Canadian Occupational Safety

18 www.cos-mag.com Canadian Occupational Safety I n a recent survey of about 1,000 safety profes- sionals, more than one-half of respondents said they favoured using wearables to track safety risk factors. Professionals most in favour, not surprisingly, tended to work in high- risk industries: manufacturing, construction and oil, energy or gas. At the same time, the survey, conducted by the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) Foundation, also revealed respondents had many concerns about the use of wearable sensors in the workplace. In recent years, advances in wearable technology have taken safety management in new directions. With sensors or wearables embedded in personal protective equipment (PPE), safety managers can gain a great deal of information, from the number of times a worker lifts a heavy object correctly to that worker's level of engagement in safety. A variety of new systems have recently come on the market, and while they should not be seen as a silver bullet, wearable devices offer innovative ways to improve safety in industrial workplaces. Sensors allow the safety manager to collect data on a wide range of factors. Wearables can be used to measure motion in specific parts of the body, which helps in determining whether any particular worker is properly performing a task, such as lifting, or whether a task is badly designed. They collect data about the environment: temperature, noise level and hazardous atmosphere. Wearable technology can also detect the presence of physical objects in the workplace that often cause "struck-by" injuries. A major purpose of wearable technology is to notify workers of problems so they can modify what they're doing. Their two-way communication capability and location detection is useful in any industr y that employs remote workers. Industries, such as mining, where fatigue is an issue, have also found them to be useful. CONNECTED SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES Detroit-based Guardhat combines the traditional hard hat with an Internet-of-Things (IoT) com- ponent. The Guardhat system actively monitors a worker's location, work environment, and even pulse and body temperature. The proprietary soft- ware platform collects and analyzes on-the-job data and can provide real-time alerts to the user and the supervisor in the event of an incident, such as a fall, and of potential workplace hazards, such as expo- sure to toxic gases, lockout zones and proximity to moving equipment. "We combine our advanced Internet-related tech- nology with dependable safety equipment to create a 3D space and holistic view of every user's work environment," says Anupam Sengupta, co-founder and chief technology officer at Guardhat. "This allows us to actively predict and prevent workplace accidents, which ultimately provides a better way to protect people." The key piece of PPE in the Guardhat system is the "smart" helmet. It provides situational awareness to prevent many kinds of injuries. For example, when a moving object, like a heavy construction vehicle, approaches a worker, sensors in the hat "talk to" sensors attached to the vehicle. The hat's sensors monitor the vehicle's proximity and, if they find the worker and the moving object are dangerously close, an alert is sent to both the worker and vehicle oper- ator, who can then get out of the way. In the case of a fall, the hat immediately detects the incident, determines the worker's location and sends an alert containing the location's co-ordin- ates to a safety control centre. At the same time, the hat alerts workers nearby and activates its SOS features. The centre makes video and audio contact, sends help and stays in touch with the worker until help arrives. With Guardhat, too, a worker's physical condition is constantly checked and when irregularities like an erratic pulse are detected, an alert is sent to the safety centre. The hat will also detect hazardous environments, such as gas leaks, and dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide, radiation and harmful chemicals. It then alerts both the workers and safety centre. Another innovative function of the Guardhat safety system, Remote Guidance, provides live assistance to a worker caught in serious, immediate danger. For example, it can guide a miner trapped in a darkened tunnel to find the quickest way out. It allows for video and audio transmission, enabling communication between the worker and the safety control centre. After the worker notifies the centre of the problem, the hat sends video to the centre. Using audio-visual feeds and geo-location, the centre can then provide live guidance to the worker and stays in touch with the worker until the situa- tion is resolved. The safety software collects data on all the incidents it tracks. That data is used to produce analyses: for instance, to develop ways to increase worker hazard awareness and to identify environ- ments that often negatively affect workers' health. Corvex Connected Safety's open, IoT software platform also uses sensors and wearable technol- ogy to help safety managers prevent and predict incidents. This system centres on the "Core," a per- sonal mobile device that looks like a smartphone and is worn by workers at all times, says Ted Smith, founder and CEO of Corvex Connected Safety, based in at Eden Prairie, Minn. The mobile device is connected to sensors on the worker's "smart" PPE and to the supervisor's personal device. The worker can input information about potential hazards in the device and send it to a supervisor in real time. The device also allows the worker to communicate with co-workers and receive notifications and safety information from a supervisor. Smart sensors embedded in workers' PPE moni- tor environmental conditions, such as temperature and noise, and ergonomic hazards, such as repeti- tive stress and struck-by hazards. These data go to the Core, which will alert the worker and provide safety directives. The system also allows a company to designate zones within the workplace where access may be controlled or where, due to certain hazards, workers must always be wearing specified PPE. Companies define the zone by placing Bluetooth beacons on the area's borders. Messages from the beacons to a super- visor will let the supervisor know if a worker has entered a zone and is not wearing the required PPE. Smith says the main purpose of the "connected" system is to improve safety by increasing worker engagement. The system is interactive, and the abil- ity to communicate with supervisors and peers gives them a stronger voice. They are encouraged to make hazard observations and participate in surveys. They know their concerns about potential safety hazards are reaching a supervisor and — because there is a digital, trackable way to measure how long it takes By Linda Johnson THE WEARABLE REVOLUTION The trend towards sensors and wearable technology is transforming safety management in high-risk industries

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