Proactive safety in manufacturing and company logistics

Video-scanning, AI tech connects with existing cameras to promote data-driven health and safety

Spotted: In 2021/22, workplace injury cost the UK economy £7.7 billion (around €9 billion), in addition to its impact on individual workers and their families. Irish startup Protex AI believes that AI can help reduce the number of injuries while also helping businesses better support overall employee wellbeing.

The company is using computer vision to overhaul how health and safety teams make proactive, data-driven decisions to create safer working environments in ports, warehouses, and manufacturing plants. The AI software connects to a business’s existing security cameras, automatically scanning and securely processing footage to identify high-risk areas of a site and incidents of non-compliance with a company’s stated policies. Crucially, the system analyses vehicular traffic throughout a building to identify the locations of near misses so that changes can be made before an accident occurs.

The solution’s easy-to-use interface makes it easy to translate safety documents into rules that are continuously monitored by the software. For example, employees can outline exclusion zones in particular areas of the premises, and the AI will log if these are breached.

Non-compliant events are logged by the system and can be easily filtered and reviewed by human workers. The platform also includes an interactive ‘storyboard’ feature that enables health and safety teams to collaborate on corrective actions based on learnings from safety events. Regularly generated reports are automatically emailed to specific accounts for easy integration into existing workflows.

Protex AI emphasises the privacy protecting nature of its technology, which avoids identification of individuals and processes data on-site. CCTV video streams are only reviewed on the business’ network, and information is encrypted in the cloud. The platform presents insights and alerts per facility rather than person, and companies can choose to implement additional privacy measures to further protect individual privacy.

Springwise has spotted other technologies used to improve the safety of users and workers, including computer vision to help prevent warehouse accidents and an assisted train driving system.

Written By: Keely Khoury