Hello folks, The company I work for is considering installing forklift safety lights - blue and/or red ones, front, rear and sides. I am hearing these lights are especially effective in noisy environments where people are working in close proximity to forklifts. I also hear that the red lights are less visible in bright daylight than the blue lights. I'd be keen to hear of your experiences with these lights and how effective you deem them to be in preventing forklift vs pedestrian incidents. All feedback welcome, thank you.
I'm pretty sure you can't have blue flashing lights on a vehicle if it's driven on a road - http://www.police.govt.nz/faq/is-it-true-that-only-emergency-vehicles-can-use-red-and-blue-flashing-lights . The definition of a road is very broad - <a href="https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/roadcode-questions/car/core/whats-the-legal-definition-of-a-road/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/roadcode-questions/car/core/whats-the-legal-definition-of-a-road/</a>
So, if they're just used in a warehouse blue lights would be fine, but you wouldn't be able to use them in a right-of-way, public car park, footpath or road. Why aren't the using the standard orange flashing lights which are the usually hazard warning beacons?
I Michelle, we have one forklift that has a blue light at the rear only and it works very well in all indoor and outdoor environments. We are now looking at installing blue light front and rear on all our forklifts. I am not sure about the red lights. Our forklifts all operate on our site and not on any public locations.
Hi Michelle, we use the Blue lights on most of our forklifts (on the rear) which are in and out of coolstores and moving through plastic curtains. The Blue lights give great visibility to any pedestrians, these forklifts are operated on site not on the road.
Hi Michelle,
We have had blue lights fitted facing front and rear on our mobile plant now for about 2-3 years and as John above has mentioned, works well in all environments. Our largest warehouse operation has gone 1 step further and also has them fitted facing out to each side and in a busy warehouse operation with people and multiple mobile fleet operating has been very effective. Certainly can't have them activated however if you operate on a public road.
Thanks Darren for highlighting that these lights are not suitable to be used on roads. I would like to share a link with you to show the types of safety lights I am looking into. This link is not intended as an endorsement but to clarify that these lights shine on the ground and mark-out a zone around the forklift as opposed to signalling and flashing lights fitted to the rooftop. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5tMCJ2YOYw&t=5s Regards Michelle
They look like a good idea. Bear in mind that you can't have a red light shining forwards if you're on a public road (note the broad definition I already pasted above). https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/rules/vehicle-lighting-2004/ - section 2.1 (16). I'm not sure how your FLT WoF will work if you have non-standard lights because testing officers have been known to fail cars that have halogen lights that have just a slightly blue hue (of course, this isn't relevant if you're only using it in a closed yard or warehouse). You could always turn them off if you have to drive them on the road, as per Phil's suggestion.
At a previous company I worked at we had blue lights fitted that shone a spotlight on the floor 3-5m infront of the forklift. This increased visibility of approaching forklifts especially through doors / round corners.
I've seen similar lights in action in a very busy factory that was old and badly laid out - they were quite effective and were red in that case.
If both are available, I would suggest you get the supplier to let you test both types to see which are most visible in your workplace under a range of conditions - it may be affected by the ambient light, floor colour etc. Or maybe even a combination?
Hi Michelle,
We have one of our stand-up forklifts fitted with a blue light projecting forward 3 metres onto the ground and red lights all round also projecting 1.5 metres onto the ground, creating a "No-Go" zone box to the sides and rear. We find it really effective in letting both the forklift operator and other workers where the safe zone is.
We use that lights in qall our forklifts. The decision was made because our supplier http://www.llorsa.com/en/ recommended ir. And it and it really improves visibility