A pedestrian detection system senses people near a moving forklift, using wearable tags, cameras or other sensors, and warns the driver, the pedestrian or both before they come too close.
Pedestrian detection exists because being struck by a powered industrial truck is one of the most common warehouse injuries OSHA lists. Systems fall into two families. Tag-based systems range ultra-wideband tags worn by workers. Tagless systems use cameras with computer vision, and sometimes radar, to recognise people without anything worn. Some combine both. Outputs range from in-cab lights and buzzers to wearable vibration and, on compatible forklifts, automatic slowdown.
Detection is an engineering aid that reduces risk, not a replacement for traffic separation, training or the driver’s duty to look in the direction of travel under OSHA 1910.178. OSHA’s forklift standard does not require detection systems. The questions that decide whether one works are whether it detects every person who enters the area, how often it raises false alerts, and whether the alerts arrive early enough at the truck’s real travel speed. The pedestrian detection page covers camera systems and what to verify in a pilot.