How Young Guns Designed Risk Out of the Inbound Area

Designing risk out of the inbound area

Young Guns redesigned the inbound area to reduce forklift-to-pedestrian interaction, creating a safer, more efficient operating environment through engineered controls and standardised workflows.

The Challenge

The inbound area is one of the highest-risk environments in any distribution centre. With people, forklifts and freight all moving through the same space, safe operations often depend on workers making the right decisions in a busy and constantly changing environment.

For our customer, reducing forklift-to-pedestrian interaction had become a priority safety objective across the site. The challenge wasn’t a lack of procedures. The challenge was that risk was being managed through behaviour, rather than designed out of the environment itself.

This Young Guns innovation helps keep the team and forklift separated.

The Solution

Young Guns partnered with an engineering specialist to rethink how the inbound area operated.

At the centre of the solution was the Dock Platform – a raised platform positioned at the container entrance that creates physical separation between team members and forklifts during pallet changeovers. By removing the need for workers to move around forklifts in congested areas, the design significantly reduces interaction between people and machinery.

The platform was not developed in isolation. It represents the fourth iteration of a concept Young Guns has refined since 2018, shaped through multiple rounds of frontline feedback, customer input and operational testing.

Coined ‘Project Zero Contact’ the solution extended beyond the platform itself. We also introduced dedicated forklift operating zones, clearly defined pedestrian walkways and a planning tool designed to regulate pallet flow and prevent congestion within the inbound area.

Rather than a standalone safety intervention, the project created a standardised operating model that improves both safety and productivity.

The Impact

Project Zero Contact changed how the inbound area functions.

By engineering separation between people and forklifts, the solution shifts safety from something workers must constantly manage to something embedded within the operating environment itself.

The objective is to standardise 90% of inbound work activities and reduce forklift-to-pedestrian exposure by more than 95%, while simultaneously improving throughput across the distribution centre.

The project also provides a consistent framework that can be replicated across sites, supporting Young Guns’ broader goal of establishing a national standard for inbound planning and pallet flow management.

Results at a Glance

Targeting a 95%+ reduction in forklift-to-pedestrian exposure
Designed to standardise 90% of inbound work activities
Physical separation between people and forklifts during pallet changeovers
Improved pallet flow planning to reduce floor congestion
Standardised operating model designed to improve both safety and productivity
Scalable approach being refined for broader implementation