FEATURE


SMART PPE: TRANSFORMING CONSTRUCTION SAFETY THROUGH DATA


Ani Surabhi, CEO and Founder of Quin, explores how intelligent technology is redefining the capabilities of safety equipment.


was the severity of the impact? Did anyone witness the incident? Should the worker seek medical attention? What conditions led to the fall?


Without answers to these questions, incidents go underreported, near-misses become invisible, and valuable safety data is lost forever.


WHEN ACCIDENTS HAPPEN: THE CRITICAL DATA WE'RE MISSING Construction sites generate countless data points every day. Worker movements, environmental conditions, equipment usage and incident patterns all contain valuable insights that could transform safety planning and incident response.


Image Credit: Jonas Kullman Mips


PPE has been the backbone of construction safety for decades. Hard hats, safety boots, high-visibility clothing and protective eyewear form the essential barrier between workers and workplace hazards. Yet despite widespread adoption and regulatory compliance, serious injuries and fatalities persist across construction sites.


The question we must ask is this: Are we doing enough to protect workers, or are we simply meeting minimum standards?


At Quin, we believe the answer lies not just in better protection, but in smarter protection. We are not just launching products. We are helping reframe how people think about risk. We are building awareness and exploring new possibilities for what safety equipment can achieve.


THE LIMITATIONS OF TRADITIONAL PPE


Traditional safety equipment serves a vital function. It protects workers from immediate physical harm when accidents occur. A hard hat deflects falling debris. Safety boots prevent puncture wounds. High-visibility clothing makes workers more visible to machinery operators.


But this approach is fundamentally reactive. Equipment protects after the incident happens, but provides no insight into what occurred, whether medical attention is needed, or how future incidents might be prevented.


Consider a worker who takes a fall on site. Their hard hat may have protected them from serious head injury, but several critical questions remain unanswered: What


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The challenge is that most of this data remains invisible. Traditional PPE cannot capture or communicate what happens to workers throughout their shifts. Safety managers rely on voluntary reporting, which often misses minor incidents and near-misses that could indicate larger safety trends.


Intelligent PPE changes this equation entirely. By embedding sensors and connectivity into safety equipment, we can capture real-world data about how workers interact with their environment, when incidents occur, and what factors contribute to safety risks.


This data becomes the foundation for proactive safety management. Rather than reacting to serious incidents after they happen, safety leaders can identify patterns, address risks before they escalate, and make evidence- based decisions about site safety measures.


UNDERSTANDING HEAD INJURIES IN CONSTRUCTION Head injuries represent one of the most serious risks facing construction workers. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is more common than many realise. The most frequent type is concussion, which makes up around 75% of all TBI cases. What is often missed is that 90% of diagnosed concussions do not involve a loss of consciousness. And nearly 50% of TBIs go undiagnosed.


“TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI) IS MORE COMMON THAN MANY REALISE. THE MOST FREQUENT TYPE IS CONCUSSION, WHICH MAKES UP AROUND 75% OF ALL TBI CASES.”


These statistics reveal a hidden crisis in construction safety. Workers may suffer significant head impacts


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