Each year, Security companies in Melbourne extensively invest in solutions and committees to ensure that their employees are safe at work. Conventional approaches to safety usually involve putting a physical barrier between the hazard and the employee, but this also slowed productivity. Companies have also noted a plateau in their safety mitigation performance. But there is a new approach to safety that does not completely rely on training and other initiatives. Rather, it adopts new safety technologies.
Wearable Technology
Personal protective equipment or PPE has come a long way from helmets and safety vests. Technology-enhanced PPE includes wearables like wristbands, shirts, and vests that warn its wearer of potential overexertion. These are programmed to monitor the vitals of the wearer, as well as their humidity and temperature levels in the work environment. There are even technology-enabled baseball caps that alert their wearer to hydrate and gloves that can measure grip strength. Others can detect when a worker falls in real time and signal emergency services. Industrial exoskeletons provide a dual service where they attach to the worker’s body to assist them in demanding repetitive and physical tasks.
Emergency Response
When workplace violence happens, you might only have moments to communicate the danger to the workforce. With new technologies, you can immediately communicate threats and give instructions to get to safety. New tracking technologies integrated into hard hats and vests can monitor lone workers or those working underground for real-time communication and tracking. This is critical in emergency events since mapping software and digital floor plans are essential to help first responders locate the source of fire and explosion and rescue workers. Visualization technologies like safety goggles and video cameras allow staff to see the point of view of the worker to see and assess situations for necessary repairs.
Workplace Safety Analytics
Incident reports are crucial in businesses, but they are truly beneficial because of their ability to produce predictive modeling that can tell when and where people face the most risk. The growing availability of data technologies along with increased data access makes predictive modeling accessible to many companies. These technologies take the incident report and combine it with company data like maintenance schedules, historical attendance, financials, and even sick leave data, all of which include external and relevant data for analysis on workplace injury. These analyses can be used to produce predictions for future safety issues and take steps to avoid them.
Better Training
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) bring the real world to the safety training of businesses and companies. VR creates a real work environment of the actual workplace, while AR then allows your employees to perform their daily activities and tasks in that environment. Workers become exposed to the everyday hazards of their job and develop the necessary skills to overcome these hazards without incurring the actual risk involved with these identified hazards.
Automation
Collaborative robots, otherwise known as cobots, are easy-to-use devices that are designed to help employees with repetitive, challenging, and dangerous tasks. These technologically-advanced cobots use what is called a human-machine interface that is the same as the one used in smartphones. Unlike conventional robots that require complicated coding knowledge to operate, these cobots are much easier to use. Because of this, there is a dramatic reduction in the effort, time, and cost of learning to direct them all the while keeping your workforce safe.
Along with conventional workplace safety initiatives, technology can bring workplace safety and security to a whole new level. With the right tools and machines, businesses and companies, big or small, can actively and effectively reduce workplace injuries and deaths.