John Gilder, General Manager of the CMHDS & the Forklift Rally said “It’s great to have such a prestigious organization such as Forkliftaction.com on board. Many forklift safety competitions, such as ours, operate at the grassroots level and have limited access to public promotion. Forkliftaction.com’s commitment to promoting & supporting events such as these says a lot about their commitment to the mobile equipment industry.”

“Forkliftaction.com provided promotion and coverage of our 14th Annual Event and helped drive a lot of traffic and attention to event’s website (ForkliftRally.com). After the event we began talking about taking our relationship to the next level and our partnership with regards to the May 2012 event is the culmination of those discussions.” said Gilder.

About Forkliftaction.com

Forkliftaction.com is the online reference, news service and marketplace for the global materials handling industry.

With correspondents in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, Forkliftaction.com now has over 53,000 members and an estimated 190,000+ newsletter recipients. Readers can trust Forkliftaction.com as they are an independent organisation, with no affiliation to any manufacturers.

For independent industry news, discussion forums, business directory, marketplace, spec checker, and industry events, register free at: http://www.forkliftaction.com/news/statlink.asp?statlinkid=8804.

Join us on Saturday May 5th, 2012 at the Cloverdale Agriplex for the 15th Annual BC Championship Forklift Rally. Four Divisions with over $3500.00 in prize money to be won!

• Free Admission For Spectators – Bring your friends and view the event for free!
• Forklift Basketball, Bowling & Soccer
• Bouncy Castle for the kids!
• The Latest & Greatest Forklifts – there will be a trade show with Rally sponsors showing off their products, services & new forklifts!

What Happens at Forklift Rally?

If you have never seen forklift skills competition before and are thinking about attending or competing we suggest you check out these pages within our website. You can also take a look at our YouTube Channel and photos of past years events on Flickr.

• What is a Forklift Rally?
• Competitor Orientation
• Our YouTube Channel
• Flickr Photos of past events

Date / Location

Saturday May 5th, 2012 at the Cloverdale Agriplex, 17798 62 Avenue, Surrey, BC

Event Agenda

• 9:00am – Competitor Sign-In (Competitors check in at sign-in table, confirm their division)
• 9:30am – Obstacle Course Competitor Orientation (Judges walk all competitors through the obstacle courses explaining all tasks)
• 10:00am – Competition Begins
• 2:30pm – Awards Ceremony (time approximate)

Registration

Registration opens in April 2012 – stay tuned!

(front row – left to right) Tryston Adachi, Jamie Fofanoff, Cory Endersby (back row) Mark Chiccarelli, John Jepsen, Andy Ibbotson, Randy Langwell, Angelo Balatsas, James Ralphs

1ST PLACE

• Mark Chiccarelli – Wallace & Carey – Power Pallet Jack Division
• James Ralphs – London Drugs – Reach Truck Division
• Randy Langwell – Americold – Counterbalanced Division

2ND PLACE

• Tryston Adachi – Best Buy – Power Pallet Jack Division
• Cory Endersby – i to i Logisitics – Reach Truck Division
• John Jepsen – Kodak – Counterbalanced Division

3RD PLACE

• Jamie Fofanoff – Best Buy – Power Pallet Jack Division
• Angelo Balatsas – Toyota Canada – Reach Truck Division
• Andy Ibbotson – Americold – Counterbalanced Division

Congratulations to all of our competitors and many thanks to our sponsors, volunteers & supporters.

The Harding Motorsport Race Car returns to the Forklift Rally and along with BC’s finest forklift operators, the BC Lions Cheerleaders, The Magic Forklift, The Bouncy Castle, the lunchtime BBQ and more there will be plenty to see and do at this year’s event.

Bring out the family and make a day of it! Remember spectators are admitted for free!

So, a couple of the Lions Cheerleaders will be joining us at around 11:00am to take in the Rally, pose for pictures with attendees and then be on hand to help out and pose for pictures in the awards ceremony.

If you’ve ever wanted to meet some of the Felion’s (from closer than the stands) here’s your chance!

 

 
From ForkliftAction.com

RFID Safety System Moving Toward Market Tests

An innovative safety system utilizing active radio frequency identification (RFID) tags may get tested on actual job sites during 2011, with the idea of gaining market entry within one year.

Pro-Active Safety Systems Technologies Inc (PSST) continues in the research-and-development phase “so we have not sold any of our systems into the marketplace at this time”, says Rick Shervey, PSST director. “The potential of our product is enormous, when you consider the fact that it is designed for use on virtually every type of mobile equipment” including dump trucks, skid steer loaders, overhead cranes and forklifts.

Applying the technology can pose challenges. For example, “forklifts are the hardest type of machine to make our system work on”, notes Shervey, who has experience as an industrial electrician. “These machines are so varied in their work environments that they create many issues that we are now in the process of solving.”

PSST utilises a highly advanced form of RFID that allows both a machine operator and people in the vicinity to receive warnings simultaneously.

“We are probably the only company in the world that possesses this technology for our usage,” he contents. “We have many patents pending at this time. We don’t say how we can do short range detection, but we are very good at it.”

The project is perceived as being more than 80% complete.

“PSST has made research breakthroughs that have stopped all of the other companies cold,” Shervey reports. “We need the government to continue supporting our efforts so we can launch the product soon.”

PSST has received funding from the province, nation and shareholders.

“WorkSafeBC has been a staunch supporter of PSST since the very beginning,” he notes. Three separate consecutive-year WorkSafeBC innovation-at-work grants to PSST have totaled almost CAD250,000 (USD257,000). Within British Columbia, the WorkSafeBC organisation promotes workplace health and safety, consults with and educates employers and workers, and monitors compliance with provincial occupational health and safety regulations.

PSST is applying for another WorkSafeBC grant this year. “We hope that they find our research important enough to fund us one more time,” he says.

The government of Canada has given PSST three consecutive funding contributions that add up to about CAD350,000.

In the midst of difficult economic times, “we have successfully raised CAD1.25 million from selling shares”, he says. “We estimate that we will need about CAN800,000 to CAN1 million more to make it to the marketplace with the product.”

Shervey and another industrial electrician, John DaSilva, founded PSST five years ago. “Yes, we did build the prototype in our garage,” Shervey recalls.

PSST is aware of five highly publicised fatal accidents over the past three years involving mobile equipment in the Canadian province of Alberta.

“With our prototype system, PSST can demonstrate that it could have helped to prevent at least three and perhaps four of these incidents, and when we finish the go-to-market unit, we believe that the product would have protected all five of those workers,” he says. “Keep in mind that we would never claim to be able to prevent all mobile equipment accidents, but we feel that our research will result in a product that can make a huge difference in our workplace safety. Not just here in Canada, but around the world as well.”

PSST conducted a system test of its technology with overhead cranes in the pot lines at Rio Tinto/Alcan Aluminum smelter in Kitimat, British Columbia.

“The smelter is an area of huge radio interference with very high magnetic fields,” he says. “We tested it there because it had the worst radio environment that we could imagine.”

Once the system is workplace tested, “we will have a device that can be programmed to suit almost every workplace need,” he says. “System settings will depend upon the jobsite requirements as will be determined by machine use, and the safety authorities on the individual jobsites themselves.”

PSST would like to collaborate with some original equipment manufacturers in order to integrate its system into their machines’ electronic control systems. “At this point we have been unable to attract their interest,” he says.

“Many people believe in us, but this product is definitely not like a software product where we can sell it to people and fix the glitches later,” Shervey says. “We need to have all the foreseeable glitches figured out before we can sell it.”

While the PSST team views saving lives as all important, “I hope that the people in the government share our concerns at the same level,” he notes. “Failure to receive government support will cause PSST to curtail our research and slow our path to market.”

The research work is conducted under PSST, but certain end-market products would be marketed through three other entities under PSST. In the case of mobile equipment, it would be PSST Mobile Equipment Ltd. Each entity would own the respective product’s intellectual property.

Join us on Saturday June 25th, 2011 at the Cloverdale Agriplex for the 14th Annual BC Championship Forklift Rally. Last years event drew almost 90 competitors and had 500 people in attendance. We are pulling out all the stops this year to make sure the 2011 Forklift Rally eclipses all previous competitor & attendee numbers.

• Free Admission For Spectators – Bring your friends and view the event for free!
• Competitors in the Counterbalance Division will get the chance to sink a basket in Forklift Basketball!
• New for this year, competitors in Reach Truck division will be Forklift Bowling!
• Get your picture taken with the BC Lions Cheerleaders!
• Bouncy Castle for the kids!
• Attendees can try out the The “Magic Forklift” RFID Safety System
• The Latest & Greatest Forklifts – there will be a trade show with Rally sponsors showing off their products, services & new forklifts!

What Happens at Forklift Rally?

If you have never seen forklift skills competition before and are thinking about attending or competing we suggest you check out these pages within our website. You can also take a look at our YouTube Channel and photos of past years events on Flickr.

• What is a Forklift Rally?
• Competitor Orientation
• Our YouTube Channel
• Flickr Photos of past events

Date / Location

Saturday June 25th, 2011 at the Cloverdale Agriplex, 17798 62 Avenue, Surrey, BC

Event Agenda

• 8:00am – Competitor Sign-In (Competitors check in at sign-in table, confirm their division)
• 8:30am – Obstacle Course Competitor Orientation (Judges walk all competitors through the obstacle courses explaining all tasks)
• 9:00am – Competition Begins
• 1:30pm - Awards Ceremony (time approximate)

Event Promotion

Need help in promoting the event to your employees or colleagues? Click here to download the Rally Poster (letter sized) or call the Forklift Rally office at 604-999-2979. We’d be happy to come to your workplace and speak about the event at a shift start-up or lunch meeting.

Sponsors

Ives Training Group- Ives is not only our Platinum Sponsor but designed & built the obstacle courses, created the written tests and supplied all of the judges. Rob Vetter and his team have contributed more than we can possibly remember over the years – thank you.

Johnston Equipment- One of our Gold Sponsors and one of the “original three” companies who have supported the event from day one back those many years ago. Dave Coutts and his team not only supply Raymond forklifts for the event, but also supplied and setup the racking, and provided and cooked up the free food. Gaining donations from companies such Freybe, Beaver Buzz, Saginaw Bakery. They have added immeasurably to the event (and the red Raymond balloons were a nice touch too!)

Deka-East Penn Battery- Brad Zimmerman and his crew are another of the ”original three” who have been there since the beginning. Deka-East Penn’s & Brad’s support has never wavered over the years and we are very thankful to have them on board.

Harding Forklift- In addition to supplying Yale forklifts for the event, Harding also brought out one of the Harding Motorsports Race Cars this year. Pete Harding & Phil Gimson have been on board as supporters for about 4 years now and they add a great dimension to the event.

Leavitt Machinery- This was Leavitt’s first year on board as a sponsor and coincided nicely with our first year of the Propane Counterbalance Division. The CAT forklifts supplied by Leavitt proved a popular choice. We look forward to have Jill Ferguson & her team back next year.

Wajax Industries- Val Wright and his team didn’t hesitate when we called and said we were looking for sponsors for this years event (we didn’t even get to do our sales pitch). We thank Val & his team for supplying Hyster forklifts and for his belief in us and our vision for the Forklift Rally.

We will have more details of the entire event and lots of pictures in the coming days*. In the meantime, here are the prize winners!

Reach Truck Division – 1st – Angelo Balatsas (Toyota Canada), 2nd – Rui Paiva (Manpower), 3rd – Brian Devereaux (Wallace & Carey).

Counterbalance (Electric) – 1st – John Jepsen (Kodak), 2nd – Will Anderson (VersaCold – Cliveden), 3rd – Andy Ibbotson (VersaCold – Cascade).

Power Pallet Jack – 1st – Dean Lariviere (VersaCold – Cliveden), 2nd – Chris Bronson (VersaCold – Cliveden), 3rd – Brian Potter (Gordon Food Service).

Counterbalance (Propane) – 1st – Steve Johnson (Lion’s Gate Fisheries), 2nd – Curtis Yew (Lion’s Gate Fisheries), 3rd – Lou Chevrier (Absorbant Products).

*Competitors not placing in the top three in their division will get their scoring results the week of May 7th.

Spanning the Province to bring you the finest in Forklift Skills,

The Thrill of Victory . . . . and The Agony of Defeat,

The Human Drama of Forklift Competition

This is the “13th Annual BC Championship Forklift Rally”

(see you Saturday!)