How smart tech increases safety around machinery

Workplace health and safety is a critical consideration for Australian businesses, especially when the workplace involves heavy vehicles, machinery and other mechanical elements, such as those prevalent in heavy industries.

Across manufacturing, construction, mining, transportation, and oil and gas, workers are required to work from great heights, in confined spaces and/or with hazardous chemicals, while often also risking accidents with vehicles and machines. Recent data shows that 38% of Australian workplace fatalities are caused by vehicle collisions, while 23% are caused by being hit by falling or moving objects. Falls from a height represent 11% of fatalities and 7% are caused by being trapped by moving machinery. The remaining 21% of workplace fatalities are attributed to other mechanisms.¹

A large number of organisations working across heavy industries have taken steps towards digital transformation, with many investing in new tools and solutions that will help to streamline efficiencies and improve operations — including by reducing risk to human workers. However, more needs to be done to improve the safety of workers within these industries. The answer lies in leveraging innovative smart technologies.

Heavier technology investments help heavy industries

Companies that operate in industries such as manufacturing already use technologies like sensors and detectors, robotics and mobile apps across their operations to improve the efficiency of activities and improve worker safety.

However, while these are all delivering essential benefits to operations, they are only just starting to scratch the surface of how innovative technologies can be used to improve workplace health and safety. There are three key areas where more improvements can be made by investing further in the use of smart technologies:

1. Virtual and augmented reality

Interest in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) is growing, with its application already seeing results across the education, automotive and medical industries.² When it comes to heavy industries, VR and AR can provide significant benefits to users, including through improving training and better preparing workers for possible dangers. Using AR and VR allows organisations to better train workers regarding complex and dangerous tasks, by exposing them to potentially hazardous environments, scenarios and incidents without ever actually placing them in harm’s way. This helps to better prepare workers while decreasing the risk of accidents and injuries.

2. Wearables

Wearables are becoming increasingly common across various sectors, as they can be used in numerous ways to deliver benefits for workers in heavy industries. For example, wearables can be used to monitor worker fatigue — alerting them as to when they need to take breaks according to fatigue data. They can also help to reduce the risk of workers’ exposure to health risks and high temperatures onsite, or even to monitor workers’ posture or noise levels.

Wearables that are supported by sensors can also alert workers when they are standing too close to machinery or not properly following safety protocols — which can reduce the potential for workers to experience clothing or body parts becoming entangled in heavy machinery and equipment. Additionally, wearables can help organisations to more effectively monitor lone workers, locate all workers in the event of an emergency and even potentially prevent collisions between workers and machines.

3. Robotics and automation

Perhaps one of the most effective technologies in heavy industries to reduce worker risk and improve safety is the use of robotics and automation. These technologies eliminate workers’ exposure to dangerous tasks by using automated machines, drones and vehicles. Robots can independently manage dangerous tasks, such as those requiring work in confined spaces or from great heights, which eliminates the risk of workers being exposed to these dangerous scenarios.

The combination of robotics with AR and VR applications can be an especially powerful tool, as organisations can remotely control, maintain and even repair equipment at a distance. Workers operate devices and machines remotely without being in the dangerous situation themselves, which helps to improve productivity without increasing worker risk.

Strengthening worker safety with artificial intelligence and big data

Underpinning each of these innovative applications is the continued use of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. AI and data analysis can help organisations strengthen their use of innovative technologies and further protect their workers from dangerous situations. Using worker data based on wearables can help them improve rostering by reducing the potential for fatigue. Additionally, combining robotics and automation with AI and data from monitors, cameras and sensors, for example, can eliminate the risk of collisions between autonomous vehicles and workers.

While technology is not the be-all and end-all for heavy industries, it can go a long way towards improving worker safety onsite. And, for the best results, organisations must also ensure that the technologies they invest in are supported by the robustness and durability that their dangerous and diverse working conditions require. The latest technologies need to comply with relevant industry and organisational regulations while also meeting the standards of the workplace itself. Ensuring businesses operating in heavy industries invest in robust technology can help to eliminate the potential for technologies themselves becoming a risk factor.

<sup>1. https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/key-work-health-and-safety-statistics-australia-2022
2. https://accumulate.com.au/virtual-reality-statistics-australia-2023/</sup>

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