If your workplace has moving vehicles such as Forklift trucks, Stacker Trucks, Pallet Jacks, MEWP's, AWP's, Scissor Lifts, or virtually any other powered work vehicles, then there is one safety system that can protect pedestrians against crush injuries and also protect racking, support columns, barriers, walls, plant and equipment from crashes and bashes…
Introducing the ACKBelt® Anti-Crush, Crash Detection and Protection range
These are ACKBelt® flexible, Rubber, Electronic Switches!
To address the risk criteria where forklifts, pallet trucks, stacker trucks and other powered burden trucks are operating in confined areas, Weston Handling developed a series of Patent Pending Anti-Crush Safety Systems, including the ACKBelt® (Anti-Crush Kick-Pad™), and the CrashPad™.
Both systems are essentially the same in construction, being normally open (NO) electrical switches, which are made of flexible rubber bodies, with state-of-the-art conductive textile layers Kevlar stitched to the inner faces, which are kept apart by soft rubber supports until external forces make them contact.
ACKBelts and CrashPads can be quickly and easily mounted to the outside of a pallet truck chassis or a fork truck counterbalance, Racking, Barriers, Walls, etc., with adhesive or magnetic backing, and permanently fixed with screws through eyelets.
ACKBelts, fitted around the base of a pallet or stacker truck, can be connected directly in parallel to the truck's existing, mandated Anti-Crush Button (ACB) mounted on the Tiller Head, effectively extending the ACB’s area of detection by 800% plus.
Thus, if an operator should get their foot trapped between the truck and an obstacle, the trucks own Anti-Crush system is instantly activated, throwing the vehicle away from the operator.
Varying degrees of padding can be fitted behind the ACKBelt®, to add further protection for the operator.
The CrashPad™ works in the same way but is bigger and is designed to be fitted on the outside of the forklift’s counterbalance.
But because forklifts do not have the equivalent of an ACB, they are fitted with a separate alarm system, with a Klaxon and Flashing Beacon being activated to alert the driver and personnel/management in the area that the forklift has struck an obstacle.
With a forklift weighing several tons, the probability of mitigating the force of an impact from the forklift is minimal and so the CrashPad™ is seen more as a training and control system, by alerting management instantly when a collision occurs.
So for Forklift trucks, AWPs, MEWPs, and fixed plant and installations, we developed ACKAlarms™, simple battery or mains powered alarm boxes that can be deployed anywhere that an ACKBelt® or a CrashPad™ is fitted, independently of a truck’s electronic control system.
Impact absorbing Barriers and Racking Protectors offer some protection against fork truck damage, but by fitting them alone, are the owners simply condoning bad driving and accepting that they have to pay to mitigate the damage?
ACKAlarms with Beacons and Klaxons
ACKAlarms, connected to ACKBelts and CrashPads that can be fitted in minutes on virtually any piece of plant or machinery, can instantly alert management of bad driving, allowing them to take appropriate action to eliminate the problem.
Protecting AWP & MEWP Operators from Entrapment
Following on from the development of ACKBelt® and CrashPad™ Anti-Crush Systems, the serious problem of Anti-Entrapment protection on MEWPs was addressed by incorporating ACKBelts into the A-R-C-Angel®, the (Anti-Rear-Crush-Angel™).
While most other systems in the world for protecting operators from entrapment, rely on the operator being ‘crushed’ against a switch on the control panel, the A-R-C-Angel® uses a pop-up guard behind the operator to detect the close proximity of a trap hazard and instantly warn them before they are struck.
If just one of the A-R-C-Angel® ‘Wings’ is touched, the system triggers the alarm. The tough mesh between the wings protects against narrow hazards, such as protruding scaffold poles and ‘I’ Beams. Makes sense?
By the fitting of CrashPads to the outside of MEWPs and ACKBelts and CrashPads to the tractor units on the ground, all round protection can be given to the operator, the MEWP, and the surrounding plant and personnel.
Factories and workplaces, from sophisticated Airport’s to chaotic Construction sites, have a need to protect personnel and plant from crush, crash and bash damage. Only ACKBelts, CrashPads and A-R-C-Angel® anti-entrapment systems can deliver both physical protection against these incidents AND instantly report occurrences to management.
ACKBelt®-CrashPad™ Forklift Truck Anti-Crush Safety System
For further information
For more information, plase visit https://www.whcltd.com/anti-crush-systems or get in touch.
To see an how an ACKBelt® prevents crush injuries, watch our video here.
To see how easy it is to fit an ACKBelt® “CrashPad™ on a forklift truck, watch our video here.
To see the A-R-C-Angel™ MEWP & AWP Anti-Entrapment Safety System, with 'Angel Wing’ Protection, watch our video here.