Slippery floors in industrial settings like plants, warehouses and distribution centers are a common source of workplace injuries that could easily be avoided.
Spills happen fast and often aren’t realized until someone is already on the ground. Modern spill detection systems are intended to promote early detection of spills, give a faster alert, and reduce reliance on visual inspections.
What to Do After a Slip and Fall
Even with strong prevention measures, slip and fall incidents can still occur, so it’s important to respond quickly: protect injured workers, document the incident, and correct hazards to prevent repeats.
Workplace falls can also raise premises liability and regulatory concerns, particularly when injuries happen on commercial or industrial property.
In these cases, organizations or property owners may need legal guidance to understand liability exposure, reporting requirements, and next steps.
For incidents in Missouri, it may be appropriate to consult a slip and fall lawyer in St. Louis to better understand premises liability obligations and legal options, especially in cases involving industrial or commercial facilities.
Here are spill detection tools to prevent workplace falls.
1. Vision AI Spill Detection
Vision AI systems use cameras and machine learning algorithms to detect liquids, wet areas, and anomalous reflections on floors.
Once the Vision AI system has been trained to recognize the environment, it can accurately identify spills constantly over large areas of a facility, such as warehouse aisles or production lines, without coming into direct contact with the floor.
Vision AI systems present some challenges with respect to infrastructure. Cameras need sufficient amounts of light and need to be set up in the correct location. Processing video data can produce errors based on the quality of an organization’s network.
Depending on the camera set up, hardware, software, and on-going model, tuning costs could be moderate to high. However, for facilities that are looking for extensive coverage with minimal impact on daily operations, vision AI is often a good decision.
2. Edge Analytics Systems with Moisture and Slip Sensors
Edge analytics systems use moisture/slip sensors that are mounted on the floor in designated areas and are just a few feet from the surface.
These types of systems perform their own analytical processing locally rather than sending data to an external location for analysis. As a result, when moisture is detected, notifications can be sent immediately.
Low latency in high-risk areas is an invaluable benefit. However, the coverage area for these systems is limited to where the sensors are located. The installation of moisture/slip sensors may also be difficult especially in older buildings.
3. Spill Detection Using AMRs
The autonomous mobile robot (AMR) uses either optical, infrared, or LIDAR-based sensors to provide mobile, automated spill detection within facilities as the AMR traverses the floor space of the building. The AMR can adapt to different physical layouts and scan large areas of the facility over a shift.
To ensure accurate spill detection, AMRs must be carefully integrated with other equipment to avoid collisions and provide accurate predictions on magnitudes of spills.
The upfront cost to install and configure an AMR complete with spill detection capabilities is greater than using a fixed or edge-based system. However, many organizations with significant floor space or variable workflows find that the cost of implementing the AMR approach is justified.
4. Leak Detection IoT Sensors
Leak detection sensors are small devices that can be mounted in an area where there are pipes, drains, tanks, or equipment that frequently release liquid to detect moisture sooner and alert you. Leak detection sensors are both low-cost and relatively simple to install.
However, they will only help protect the area in which they are installed.
Therefore, it is very important that leak detection sensors be placed thoughtfully. In facilities that have known points of leaks, the deployment of leak sensors in those locations will be one of the most cost-effective ways to assist in preventing further incidents of slips and falls.
Use Technology to Catch Leaks Before They Spread
Ultimately, fall prevention in the workplace boils down to three key factors – visibility, speed and follow-through. The use of spill detection tools will provide safety teams with a significant advantage by providing actionable signals from once-hidden hazards.
But, technology is most effective when combined with clearly defined response protocols and ongoing, consistent oversight.
Main image by Alexas Fotos, Pexels
