FEATURE


SAFETY IN DISTANCE


What are the main considerations when designing a wearable personnel distancing system? Gary Escott of SiteZone Safety explores the benefits of this technology.


Probably the most used health and safety terminology of the COVID-19 pandemic has been ‘PPE’. It has become more than a precaution, but the difference between life and death, with no margin for error for our key workers, particularly in healthcare.


During quarantine in late April we


raced against the clock to create a wearable personnel distancing system (PDS), to protect construction workers fitting out NHS Nightingale at the NEC. On that journey we discovered that there are many practical considerations when designing an effective PDS.


TECHNOLOGY-BASED DISTANCING PPE – WHAT WE’VE FOUND OUT SO FAR


WHAT TECH DO WE USE? Several companies are now working on personnel distancing systems. They all have different levels of performance in any given environment, and designers must consider how to implement them affordably on a grand scale.


Our field ready PDS is based on low frequency RFID (radio frequency identification), which has millions of hours of proven practice performance. It isn’t compromised by environmental conditions, human body mass or objects, like Bluetooth is, for example. Ultra-wide band (UWB) technology is another option, but it consumes more energy than the other methods and its devices would require regular recharging.


IT’S GOT TO BE ROBUST Many work environments are challenging and high


risk. We had to consider that our PDS would definitely be used on construction sites. They would be subject to knocks, contaminants, possibly rain if workers were outside. You need a strong little unit to withstand all of those conditions. Designing a PDS for use in an office would not stand up to the rigours of an exterior work environment, especially a risk-laden one.


PEOPLE ARE UNPREDICTABLE Human behaviour will be a key consideration for PDS


designers in future. Apart from being strong, the PDS will have to be easy to use, especially regarding charging. For example, in the rail industry, working


10


shifts can be quite long, up to 14 hours. If you are on site trackside, and your PDS runs down after eight hours, where are you going to charge it? Therefore, battery life is a significant consideration.


There is also the matter of whose responsibility it is to charge the unit. Will workers remember to charge their PDS at the end of day or week? The preference is likely to be that they come to work, pick up a fully charged PDS at the start of the shift and not have to worry about its charging maintenance until their working day ends.


In terms of users’ issues, what if a worker forgets to remove their wearable PDS and takes it home then forget to bring it back to work? This issue informs the number of units to be supplied to compensate for the forgotten ones, possible damage on the journey to and from work, and battery charging hours.


TRACK AND TRACE? It is possible that a PDS could be designed to serve


‘track and trace’ as well. However, employers will be subject to rigorous privacy rules regarding the data they capture. What happens if there are employees who refuse to use track and trace?


Then there’s the other user issue of when employees wear their unit. If supplied at work at the beginning of the shift, and employees remember to take it off before going home, then the tracing stops at the factory gates, as it were. Where do they go afterwards? Supermarket? The park? The possibilities are many, but, without their unit on, untraceable.


The health and safety sector is in uncharted territory, there’s no doubt about it. In the technological journeys to create new safety equipment specifically for the pandemic conditions, behaviour and performance are benchmarked against so many variables.


I don’t think this journey will end in the near future, and there’s more learning and adapting to do. In the meantime, we must be vigilant in our observations, and ensure that technology continues to evolve in keeping with requirements. Right now, and in the foreseeable future, our need to be safe in the workplace is greater than it has ever been before.


www.proximitywarning.com www.tomorrowshs.com


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