion and UWB systems can be game changers, providing an extra layer of protection that enhances warehouse safety.
At ELOKON, we are striving to create innovative workplaces with enhanced safety features across the globe. Get started with us today and optimize your warehouse safety systems.