Electronic badge to authenticate and track industrial vehicle operator

A system for controlling an industrial vehicle comprising:

• an information linking device that wirelessly communicates with a server;
• a badge communicator that communicates with electronic badges that are in short range proximity of the industrial vehicle;
• an operator badge that is worn by an operator of the industrial vehicle;
• a controller coupled to memory, wherein the controller executes program code stored in the memory to control the operating state of the industrial vehicle based upon the operator badge, wherein the controller executes the program code to:
• identify that the operator possessing the operator badge has approached the industrial vehicle;
• log the operator onto the industrial vehicle if the operator is determined to be authorized to operate the industrial vehicle;
• communicate with the server via the information linking device to identify that the operator has logged on to operate the industrial vehicle;
• pair the operator badge with the industrial vehicle upon determining that the operator is authorized to operate the industrial vehicle;
• and
• control the industrial vehicle based upon a location of the operator badge relative to the industrial vehicle to:
• turn on the industrial vehicle where the badge communicator detects that the operator badge is on the industrial vehicle;
• place the industrial vehicle in a standby mode where the badge communicator detects that the operator badge is in proximity to the industrial vehicle, but not on the industrial vehicle;
• and
• place the industrial vehicle in a stop mode where the badge communicator no longer detects that the operator badge is in proximity to the industrial vehicle.