FEATURE


PRODUCTS VERSUS SOLUTIONS


Gary Escott, Co-founder of SiteZone Safety, discusses the merits of developing health and safety technology as a collection of solutions, rather than just product installations that simply scratch the surface of lasting change.


WORKING AND LIVING IN THE


CONNECTED WORLD There’s no doubt about it - we live a data-driven age. The constant stream of information in our daily lives is almost unquantifiable, not just in volume but in what we learn and share with each other, whether at work or at play.


The so-called ‘internet of things’ has a significant part to play in the safety arena. That interconnection of devices to the internet can, and already has affected the lives of many in the work environment across different sectors. I think we should take the same ‘connectivity’ approach with safety practices.


THE OLD WAYS NEED SOME HELP At SiteZone Safety we believe that being informed


about certain types of risk behaviour helps immensely with targeting training and reducing occupational collision incidents between people and vehicles. As someone who has been involved with health and safety for many years, I don’t believe that anyone should feel insecure during the course of their daily work, especially if they do a high-risk job.


Not for one moment am I criticising our existing conventional safety practices. However, I do feel that we must make room for more smart technological assistance that acts as a complement to our existing practices.


EFFECTING REAL CHANGE THROUGH


SOLUTIONS-BASED THINKING Technology has so much more scope than we realise. Even when we started out with our SiteZone proximity warning system, it was about refining a physical component that prevented accidents, and still does. But you know what they say, ‘information is power’. We soon realised that the same mistakes were being


repeated and efficiencies compromised as a by- product, despite using an excellent product.


We needed to transform the proximity warning offering into a ‘solution’ – this went beyond a good ‘product’ to install in a machine, even with all the merits that it provides. This is how our offerings like ‘SmartBubble’ were born. The creation of an automated proximity warning system that allowed authorised approach to plant machinery in a safe state. Basically, the alarm didn’t go off unnecessarily. It saves lives, and on top of that, time and money.


Telematic data capture was our first step in the information-based solution revolution. Several elements needed to work in concert around it. Firstly, getting user buy-in and providing training as to why the safety solution was being applied, followed by the actual product installation. Then there was telematic recording of real time incidents to the Cloud for monitoring site safety performance; sharing that data to improve safety training and protocols, and ultimately changing safety culture and behaviours.


LET DATA INFORM YOUR ACTIONS By using a tried and tested product, in tandem with


electronically gathered data on the site, the positive results were more far-reaching. There was a more complete solution to the issue of collision safety breaches and incidents that could even influence rewriting the site safety guidelines; they would be more effective. This is the kind of approach that effects real change.


I think the days of just installing a [very good] safety product and waiting for it to solve a larger safety issue, might be numbered. Like so many answers to a problem, you can’t have too many disparate elements. Instead your responses to a safety problem succeed when they work together and become a cohesive solution. It therefore ceases to be a superficial response to a deep seated issue because you cover all the bases and communicate key information to the people who need it most.


www.proximitywarning.com


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www.tomorrowshs.com


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