Workplace Health & Safety Laws in Australia are among the toughest in the world. While a safe working environment is a high priority for most businesses - when safety issues are ignored the costs are high - both for the person injured and for the business.
From: 2003 to 2015:
- over 7400 workplace injuries were caused by forklift accidents in Australia
- 50% of forklift accidents involved pedestrians and resulted in 68 pedestrian deaths.
(ref: Comcare.gove.au and Worksafe)
In a recent case where a forklift accident caused a severe injury to an employee, a well-known manufacturer was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $150,000 for the breach.
Minimising the Risk
In a situation where employee walkways cross areas where heavy industrial vehicles are operating there is the potential for something to go terribly wrong – it is simply a matter of time.
An obvious solution to this problem is to separate pedestrians from forklifts. While designated pedestrian walkways do separate the vehicle traffic from pedestrian thoroughfares it doesn’t go far enough, particularly in areas where the pedestrian traffic and the forklift traffic intersect.
This situation can be easily managed with the installation of automatic pedestrian swing gates on the walkway and a boom gate across road. Electric locking mechanisms manage the operation of the gates to ensure only one gate is open at a time.
The pedestrian gate would normally remain closed and the boom gate would be open allowing forklift traffic to flow uninterrupted without having to look out for foot traffic.
For pedestrians to proceed across the roadway they would need to a push button which lowers the boom gate and once down the swing gate opens allowing safe passage for the pedestrian. Once safely across the swing gate can be closed and the boom gates raised again.
If you are looking for a solution to a vehicle or pedestrian access control issue - we are confident that, with our extensive range and high level of expertise, we will be able to provide you with a customised resolution to suit your situation.
Rotech’s range of automatic boom gates are designed to ensure quick, safe and secure vehicle access control.
Our pedestrian swing gate openers with electronic safety and positive locking provide the safest and most efficient option for industrial gates.
Many options are available across our considerable product range including solar powered equipment.
Offering a wide variety of products we have been fulfilling all kinds of automation control demands for more than 15 years. For more information about our product range, please contact us.
