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A safety system, and associated methods of operation, for detecting a mobile hazard on a pathway and reporting to a user information relating to the object to help the user avoid a collision with the mobile hazard. The safety system includes a sensor system for detecting the concurrent presence of b

A safety system, and associated methods of operation, for detecting a mobile hazard on a pathway and reporting to a user information relating to the object to help the user avoid a collision with the mobile hazard. The safety system includes a sensor system for detecting the concurrent presence of both a user and a mobile hazard within a monitoring zone of the sensor system. Upon detection of both the user and the mobile hazard within the monitoring zone, the sensor system generates a sensor signal. The sensor signal is received by a reporting system, which in response, generates a warning signal to alert the user to the presence of the mobile hazard.

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1. A safety system for avoiding collisions with mobile hazards on a pathway, the system comprising: a sensor system configured to monitor a pathway, the sensor system configured to detect a concurrent presence of a human user and a mobile hazard within a monitoring zone, the sensor system further co

1. A safety system for avoiding collisions with mobile hazards on a pathway, the system comprising: a sensor system configured to monitor a pathway, the sensor system configured to detect a concurrent presence of a human user and a mobile hazard within a monitoring zone, the sensor system further configured to generate a sensor signal in response to detection of the concurrent presence of the human user and the mobile hazard within the monitoring zone; anda reporting system in communication with the sensor system, the reporting system configured to receive the sensor signal and generate a warning signal to alert the human user to the concurrent presence of the mobile hazard within the monitoring zone. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor system includes a first sensor subsystem positioned at a first end of the pathway and a second sensor subsystem positioned at a second end of the pathway, wherein the pathway spans between the first and second sensor subsystems. 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first and second sensor subsystems each include a light curtain having one or more light beams traversing a portion of the pathway to detect the concurrent presence of the human user and the mobile hazard within pathway. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting system is configured to generate the warning signal based on proximity of the mobile hazard to the human user. 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting system is configured to deliver the warning signal to an output device attached to the mobile hazard. 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting system comprises an output device for the warning signal, the output device configured to be carried by the human user. 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the warning signal includes one or both of a visual alarm perceived by the human user and an audible signal heard by the human user. 8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a distraction system in communication with the reporting system, wherein the reporting system is further configured to generate a distraction signal and transmit the distraction signal to the distraction system, the distraction system generating a distraction to urge movement of the mobile hazard away from at least one of the pathway or the human user in response to receiving the distraction signal from the reporting system. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the pathway includes a staircase having a top step at a first end of the staircase, a bottom step at a second end of the staircase, and one or more steps spanning between the top and bottom steps, and wherein the sensor system includes a first sensor subsystem positioned proximal to the top step and a second sensor subsystem positioned proximal the bottom step. 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile hazard positioning system for monitoring a position of the mobile hazard within the pathway, and wherein the mobile hazard positioning system is in communication with one or both of the sensor system and the reporting system, the mobile hazard monitoring system configured to generate a signal to communicate position information of at least one of the mobile hazard or the human user in response to the sensor system detecting at least one of the mobile hazard or the human user within the pathway. 11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile hazard positioning system for monitoring a position of the mobile hazard within the pathway, and wherein the mobile hazard positioning system includes one or more sensors, each sensor located at a position along the pathway, and wherein each sensor has a corresponding sensor field for which the sensor is configured to detect at least one of the mobile hazard when the mobile hazard is located within the sensor field or the human user when the human user is located within the sensor field. 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the pathway includes a staircase having a plurality of steps, and the position information identifies at least one step of the plurality of steps at which the mobile hazard is located. 13. The system of claim 1, the sensor system comprising a tagging system including a tag and a tag reader, the tag carried by one or both of the human user and the mobile hazard, wherein the tag reader is configured to capture data from the tag to detect the presence of at least one of a human user or a mobile hazard within the pathway. 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobile hazard is an animal and the tag is carried by an article worn by the animal. 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the data captured from the tag includes at least one of identification information of the animal or positioning information of the animal within the pathway. 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the tag is carried by an article of clothing worn by the human user. 17. The system of claim 13, further comprising an illumination system in communication with one or both of the tagging system and the reporting system, wherein the illumination system is activated to illuminate the mobile hazard within the pathway in response to the tagging system detecting both the human user and the mobile hazard within the pathway, wherein the pathway includes a staircase having a plurality of steps, and wherein the illumination system includes a plurality of individual illumination sources, and wherein each step of the plurality of steps in the staircase includes an individual illumination source of the plurality of individual illumination sources. 18. The system of claim 1, further comprising an illumination system in communication with one or both of the sensor system and the reporting system, wherein the illumination system is activated to illuminate the mobile hazard within the pathway in response to the sensor system detecting both the human user and the mobile hazard within the pathway. 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the pathway includes a staircase having a plurality of steps, and wherein the illumination system includes a plurality of individual illumination sources, and wherein each step of the plurality of steps in the staircase includes an individual illumination source of the plurality of individual illumination sources. 20. The system of claim 1, wherein the pathway is a staircase with a plurality of steps and a handrail, and wherein at least a portion of the sensor system is attached to the handrail. 21. The system of claim 20, wherein the sensor system is activated in response to the human user contacting the handrail, and deactivated in response to the human user releasing contact of the handrail. 22. A method for monitoring a mobile hazard on a pathway to avoid collisions between a human user and the mobile hazard, the method comprising: detecting, via a sensor system, a concurrent presence of a human user and a mobile hazard within a monitoring zone of the sensor system;generating, via the sensor system, a sensor signal in response to detecting the concurrent presence of the human user and the mobile hazard within the monitoring zone;receiving, via a reporting system, the sensor signal from the sensor system; andgenerating, via the reporting system, a warning signal based on the sensor signal from the sensor system, the warning signal communicating to the user information relating to the presence of the mobile hazard within the monitoring zone. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the sensor system includes a first sensor subsystem positioned at a first end of the pathway and a second sensor subsystem positioned at a second end of the pathway, wherein the pathway spans between the first and second sensor subsystems. 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first and second sensor subsystems each include a light curtain having one or more light beams traversing a portion of the pathway to detect the concurrent presence of the human user and the mobile hazard within pathway. 25. The method of claim 22, further comprising generating, via the reporting system, the warning signal based on proximity of the mobile hazard to the human user. 26. The method of claim 22, further comprising delivering, via the reporting system, the warning signal to an output device attached to the mobile hazard. 27. The method of claim 22, wherein the reporting system comprises an output device for the warning signal, the output device configured to be carried by the human user. 28. The method of claim 22, wherein the warning signal includes one or both of a visual alarm perceived by the human user and an audible signal heard by the human user. 29. The method of claim 22, further comprising: generating, via the reporting system, a distraction signal;transmitting, via the reporting system, the distraction signal to a distraction system; andin response to receiving the distraction signal, generating, via the distraction system, a distraction to urge movement of the mobile hazard away from at least one of the pathway or the human user. 30. The method of claim 22, wherein the pathway includes a staircase having a top step at a first end of the staircase, a bottom step at a second end of the staircase, and one or more steps spanning between the top and bottom steps, and wherein the sensor system includes a first sensor subsystem positioned proximal to the top step and a second sensor subsystem positioned proximal the bottom step. 31. The method of claim 22, further comprising monitoring, via a mobile hazard positioning system, a position of the mobile hazard within the pathway, and communicating to the user, via the reporting system, position information related to the position of the mobile hazard relative to a position of the human user. 32. The method of claim 22, further comprising monitoring, via a mobile hazard positioning system, a position of the mobile hazard within the pathway, and generating a signal, via the mobile hazard positioning system, to communicate the position of at least one of the mobile hazard or the human user in response to the sensor system detecting the mobile hazard or the human user within the pathway. 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the pathway includes a staircase having a plurality of steps, and the position information identifies at least one step of the plurality of steps at which the mobile hazard is located. 34. The method of claim 22, the sensor system comprising a tagging system including a tag and a tag reader, the tag carried by one or both of the human user and the mobile hazard, the method further comprising capturing data from the tag, via the tag reader, to detect the presence of at least one of the human user or a mobile hazard within the pathway. 35. The method of claim 34, wherein the mobile hazard is an animal and the tag is carried by an article worn by the animal. 36. The system of claim 35, wherein the data captured from the tag includes at least one of identification information of the animal or positioning information of the animal within the pathway. 37. The method of claim 34, wherein the tag is carried by an article of clothing worn by the human user. 38. The method of claim 34, further comprising illuminating, via an illumination system, the mobile hazard within the pathway in response to the tagging system detecting both the human user and the mobile hazard within the pathway, wherein the pathway includes a staircase having a plurality of steps, and wherein the illumination system includes a plurality of individual illumination sources, and wherein each step of the plurality of steps in the staircase includes an individual illumination source of the plurality of individual illumination sources. 39. The method of claim 22, further comprising illuminating, via an illumination system, the mobile hazard within the pathway in response to the sensor system detecting both the human user and the mobile hazard within the pathway. 40. The method of claim 39, wherein the pathway includes a staircase having a plurality of steps, and wherein the illumination system includes a plurality of individual illumination sources, and wherein each step of the plurality of steps in the staircase includes an individual illumination source of the plurality of individual illumination sources. 41. The method of claim 22, wherein the pathway is a staircase with a plurality of steps and a handrail, and wherein at least a portion of the sensor system is attached to the handrail. 42. The method of claim 41, further comprising activating the sensor system in response to the human user contacting the handrail, and deactivating the sensor system in response to the human user releasing contact of the handrail.