Smart Safety Guard - Improving Safety Through Real-Time People Localization

摘要

Protecting the health of our employees and continuously improving safety in all workplaces is Paul Wurth's ongoing concern. The blast furnace area is permanently subject to dangers of different natures. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to monitor the presence and the location of workers in this area. In the event of an evacuation alarm, the rescue teams need to be aware of all workers who are still in the area, so to be able to provide them with assistance in the most efficient way. The most commonly-known positioning system is GPS (Global Positioning System). It is an outdoor positioning system used in a wide range of applications including tracking, itinerary determination and asset management. GPS is not a viable option for indoor localization as it has limitations. Various other positioning systems exist depending on whether they are to be used solely in an indoor or outdoor environment or a mixed environment. Technical challenges in an industrial indoor environment result mainly from the influence of obstacles on the propagation of electromagnetic waves. Additionally, setup complexity, accuracy, responsiveness, coverage, scalability and costs remain constraints that impacted Paul Wurth's technical choice and that any localization system should take into account. Just like any other positioning system. Smart Safety Guard consists of fixed stations broadcasting Bluetooth Low Energy signals (BLE) to mobile sensors worn by the workers. The combination of the BLE signal and the mesh network with Paul Wurth's own positioning algorithm ensures an accurate, reliable and flexible tracking system. As a result of the tracking. Smart Safety Guard provides live visualization of any worker's position in the form of a visual representation. Added features, such as customized geofencing, allow the system to provide a clear overview of the plant and to replace conventional paper presence lists. All this aims to increase the efficiency and reliability of health and safety measures and solve situations where, for example, workers forget to sign out, causing searches and delays in production. Other automatic functions such as man down alerts, push button alarms and shock detection signals improve the safety follow- up on site and assist health and safety managers in their daily business.