Pedestrian Safety
Pedestrian Safety
What is Pedestrian Safety?
Pedestrians are individuals who are walking, standing or performing any task on their foot. In industrial environments like construction sites, oil rigs, warehouses, mining areas, ports or factories, protecting these workers in areas where equipment, vehicles and machinery are operating or moving is referred to as pedestrian safety.
In such industrial settings, pedestrian safety becomes critically important, as pedestrians often share space with dump trucks, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), forklifts, cranes, loading and unloading operations, and heavy equipment. This exposes them to arrange of risks that differ significantly from those found on public roadways.
What are the common pedestrian safety risks in industrial environments and what are their causes?
The common pedestrian safety risks in industrial environments and their causes, include:
● Vehicle-Pedestrian Collisions: Common causes include operator blind spots, pedestrians entering active vehicle zones, operator distraction or fatigue, overspeeding, uncontrolled vehicles, and poor traffic management.
● Slips, Trips, & Falls: Causes include cluttered pathways, poor housekeeping (such as cables, debris, and tools), wet, oily or uneven walking surfaces, and inadequate lighting.
● Struck by Falling Objects: Causes include unsecured loads, overhead lifting operations, failure to barricade lifting zones, and improper stacking or storage practices.
● Struck by Moving Machinery/ Equipment: Causes include equipment malfunctions, lack of physical barriers, inadequate pedestrian safety awareness, and improper signalling or communication.
● Falls from Height (e.g., Elevated Walkways, Platforms): Causes include inadequate scaffolding or ladders, missing guardrails or fall protection, and improper training on working at heights.
● Caught-In/ Between Incidents: Causes include failure to follow lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures, pedestrians working or walking too close to machinery, unexpected machine movements, and insufficient clearance zones.
● Poor Emergency Evacuation During Crises: Causes include blocked emergency pathways, unclear exit routes, and inadequate emergency drills.
What role does technology play in ensuring pedestrian safety?
In modern industrial environments, where people and machines work in close proximity, technology plays a pivotal role in minimizing risks and enhancing pedestrian safety. While, traditional safety measures like physical barriers and signage remain essential, advanced technologies now provide real-time monitoring, predictive insights, and automated interventions that significantly strengthen safety protocols.
● Real-Time Monitoring and Detection: AI-powered video analytics leverages computer vision to analyse live feeds, detect pedestrians, monitor their movements, and identify unsafe interactions between people and machinery. In addition, sensors and edge devices, with on-site processing capabilities continuously monitor pedestrian safety zones, even in challenging environments with limited connectivity, ensuring instant hazard detection.
● Controlled Access and Site Management: Technologies such as geofencing and restricted zones establish virtual boundaries to prevent unauthorized pedestrian access in hazardous areas and trigger alerts or deny entry when breach occur. Digital Permit-to-Work Systems ensure that only authorized personnel access high-risk zones by issuing and tracking digital permits, further strengthening pedestrian safety.
● Collision Prevention and Proximity Alerts: Proximity Warning Systems use vehicle-mounted sensors (ultrasonic, radar, LIDAR) to detect nearby pedestrians, issuing visual and auditory warnings to both operators and pedestrians. Wearable Safety Devices allow pedestrians to wear tags (RFID, UWB, or Bluetooth) communicate with site systems, providing real-time alerts when pedestrians enter high-risk zones.
● Automated Emergency Response: Automated alarm systems trigger instant alerts, notifications, and evacuation guidance during incidents, ensuring timely response to emergencies and enhancing pedestrian safety. Centralized Incident Management through digital platforms allows real-time reporting, tracking, and resolution of safety incidents, ensuring quick action on identified hazards.
● Predictive Safety and Risk Analytics: Data-driven risk assessment analyzes historical incident data to identify high-risk areas, unsafe patterns, and near-miss hotspots, allowing proactive pedestrian safety planning. Machine Learning algorithms continuously learn from operational behaviors and refine safety protocols based on evolving site conditions and worker habits.
What is the role of AI video analytics for pedestrian safety?
AI Video Analytics is emerged as one of the most powerful tools for improving pedestrian safety in complex industrial environments where traditional controls often fall short. Unlike conventional surveillance systems, AI video analytics actively processes live camera feeds to detect unsafe situations in real-time, generating actionable insights that enhance pedestrian safety.
● Real-Time Pedestrian Detection: AI video analytics continuously monitors live video streams to identify pedestrians on-site, detect unauthorized entry into restricted or hazardous zones and tracks pedestrian movement patterns.
Example: If a worker accidentally enters a live loading bay, the video analytics system immediately detects the intrusion and triggers alerts.
● Proximity Monitoring and Collision Prevention: It analyzes spatial relationships between pedestrians and moving equipment, identifying unsafe distances and triggering real-time visuak, audible and system alerts to warn both operators and pedestrians.
Example: A forklift approaching a worker too closely can prompt the system to alerts both the driver and safety control room before a potential collision.
● Near-Miss Detection and Reporting: It system automatically captures and logs near-miss events, generates video-based incident reports for safety reviews, training, and process improvement, and helps identify recurring unsafe behaviors or high-risk areas that may compromise pedestrian safety.
Example: If a worker repeatedly walks through a blind spot area, AI logs this pattern for management to review and mitigate.
● Predictive Risk Analysis: AI video analytics examines historical video data to identify long-term risk patterns, generate heatmaps of pedestrian-vehicle interactions, and enables safety teams to redesign workflows, routes, and work zones based on actual data to optimize pedestrian safety.
Example: A site may reroute foot traffic after analytics show heavy overlap between pedestrians and heavy machinery routes.
● Reduced Human Monitoring Burden: AI video analytics operates continuously without fatigue or distraction, supplementing safety personnel with uninterrupted digital oversight.
Example: AI CCTV cameras continue monitoring during night shifts or understaffed hours, maintaining consistent safety surveillance.
Thus, AI Video Analytics transforms passive monitoring into proactive, intelligent pedestrian safety management, offering real-time threat identification, continuous learning, and ongoing support to both workers and management.
Why choose viAct for Pedestrian Safety to improve worksite safety and prevent pedestrian-vehicle collisions?
viAct for Pedestrian Safety offers a comprehensive, technology-driven approach to protecting pedestrians in high-risk industrial environments where heavy machinery and foot traffic frequently intersect. By leveraging advanced AI video analytics, viAct continuously monitors live video feeds to detect pedestrians in real-time, identify unsafe proximity with moving equipment, and trigger instant alerts to prevent potential collisions – directly enhancing pedestrian safety.
What makes viAct for pedestrian safety particularly effective is its scenario-based customization and edge processing capabilities via viMAC. Whether deployed on construction sites, warehouses, manufacturing floors, ports, or mining operations, viAct adapts to the unique layout and workflow of each site, ensuring precise hazard detection even in low-connectivity environments to safeguard pedestrian safety.
Additionally, the system automatically logs near-miss incidents, generates safety heatmaps, and provides data-driven insights that help companies redesign workflows, optimize pedestrian routes, and strengthen overall safety culture. With built-in digital reporting features, viAct simplifies regulatory compliance and audit readiness, making it a powerful solution for organizations aiming to create safer, smarter, and fully accountable worksites focused on pedestrian safety.
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Article by
Barnali Sharma
Content Writer
Barnali Sharma is a dedicated content contributor for viAct. A university gold medalist with an MBA in Marketing, she crafts compelling narratives, enhances brand engagement, and develops data-driven marketing campaigns. When she’s not busy working her content alchemy, Barnali can be found commanding stages with her public speaking or turning data into stories that actually make sense -because who said analytics can’t have a little creativity?