As the principles of Industry 4.0, known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, become widely extensive, leading industrial organizations started to adopt Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Management and plant safety solutions to drive employee health and safety initiatives ensuring secure and sustainable operations.
During the first industrial revolution, advancement in steam power and mechanization in the late-18th century enabled the industry to move hand production methods into the world of machinery. The second industrial revolution, Industry 2.0, began in mass production and assembly lines through advancement in electricity and communication networks. Industry 3.0 introduced the world to computing power which completely changed how companies could do business. Industry 4.0 has revolutionized industries by aiming to make processes more efficient and, more importantly, less susceptible to human error, through the complete integration of cyber and physical systems into the industrial process.
Thanks to the ability to facilitate processes, increase efficiency and safety, Industry 4.0 technologies have major implications for keeping workers safe. Therefore, companies are starting to more fully embrace the Industry 4.0 mindset when it comes to workplace safety.
Before we get started, let's first understand where health and safety come from.
A Brief History of Health and Safety
Today health and safety is a universal subject in the importance of the workplace, however, where did it all begin? Although the exact start of health and safety can’t be determined, it was which was the Factories Act, when factory inspectorates were installed in 1833. The Factories Act helped to prevent injury to young children working in inappropriate conditions and to prevent injury to people and to stop people from being overworked.
Governments around the world started to take worker and occupational health and safety much more seriously and at the beginning of the 1970s United States passed the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act to assure, regulate, and maintain health and safety standards and regulations.
Most accidents happen due to the lack of guards and safety equipment such as helmets, safety vests, gloves and etc, inadequate training for employees, or safety-critical processes. Apart from causing irrecoverable damage to workers, occupational accidents cause losses to the environment and the machinery and also have a negative impact on productivity in the workplace. For this reason, it is vital to detect possible occupational hazards and take measures to minimize occupational accidents.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) focuses primarily on protecting employees in the workplace from injuries, accidents, and exposure to harmful substances. And also, standards require the reduction, removal or replacement of job site hazards. As healthy employees are assured to be more productive and efficient, occupational health and safety greatly benefit the company.
Khenda Sentinel: An Industrial Safety Video Analytics Platform
Industry 4.0 technologies are creating revolutionary new ways to conduct business and let's take a closer look at one of these solutions, Khenda Sentinel, an industrial safety video analytics platform. Within the scope of occupational health and safety, it prevents occupational accidents in hazardous areas.
So how does Khenda Sentinel prevent accidents?
Khenda Sentinel constantly monitors the camera streams in industrial dangerous areas. If it detects any human in a dangerous area, it creates a digital output in real-time that can be used in many desired scenarios like;
· instantly stop or slow down the related process.
· activate the voice recording for warning people to leave the area.
· trigger the alarm tower to alert other operators that may pose a threat to people in the area.
Sentinel also checks if the operator uses personal protective equipment such as a helmet, safety vest, gloves and etc. It eliminates the risk of human faults in hazardous areas by automizing lockout tag-out safety measures. It is able to work in areas with motions like robotics or machinery, without any false alarms.
We are helping organizations of all sizes prepare for Industry 4.0 via our award-winning solutions. Connect with us today to learn how our solutions can transform your business. (info@khenda.com)
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