Whether it's a blind spot or a sharp bend - visibility is often restricted when working with industrial trucks in the warehouse. Impact protection and collision protection in strong yellow and black signal colours help you to protect machines and products from collision damage. This increases work safety and prevents expensive repairs to operating equipment that can be caused by collisions between forklift trucks and warehouse racking. From simple impact protection bollards to robust impact protection bars and pipe protection, you will find a large selection of different products for impact protection and collision protection in our range.
In 2020, the German Social Accident Insurance recorded around 30,000 accidents in warehouses in connection with industrial trucks and material transport vehicles. Impact protection is important to prevent accidents at work and personal injury in everyday operations.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers are obliged to take measures in accordance with the applicable occupational safety and accident prevention regulations. DGUV regulation 108-007, which deals with storage facilities and equipment, defines how collision protection must be designed in warehouses. For example, stationary racks that are loaded and unloaded using non-guided conveyors must be secured at their corner areas (including passages) by a sufficiently dimensioned collision guard that is at least 0.3 metres high. This collision protection must not be permanently attached to the racking and must be marked with yellow and black hazard labelling.
Particularly in internal transport and loading areas, barrier and impact protection systems can:
Separate traffic and work areas
Regulate internal traffic
Secure storage areas and
Cordon off hazardous areas
They minimise the risk of accidents involving industrial trucks and material handling vehicles, reduce unplanned downtime and repair costs and can even improve insurance cover. Ultimately, they serve to protect people, machines, systems, goods and buildings from collision damage both indoors and outdoors and contribute to safe and efficient operations.
Before purchasing a impact protection system, you should ask yourself the following three questions:
There are different impact protection systems depending on the intended use . Different products are required for protecting long traffic routes or work areas than for protecting the edges of shelves and cabinets. Below you will find a description of the most common impact protection systems with corresponding application notes.
A simple rule of thumb applies here: the heavier and faster the equipment is that it has to withstand in the event of a fall, the more stable your impact protection system needs to be. After all, a handcart has a much lower impact force than a forklift truck or lorry. It is therefore important to clarify the potential sources of danger as part of the risk assessment and select suitable impact protection as a protective measure. The stability of the impact protection depends not only on the dimensions, but also on the material and the installation .
Depending on whether the impact protection is to be used indoors or outdoors, different requirements must be placed on the material. In the event of a collision with a piece of equipment, the impact protection itself can be damaged - if products made of non-galvanised steel are used outdoors, this can lead to the formation of rust, which further damages the product. You should therefore choose a corrosion-resistant material for impact protection systems that are used outdoors.
Impact protection can be implemented in various ways, be it close to the ground in the form of beams, impact protection bars or planks, selectively as corner and pillar protection or through the use of bollards. It is also possible to provide impact protection over a wide area.
Where there are many vehicles and aids on the road, collision damage is more frequent and more likely. If the time pressure factor is added to this, the risk is further increased both indoors and outdoors. Shelf supports, corners or drive-through areas are particularly susceptible to minor or major carelessness on the part of employees. All the more reason to protect expensive plant technology or building structures. This is best achieved with various impact protection systems that prevent collision damage in the long term.
Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions about impact protection and collision protection during operation.
The installation of impact protection prevents vehicles from colliding with operating equipment. Barriers provide a clear separation between footpaths and work areas on the one hand and driveways for forklift trucks and other internal vehicles on the other.
Crash bars can also be equipped with an integrated underride guard. This underride guard is a protective wall that extends between the sides of the impact protection and almost reaches the ground. This protective wall is designed to prevent the forks of a forklift truck from travelling under the impact protection bar. This prevents the forklift truck from getting stuck in the crash barrier or accidentally getting under the crash barrier.
Once you have decided on the right impact protection product made from the right material based on your risk assessment, it's time to install it. When attaching to the ground, you have the choice between setting in concrete or bolting down. Although setting in concrete is more time-consuming, it is the most durable option. If you decide to screw it down, you should always make sure that you use screws and plugs that are suitable for the surface. Ensure that there is sufficient distance from the object to be protected, especially with products that give way. Depending on the product, impact protection that is to be attached directly to the object to be protected (e.g. edge or wall protection profiles) can be screwed, self-adhesive, magnetic or attached using a plug-in system. In any case, you should also consider the type of installation when planning measures in accordance with your risk assessment.
In the DENIOS online shop you will find, among other things, impact protection products made of steel and impact protection made of high-quality plastic. When selecting the material, you should ask yourself what exactly the impact protection needs to do. Depending on the application, different material properties may be required. As a general rule, the larger the diameter and the thicker the material, the greater the resistance of your impact protection. So if heavy and fast machines are used in your business, you should use particularly robust impact protection.
When using impact protection in outdoor areas, the weather conditions must also be taken into account. If you need particularly robust impact protection, you should choose a product made of hot-dip galvanised steel, which offers protection against rust damage. Plastic impact protection, on the other hand, is completely corrosion-resistant - so there is no risk of rust damage after a collision with vehicles. However, galvanised steel is often the better choice for outdoor use, as plastic products have disadvantages such as cracks or similar in the material due to their poorer UV resistance. When it comes to collision protection, the main advantage of plastic is that the round shape and elastic material reduce the impact energy and thus also protect the approaching equipment.
Ultimately, users of impact protection and traffic safety equipment benefit twice over. With suitable protective measures and a prior risk assessment, you not only protect people and equipment, but also fulfil your legal obligations. This particularly concerns the assessment of potential hazards by the employer, in particular the safe design of working conditions. If transport routes are appropriately secured, this also increases occupational safety in these areas.
In companies with high-bay warehouses and industrial trucks, warning signs, floor markings and other accessories ensure safe factory traffic. Warning signs increase awareness, while floor markings separate lanes and prevent collisions between warehouse workers and forklift drivers.
Working with industrial trucks in warehouses is often associated with restricted visibility, which favours collision damage. Robust impact protection in a yellow and black signal colour protects machines and products from damage and increases work safety. Expensive repairs to operating equipment caused by collisions with forklift trucks are avoided. From impact protection bollards to robust impact protection bars, our range in the impact protection shop offers a large selection of protective measures.
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