Springbelt has developed Springbelt-Flex as a comfortable, easy-to-use industrial seatbelt by introducing a fully functional, ISO9001 compliant ALR, (Automatically Locking Retractor). The Springbelt-Flex is tested to FMVSS-302 for the market in the United States.
Ensuring that the employees wear a correctly fastened seatbelt is most probably one among the significant changes that an employer can make to any safety programme involving forklift truck or mobile plant in a short period of time. Safety is the legal responsibility of the employer.
Designed for use on forklifts, mobile plant and agricultural equipment, Springbelt-Flex is a restraint device crash tested to 50kph that sits over the forklift operators’ lap like a protective halo.
Many forklift operators do not fasten their seat belts since, they may find them unnecessary or think that it is safer to try and jump free in an emergency, and the result is often tragic.
Hence, Springbelt felt compelled to develop a more practical alternative, which is the Springbelt-Flex. It is so called because it springs up when unbuckled making it a real nuisance and uncomfortable to operate the machine or mobile plant.
When buckled, the Springbelt-Flex holds the operator firmly, comfortably and safely in his seat. A universal fitting kit makes it easy to install Springbelt-Flex in all common types of mobile machinery. The Springbelt-Flex can be fitted be fitted with ignition lock-out features.
A normal seatbelt if correctly fastened will lock a driver’s hip in a forward position, which is comfortable for operators travelling forward; however, a forklift operator in particular will spend approximately half his time travelling in reverse and the other half in a forward direction.
Springbelt-Flex allows the operators the freedom of movement they require while at the same time keeping them safely restrained in the vehicle in the event of an accident.
If there is an incident where the driver expects a tip over is going to occur Springbelt-Flex will keep the driver inside the cabin, where statistics prove there is a high chance of surviving.
Springbelt-Flex can be locked into a position, so that it springs erect and becomes a nuisance to the operator if he is not wearing it while positioned in the driver’s seat.
Springbelt-Flex will overcome the objections from drivers that it is too uncomfortable to wear their safety belts while performing their duties in an expedient manner.
The bottom line where seat belts are concerned
World-wide, forklift tip-overs and roll-overs account for about 25% of all serious forklift related injuries. Safety is the legal responsibility of the employer. The employer is liable for inadequate safety.
Springbelt-Flex fits all common types of mobile machinery and on average would take less than 30 minutes to install and be immediately operational. AS2596 is the Australian Standard for aftermarket replacement seat belts and will conform to any vehicle.
Springbelt-Flex complies with Australia Design Standards AS2664 as well as international standards ISO-6683, SAEJ386 and FMVSS-302 for the market in the USA.
Springbelt-Flex can be used with all industrial vehicles, mining and earth moving plant as well as agricultural vehicles such as tractors or harvesters.
Optional extras are eclectically switching buckles that can be wired into a vehicles ignition or forward / reverse transmission, inhibiting the operator until the belt is fastened.