Trials often fail for reasons that don’t show up in a demo: unclear ownership, alert fatigue, unrealistic maintenance, or controls that don’t fit real interaction scenarios. A due diligence checklist helps protect credibility and reduce avoidable friction—before anything goes live.
We’ve seen the difference between a “promising demo” and a trial that genuinely holds up usually comes down to the unglamorous stuff: ownership, behaviours, and what happens under pressure.
This isn’t about turning a trial into a technical contest. It’s about making sure the trial tests what will determine real-world effectiveness: site-fit, human factors, ownership and documentation, and sustainability under operational pressure.
We’ve seen the best trials start with a simple premise: test it where the risk and the pace of work are real—then make ownership and review non-negotiable.
Where trials break down before anyone notices (examples by industry)
Warehousing / Distribution Centres
Trials can “pass” in a quiet window, then fall apart once throughput returns and the site changes around them. We often hear similar themes afterwards: “It looked great… until peak periods.”
Pressure points to consider in your due diligence:
- Dock congestion, cross-aisles, and shift-change peaks (alert credibility under volume)
- Layout changes, seasonal overflow storage, temporary barriers (change control + retraining triggers)
- High turnover, labour hire, mixed languages and experience (training realism + supervisor cues)
- Change control clarity: who can adjust settings, who authorises changes, and how changes are documented
Waste & Recycling
Trials can look effective early, then degrade as grime, moisture, and operational variability accumulate—until people stop trusting the system. This is where “nuisance alerting” can become a human-factors problem, not a technology problem.
Pressure points to cover in your due diligence:
- Tip floors and yards with fast-moving patterns and variable lines of sight (site-fit clarity)
- Dust, airborne debris, washdowns, rain/condensation at doors (minimum maintenance standard)
- Frequent contractor/visitor movements and changing task setups (responsibilities + limitations in plain language)
- Nuisance alerts driving workarounds (how you’ll detect, investigate, and respond during the trial)
This article is general information only. It is not legal advice or safety consulting. Always align decisions to your workplace risk management process and traffic management controls.
1. Site fit and exposure scenarios
If you pressure-test these questions up front, your trial is far more likely to reflect real operations—not just best-case conditions:
- Which specific interaction scenarios does this support on our site (docks, intersections, racking ends, reversing)?
- What are the conditions where it is least effective (and how will we know)?
- What does “good performance” look like in busy, real operations (not quiet trial windows)?
2. Human factors: clarity, trust, and unintended behaviour
- What will people experience (what alerts, when, and why)?
- How do we reduce nuisance alerts and alert fatigue in normal workflows?
- What workaround behaviours should we watch for, and how do we detect them early?
- What training approach is recommended for operators, pedestrians, supervisors, and contractors?
3. Integration with existing traffic controls (not replacing them)
- How does this align with our traffic management plan, separation controls, signage, and right-of-way rules?
- What responsibilities remain procedural (training, supervision, rules enforcement)?
- What residual risk remains after implementation, and how is that communicated?
4. Ownership, change control, and documentation
- Who can change settings/configuration, and how is that controlled?
- How are changes requested, approved, tested, and recorded?
- What documentation is provided for: limitations, setup, inspection, training, and review?
- If we learn something during the trial that requires adjustment, what’s the change process—and who owns it?
5. Maintenance realism (the part that quietly breaks controls)
- What inspection/cleaning/verification is required, and how often in real conditions?
- What happens in dust, glare, rain/condensation, grime, low light, and washdown areas?
- What is the “minimum maintenance standard” to keep it effective?
- What are the signs it’s degraded—and what is the required response?
6. Trial design that stands up to scrutiny
- Which areas/shifts will be included (including peak congestion and night shift where relevant)?
- What baseline are we comparing against (near-miss patterns, observations, congestion windows)?
- What’s our decision rule at the end: proceed, adjust, expand, or stop?
- Who signs off operationally, and who signs off from a safety/risk perspective?
7. After the trial: sustaining effectiveness
A trial only proves something if you can sustain it. It’s worth pressure-testing what “normal operations” looks like after the initial attention drops off.
- What does a realistic rollout plan look like (training, comms, refreshers)?
- What review cadence is recommended (and who owns it)?
- How will learnings, incidents, and near misses feed back into improvements?
What pedestrian detection can (and can’t) do
Pedestrian detection can support your traffic management plan and control stack—especially at interaction points where full separation isn’t practicable. It is not a complete safety solution and it does not eliminate residual risk.
Sources
- Safe Work Australia – Managing risks: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/identify-assess-and-control-hazards/managing-risks
- Safe Work Australia – Code of Practice: How to manage WHS risks (PDF): https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/1901/code_of_practice_-_how_to_manage_work_health_and_safety_risks_1.pdf
- Safe Work Australia – Traffic management guide: warehousing (PDF): https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/1703/traffic-management-guide-warehousing.pdf
- OSHA – Hazard Prevention and Control: http://www.osha.gov/safety-management/hazard-prevention
