The BUT safety frame automatically recognizes whether the worker has the right protective equipment

The helmet, gloves, safety harness and the employee enters the production area after the approval by the system. After the chip card beeps, the frame automatically detects whether the person in question is properly equipped for his/her work or whether, for example, he should have some of the protective aids replaced, because their service life came to an end. The experts from the Institute of Telecommunications, FEEC BUT came with this device. The safety frame can be used not only in heavy industry; it can also work in healthcare.

"Our system can pair the equipment with a specific employee. After the beep of the card, the frame automatically detects whether the employee has the necessary equipment, according to the assigned labels for individual protective elements, such as a helmet, mask or protective shield," Petr Dzurenda from the Institute of Telecommunications, who had been working on the frame for 3 years, explained. In addition to the safety frame, the system also includes a hand-held reader, if it would be necessary to involve the operator during the examination, who will personally scan the employee on site.

In addition, the system checks the service life of individual protective equipment: “We can also enter the information here when the work equipment is to be checked, i.e. a certain expiration date. The system warns the worker that it is already necessary to check his aids if they still fulfil their protective purpose," Dzurenda indicated. He worked on the ASMO project (Automated management and monitoring of protective equipment for production and risk areas) under the leadership of Jan Hajný, in cooperation with the Prague company IMA.

The safety frame was originally intended to be part of the exposition of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering within the international fair AMPER, which could not take place due to a pandemic. At the same time, this system could find application in medical facilities, where it can check the mandatory protective equipment of doctors or nurses.

In addition to checking the protective equipment of workers, the system can also check the presence of mandatory equipment in the room. For example, it is able to register the equipment such as fire extinguishers, gas detectors, radiation or hazardous substances detectors, etc. "Using the system will increase the safety and health of workers, reduce the number of accidents, increase the work efficiency and also simplify the registration, handling and the examination of protective equipment," Dzurenda pointed out the advantages of ASMO.

BUT experts have long addressed the issue of privacy protection so that it is not possible to easily monitor the movement of employees in the area. "We managed to find a compromise solution where the user is not directly identified by the system as of Jan Novák but is assigned a definite role, such as a worker with access to certain areas and the obligation to carry certain equipment," Dzurenda added. The prototype of the safety frame is currently ready and will be taken over by the Prague company IMA in June. It has got already the first person interested in the installation at the entry points of operations in the field of heavy industry.