ARMONK, N.Y. and DELTA, Ohio, June 23,
2016 /PRNewswire/ -- North Star BlueScope Steel, a
steel producer for global building and construction industries,
today announced that it is applying IBM (NYSE: IBM) Watson Internet
of Things (IoT) technology and wearable devices to pioneer novel
approaches to help protect workers in extreme environments. The IBM
Employee Wellness and Safety Solution, a research project that
analyzes data collected from sensors in workers' wearables,
provides data to North Star
management in real time when the technology senses potentially
problematic conditions.
Employees working in extreme environments face a daily risk from
conditions that include everything from high heat and toxic gas to
open flames and heavy-machinery accidents. Overexertion and falls
account for more than $25 billion in
U.S. workers' compensation costs a year, according to the Liberty
Mutual Research Institute 2014 Workplace Safety Index1,
yet there is currently no practical way to verify that mandatory
safety controls and personal protective equipment are being used in
hazardous environments. In fact, nearly 3 million nonfatal
occupational injuries were recorded in 20142.
"Our global economy relies on hundreds of millions of workers
who do their jobs under extreme environmental conditions, and now
we are exploring ways to apply the Internet of Things and cognitive
computing to help organizations prevent accidents and to keep their
employees safer," said Harriet
Green, general manager, IBM Watson IoT, Commerce and
Education. "We use the IoT to gather, integrate and analyze sensor
data from wearable devices. When coupled together with innovative
cognitive capabilities and data from important external sources
such as the environment and weather, it creates enormous potential
for better managing health, wellness and safety to truly help
transform the way these vital workers perform their jobs."
Wearable sensors such as fitness bracelets are already
available, but the cognitive solution conceived by IBM researchers
in Haifa, Israel, offers a
platform that is customizable and extends the power of cognitive
computing to a group of many sensors, not just one. The
ability to integrate data from multiple sensors means that the
solution can do much more sophisticated analyses to help
organizations identify problematic situations. For example, an
organization could receive data on a combination of skin
temperature, raised heart rate, and no movement for several
minutes, which could indicate potentially fatal heat stress, while
any of these signals on its own might not seem serious.
"Many of these injuries can be prevented, whether by ensuring
that protective equipment is used correctly, or that time or
location limitations for hazardous situations are monitored,"
explained Gabi Zodik, director, IoT and Mobile Platforms, IBM
Research. "Our vision for smart worker safety involves integrating
and presenting contextual information to management from a wide
variety of sensors. It's a method that is non-intrusive, is
hands-free, always-on, environment-aware, and offers the direct
delivery of critical information to those who need it, when they
need it."
Under this research project, North
Star is piloting the IBM Employee Wellness and Safety
Solution to identify potentially problematic conditions by
collecting data from various sensors that continuously monitor the
worker's skin body temperature, heart rate, galvanic skin response
and level of activity, correlated with sensor data for ambient
temperature and humidity. The solution then alerts North Star management so they can provide
personalized safety guidelines to each individual employee. The
same technology can be used to collect data on excessive exposure
to different temperatures, radiation levels, noise or toxic gases,
using sensor tags for temperature, humidity, noise, or light
measurements. Gases can be detected using personal sensors enabled
via WiFi or Bluetooth low energy sensors.
"Through the testing of the IBM Employee Wellness and Safety
Solution, we have observed an increased awareness of heat stress
and exertion in our trial users," said Malcolm Edge, I.T. director, North Star
BlueScope Steel. "The solution has provided a proof of concept
showcasing how data can flow from the user to the IBM Watson IoT
Platform and back to a supervisor for intervention. This solution,
once fully developed, will provide a solid foundation for
increasing worker safety by providing real-time monitoring of the
environment around the worker."
For more information about North Star BlueScope Steel, please
visit http://www.northstarbluescope.com/
For more information about IBM Watson IoT, please visit
www.ibm.com/iot or follow @IBMIoT on Twitter.
For more information about IBM Research, visit
www.ibm.com/research or follow @IBMResearch on Twitter.
Sources:
- Liberty Mutual Research Institute. "Workplace Safety Index."
January 14, 2015.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150114005546/en/Liberty-Mutual-Research-Institute-Safety-Releases-2014
- United States Department of Labor. "Employer-Reported Workplace
Injuries and Illnesses –2014."October
29, 2015.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/osh.nr0.htm
Media Contact:
Hanna Smigala
IBM Media Relations
1-203-512-5498
Smigala@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM