Almost every proximity system warns the driver. Fewer of them warn the person about to be hit, and fewer still warn them in a way that works when the site is loud. ZoneSafe’s tags vibrate, and that design decision is the reason to shortlist it.
Noise is the quiet problem in this category. A reversing alarm competes with a compactor, an extraction fan and hearing protection. A vibration against the body does not compete with anything, and a warehouse worker who has been on shift for six hours will notice it when they have long since tuned out another beep.
The range, and why it is broader than detection
ZoneSafe sells a modular set rather than a single product: quick-fit proximity warning, HFR camera detection, AI pedestrian detection, vehicle-activated signs, visual alert systems, site access control, drop zone protection, and asset and hazard tagging.
The company frames the risk as three interaction points rather than one. People against vehicles, handled by 360 degree tag detection with alerts to both parties. Vehicles against vehicles, handled by layered alerts that give an operator time to slow. And vehicles against fixed hazards, handled by intelligent signage that lights up when a truck approaches an intersection, doorway or blind corner.
That third category is the interesting one, because it protects a place rather than a person. A sign that only activates when a truck is genuinely approaching keeps its meaning, where a permanently lit warning becomes wallpaper within a week. Our guide to forklift intersection safety covers why that distinction matters at blind corners.
Where it fits
Sites with a stable workforce who can reasonably be tagged, and with a mix of risks rather than one. The modularity is real: you can deploy on individual machines or across a fleet, and add signage where geometry rather than behaviour is the hazard.
Waste and recycling, logistics and warehousing are the sectors the company leads with, and its published customers are mostly UK operations across transport, aggregates and food.
Where it does not
The tag problem applies here as it does to every wearable-based system. An untagged visitor is invisible to the tag layer. ZoneSafe’s answer is the camera products in the same range, which detect people without tags, so the honest reading is that a complete deployment on a site with visitors means buying both layers, and should be priced that way from the start.
Be specific in the quote about which product does the detecting in each area, because the range is broad enough that two proposals with the same brand on the cover can describe very different systems.
Six alternatives worth quoting
SensorZone is the most direct comparison and also runs tag vibration, adding a beacon so bystanders are warned too. It publishes zone ranges from about 1 m for indoor forklifts up to 10 m for larger machines, tags rated beyond three years, and installation inside an hour per vehicle. Its tiering makes the tag-versus-camera decision explicit.
HIT-NOT swaps radio for magnetic fields, which pass through racking and loads. Consider it where your blind corners are structural rather than behavioural. See our HIT-NOT review.
ELOKON ELOshield offers programmable zone shapes, including asymmetric polygons, and a stationary version for fixed hazards such as aisle intersections, which competes directly with the signage use case.
Blaxtair removes the tag question entirely with camera AI, at the cost of needing line of sight.
ALIS Tech is the one to call if your hazard is narrow aisles and gates rather than open floor, pairing UWB with LED floor marking and automatic deceleration.
Claitec is a European alternative with a comparable pedestrian alert range, worth adding to a shortlist for price discovery if nothing else.
What to verify before signing
Ask how the tag is worn, because a lanyard tag and a hard-hat tag behave differently when someone bends into a pallet. Ask what the site does about visitors on day one, and get the answer in the proposal rather than in conversation. Ask whether the signage triggers from the same tags or its own sensors, since that changes what happens when an untagged vehicle approaches.
Then pilot in the worst area you have. The risk scorer will identify it and give you a scope every vendor can quote against.
