Ensuring safety with a smart occupational risk strategy

seguridad industrial prl prevencion de riesgos computer vision

The potential of  Computer Vision and machine learning in industrial environments is truly powerful. Using high technology as a tool is beneficial, not only to have greater control of the business but also to improve team productivity. 

When companies leverage intelligent insight to take a more strategic view of how operations work, project leaders’ awareness expands to make better and faster decisions.  

 

Why and when to apply artificial intelligence in companies? 

 

When starting any project, whether you are in the industrial, logistics, engineering, or construction sector, everyone faces a wide range of probabilistic uncertainty.  

It is key to manage the response to threats and opportunities through an advanced strategic plan that allows us to pinpoint risk factors, probabilities, and incidences, both to avoid them and to improve processes.  

Applying the right strategies can save companies millions of euros worth of raw material losses, mismanaged equipment time, and even prevent fatal accidents.  

Having key actions that pose risk scenarios is essential to ensure control and security within the departments. 

Advanced Computer Vision systems allow you to capture real-time information, process it, and centralize control to create a simple dashboard that makes it easy to read important data.  

 

How does Artificial Intelligence help in risk management?   

prevencion de riesgos laborales inteligencia artificial

On a large construction site, there are usually hundreds of workers constantly rotating. Maintaining control and coordination of all activities is one of the most complex and costly tasks encountered in the industry.  

The Occupational Risk Prevention Law (LPRL) enacted the right of workers to obtain health and safety at work. For this it is necessary to have: 

  • Prevention Plan

This document will establish the company’s prevention policies, the company’s preventive organization chart, and the procedures to be followed in terms of occupational risk prevention.

This file should reflect and assess the occupational risks present in the company’s daily operations.    

  • Plan the preventive activity:  

Develop and analyze the results of the assessment of the occupational risk to establish specific measures with actions to prevent those risks. This section should be planned over time, to eliminate, reduce, or control risks after the previous evaluation. Prioritize and contrast with measures the most dangerous risks.  

  • Record activities: 

Control through an activity log is essential to verify that workers have been able to exercise their right to receive adequate monitoring to ensure their safety. Also, that they have received the necessary information and training to take appropriate precautions.  

  • Evaluate risks and losses:  

It is important to draw up a document in which all the existing risks that may occur in the construction site are listed, adding the cost that they would represent for the company, separating minor risks from major ones. 

  • Create a health and safety plan 

This document is drawn up by the contractor to identify the risks and plan the actions to be taken in the event of any of the above situations occurring. It also establishes the means of control and coordination of the work to be carried out on site. This requirement must be approved by the Health and Safety Coordinator, a competent technician hired for each project.   

 

Keys to develop a strategy for occupational risks prevention 

 

  • Ensures workers’ health monitoring, coordinates with one or more External Prevention Services (SPAS), and implements advanced monitoring systems to monitor workers’ behavior.  
  • Plans and develops training and informative activities on occupational risk prevention for all employees. 
  • Organizes emergency response measures and implements an emergency plan in each workplace of the company for each scenario in which it may develop. 
  • Install the relevant collective protections, such as railings, guards, machine protections, etc. 
  • Monitor the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) through intelligent video surveillance cameras to detect its use and warn of non-compliance with regulations. 

 

More than having a preventive contingency plan to identify resources, assign roles and responsibilities, the management of a construction site must be able to integrate intelligent solutions that allow omnipresent control of the safety of spaces and workers.   

A factor that is adding to the legal preventive regulation and that manages to avoid any type of catastrophe in the construction industry is Visual Artificial Intelligence.  

Computer Vision helps the team in charge, engineers, or project managers to recognize hazards in the workplace through a simple to manage platform for any worker.    

 

Security based on real-time detection and predictions

 

Perspectiv uses a deep learning algorithm trained on construction site images and accident records to monitor high-risk spaces and mitigate accidents. The system monitors workspaces to obtain an instant identification of the use or non-use of PPE by each individual, detect problems in the work area, for example, in the railing or scaffolding, and even the detection and immediate alert of accidents and falls.  

Safety is one of the biggest (and most costly) issues in the construction industry. Any situation can trigger an accident, either because the worker is not wearing gloves or goggles or is working too close to a hazardous area, perhaps with dangerous machinery.  

In addition to real-time detection and alerting, which enables high-performance video processing, Perspectiv monitors and predicts workplace activity. In an industry that suffers from low productivity and high costs, Computer Vision becomes a critical component that helps the profitability of the business.  

Addressing threats is made simple with Perspectiv and its predictive analytics system.

The platform analyzes and predicts the risk of potential accidents by analyzing images and data over a target time frame. This processing makes it possible to decipher the likelihood of worker falls or shortcomings by analyzing the points and areas where incidents have been detected.

This projection allows companies to plan and activate contingency plans to prevent a negative scenario of coronavirus outbreak. 

Perspectiv can identify a person working from heights, at the edge of a cliff, in an area with poor security, or anywhere else. Identifies people on ladders, carts, roofs, etc.  

 

Risks that may have negative impacts on project targets should they materialize.

Working to avoid, transfer and mitigate is much simpler, more effective, and accurate when using Computer Vision and algorithmic systems developed to solve the specific needs required by the industry.