According to Health and Safety Executive In the UK
- 6 million people suffer from a work-related illness
- 142 workers killed at work (2020/21)
- 693,000 working people sustain an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey
- 65,427 injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR
- 8 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury
- £16.2 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions (2018/19)
AI-based Computer Vision solutions such as IRIS can predict and prevent workplace accidents significantly.
How do the AI Computer Vision Systems improve safety and reduce accidents?
Computer Vision AI Systems are very efficient and accurate in capturing all near misses at the workplace. It is impossible to capture near misses without AI systems as most near misses go unnoticed and unreported.
A near miss is a leading indicator to an accident. If one can capture all the near misses accurately, then a HSE person can easily do a root cause analysis and change the process or work rules to prevent the near misses from reoccurring and thereby preventing injuries and accidents.
Computer Vision systems can also prevent accidents from happening by raising a real-time alarm in less than 1 second of event occurring. These alarms can make a significant difference in preventing accidents from happening in real time.
Here some of the most common use cases for Health and Safety using AI.
MHE / Forklift safety
Forklifts alone accounted for 1,300 UK employees being hospitalized last year with serious injuries. Unfortunately, the number is rising due to significant growth in e-commerce, and warehouse space, across the UK and Europe.
Working at height
AI and computer vision systems can monitor and detect PPE and correct equipment usage, over-crowding on scaffolding, and even falling objects. In picture below the AI system is checking real time if harness is applied or not.
Machine Guarding and Process Compliance
Computer vision and AI systems can detect employees that are in the hazardous zone and provide real-time warnings. AI system can also easily detect a non-compliance such as people not following a laid down process.
Monitoring use of PPE
Employers have duties concerning the provision and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at work. AI and computer vision systems can measure compliance and ensure the right PPE equipment is used to protect the user against health or safety risks at work. This includes safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear, and safety harnesses.
Fire / Spills / Broken Glass Detection
AI Systems can easily detect a fire, an oil spill, broken glasses, obstructions to fire safety doors etc and raise a real time alert. The fire detection happens through visually identifying a fire and can supplement existing fire detection system as it can raise an early warning and also send details of the fire in real time. However, it is not full proof as it cannot detect fire that is not visible.
Lifting Equipment / Cranes
Computer vision systems can detect the type of lifting equipment used and identify different types of loads. They can monitor the work the lifting equipment is used for and provide real time warnings for employees walking/standing under suspended load.
Covid Use Cases
It is easy to build custom use cases very quickly using AI Computer Vision System. These can be used to monitor particular requirements that are unique. Here is an example of a use case to monitor social distancing at workplace.