On a mission to safely collaborate

How do we keep people and plant operating in harmony while helping operators focus on moving material and keeping site operatives safe? That's been the number one focus of the industry forever, and more recently, it's helped to drive a digital revolution in new safety solutions.

This has led to some great technology being developed, but also some challenges. Particularly with cab clutter, as systems are added in and around operators, and client specifications have required the use of different solutions for machines, applications and sites.

For Dan Leaney, sales and operations director of Xwatch Safety Solutions, the industry's challenges aren't the solutions themselves. It's how you make them more accessible whilst not adding a new part to the cab's furniture.

I caught up with Dan at the Hexagon Live event in Las Vegas recently. He was there to talk about the need for a more collaborative approach, following Xwatch’s successful integration of its safety solution into the Leica Geosystems machine PA80\10 Safety Awareness Solutions. Hexagon is Leica Geosystems parent company.

Dan "There is no doubt the pandemic has played an important role in accelerating digital solutions adoption in our sector. For example, with the explosion in the use of machine control, we saw the ability to work with fewer people on site, creating a new norm.

"At the same time, we have seen the adoption of OEM agnostic digital site management tools from businesses like MachineMax and Finland's Infrakit, manipulating data from machines, and turning it into useful management information.

"The next step, in my opinion, is how we better integrate safety into all of these platforms and solutions. Only then can we truly understand the impact of the safer working practices they can support. To make such changes happen, we will need the whole sector to come together and collaborate on clear industry standards and reporting.

"Digital doesn't lie, and with detection and camera technology, you can easily capture safety incidents onsite. But how do we share knowledge and learn from such incidents when it comes to reporting something like a 'near miss' if we don't have a standardised digital approach?

"On the flip side of this, unless a solution is easy to use, people won't use it. Therefore it's more important than ever to adopt active 'always on' safety solutions that are integrated into the CAN bus of a machine and are therefore integral to its operation.

"This way, safety solutions become an everyday part of the operation of a machine. And like seatbelt alerts, safety data can also become a standard part of the digital dashboard. Through these more widely used dashboards, we can then report efficiently on safety and the positive outcomes it has on the job site.

"For example, I am a great believer in relating good safety practices to reductions in fuel consumption and productivity increases. If you have the right data, you can spot safety incidents and change behaviors, working practices, and much more. In turn, this can reduce downtime and idle times whilst improving outcomes.

"And when you can prove that this is happening, you can very easily put a real-world figure on the positive impact investing in safety can have onsite, outside the obvious protection of people and plants.

"We already see projects like HS2 and organisations like National Highways collaborating on developing and integrating next-generation safety and digital technologies within their supply chain for these reasons. So, the next step is how we communicate the positive impacts they are making and translate them to the rest of the industry.

"I also believe there is no one size fits all approach to safety. Nothing is now off the table when it comes to innovating to solve the obvious and the more application specific safety issues that, for example, prevent machines from tipping over or slewing into oncoming traffic. There is a lot more to come.”

So, look out for height, slew and rated capacity indication, laser walls, automated machine safety, and artificial intelligence led solutions. They will all be coming to a site near you, supporting operators and making sure everyone goes home at the end of the day.