Forklift Safety Technology: Smarter Assistance Systems, Safer Workplaces

Warehouse or distribution centre safety requires a comprehensive approach encompassing facility design, vehicle and pedestrian separation (either physical or virtual), and safe, reliable materials handling equipment.

At Linde Material Handling, all forklifts and warehouse trucks are designed for safety, with features that increase both active and passive safety and thus prevent forklift accidents.

Linde’s safety standards include driver protection through ergonomics and maximum visibility as well as advanced braking and cornering systems. In addition to the standard features, Linde offers a number of innovative assistance systems designed to maximise safety and improve efficiency and productivity.

Linde Safety Pilot System

Linde Safety Pilot (LSP) is designed to prevent tipping accidents for counterbalanced forklifts. These accidents are extremely rare, but can be very dangerous and they generally result from human error.

LSP helps prevent accidents by clearly displaying key load parameters and alerting the driver if the driving status of the truck becomes critical.

Safe operation requires insight into the load weight, the load centre distance, and the required lift height. LSP has a range of sensors that measure data such as lift height, tilt angle, and load weight at various locations on the truck, removing any guesswork and instantly identifying danger.

LSP is available in two forms: LSP Select and LSP Active. In both versions, LSP emits a warning signal when it detects dangers, but the Active version goes a step further, automatically intervening to correct the speed, steering direction and lift height.

Benefits:

• Significantly safer load handling.
• Faster, smoother work cycles.
• Accurate load positioning.
• Reduced risk of damage to loads and racking.

Linde Load Management

Handling loads at height can be challenging because the load is often so far away from the operator.

The Linde Load Management assistance system makes load handling with pallet stackers easier and safer by giving the operator clear visual and acoustic warning signals on a large colour display. If the actual load weight exceeds the maximum load capacity, the lifting function is automatically disabled to prevent critical situations.

In addition, Linde Load Management actively controls the driving speed and acceleration, based on the lifting height, load weight, and steering angle.

Benefits:

• Determines residual load capacity and warns the operator when approaching the load limit.
• Optimises driving speed, minimising the risk of accidents.
• Displays important information at a glance, monitoring the actual load weight and maximum load height.
• Increases safety and ensures efficient handling.

Linde Dynamic Mast Control

As higher shelving racks become more prevalent, reachstacker masts are getting longer and the risk of ‘mast wobble’ increases.

Dynamic Mast Control (DMC) solves this problem by automatically compensating for mast movements with specific counter-movements. The DMC ensures that handling processes involving large lift heights are significantly quicker and safer.

The operator does not have to wait for the wobble to stop or actively intervene; instead, the system works in the background to steady the mast.

Benefits:

• Increased safety.
• Up to 17 seconds quicker.

Automatic Travel Speed Assist & Linde Curve Assist

Linde offers smart solutions to control truck speed when it presents a potential risk, such as when entering congested warehouse areas, or when excessive cornering speed could cause the load to fall or the truck to tip over.

Automatic speed limitation can be adjusted for indoor and outdoor applications.

Meanwhile, Curve Assist provides automatic, proportional speed adjustment when cornering. This assistance system automatically reduces the speed of a forklift that is travelling too fast around a curve – either if the turn is approached too fast or the turning radius is too tight.

Benefits:

• Automatic Travel Speed Assist restricts forklift speeds across indoor and outdoor sites.
• Completely programmable to suit specific applications.
• Prevents multi-truck accidents.
• Increases protection against tipping over when cornering.
• Reduces the strain on tyres.
• Reduces dangerous situations and accidents.

Linde Reverse Assist Radar

Reversing is potentially one of the most dangerous aspects of machine operation. This has prompted the development of Linde Reverse Assist Radar, an innovative safety system that actively detects and prevents collisions while travelling backwards. The Linde Reverse Assist Radar identifies both moving and stationary objects in the truck’s driving path. If necessary, the system automatically applies the brakes, bringing the forklift to a standstill. Warnings are delivered via sound alerts and visual displays, operators can navigate with greater confidence and precision.

The system is uniquely customisable, with users able to match the radar’s detection area to the truck’s width and to adjust it to suit specific applications.

Benefits:

• Automatically applies brakes to prevent collisions.
• Accurately identifies both moving and stationary hazards.
• Alerts operators to potential hazards with real-time warnings.
• Adjusts braking response to avoid overcorrection.
• Ignores non-critical objects like shelving or stored goods.
• Offers flexible detection settings to minimise false alarms.

Linde Reverse Assist Camera

The Linde Reverse Assist Camera takes reversing safety one step further, by adding AI-based person detection.

The camera detects pedestrians in the truck’s vicinity, differentiates between people and obstacles and provides multi-level real-time warnings to operators.

Like most Linde safety solutions, Reverse Assist Camera features fully customisable detection zones and warning settings to match specific site needs and forklift configurations. Furthermore, the Linde Reverse Assist Camera is available as both a standard feature on new forklifts or as a retrofit option.

Benefits:

• AI-based pedestrian detection for precise hazard identification.
• Adaptive speed reduction for collision prevention.
• Multi-level visual and acoustic alerts for enhanced operator awareness.
• Available as retrofit for existing models.
• Configurable monitoring zones for tailored safety solutions.

Conclusion

The warehouse is becoming more complex as aisles get narrower, racking becomes taller and more machines operate in smaller spaces.

Besides a host of standard features designed to increase operator safety and comfort, Linde offers a number of innovative solutions to reduce risks and increase efficiency either by providing improved visibility of the dangers or by taking safety out of the hands of the operator and automating the response. These assistance systems are particularly useful when working at height or for preventing tip-overs on the ground.

However, like all equipment, the technology alone will not guarantee safe operation. Fleet managers always need to ensure that they have a comprehensive safety plan, appropriate facility design, up-to-date warehouse management solutions and regular and relevant training for all staff.

Want to talk about safety innovation with a Linde expert? Contact us today.

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