Vehicular related accidents is one of the top causes of fatal and major work injuries in Singapore. Many of these vehicular accidents were caused by issues relating to drivers' behaviour or the lack of situational awareness.
In worksites, poor traffic management practices such as poor segregation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic are also key contributors to vehicular accidents.
A wide range of technology solutions is available to improve vehicular safety. Some of these act as an extra pair of eyes to alert drivers (or riders) of impending dangers or enhance their situational awareness, while others help to monitor drivers' attention and behaviour.
By monitoring poor driving patterns such as harsh braking, harsh cornering, harsh acceleration and speeding, vehicular safety technology can also help your organisation design training and incentive schemes to shape better driving habits among your drivers.
Read more about the overview of vehicular safety technology.
Fleet Safety Management is a solution category in the
Logistics Industry Digital Plan and SMEs can apply for government grant support to adopt vehicular safety technology.
Check your eligibility and apply for government grants when you adopt pre-scoped solutions:
Electronic Permit-to-Work (e-PTW)
Permit to Work (PTW) is a formal authorisation system used in an organisation to control selected high-risk work activities to ensure safe execution of work onsite. It is widely used in various industries, including the construction industry, and involves at least 3 levels of checks and traditional paperwork.
e-PTW replaces paper filing of PTW with a centralised digital management system, allowing your organisation to submit, track and monitor PTW applications digitally via mobile apps and browsers.
Benefits of e-PTW over traditional paper-based system:
- Improve coordination and efficiency through real-time notifications.
- Better traceability and accountability of PTW with audit trail.
- Easy identification of incompatible works.
- Full visibility of PTWs via dashboards.
- Remove need to rewrite documents when PTW needs to be extended or re-issued.
Building façade inspection using drones
The Periodic Facade Inspection (PFI) regime was introduced in 2020 by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to enhance maintenance of building facades for public safety.
Most buildings over 20 years and taller than 13 metres need to be inspected every 7 years.
Drones greatly reduces the need for workers to work at height, which is a high-risk activity.
Benefits of using drones for inspection:
- Greatly reducing fall from height risks
- Easier and safer to inspect difficult-to-access areas for buildings with complex design
- Less time taken to do inspection
- Lower cost of inspection
- Reduce reliance on manpower
Read about the Technical Reference TR 78: 2020 'Building facade inspection using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)' for drone inspections and sets of industry standards for service providers.
Internet of Things (IoT) sensors
The advancement in IoT technology is changing the way the construction industry operates. Your companies can adopt these IoT technology to transform construction sites into smart workplaces.
Examples of application of IoT technology:
- Geofencing
- Worker tracing
- Proximity sensing
- Confined space safety monitoring
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) simulation
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) can simulate the hands-on experience in scenarios that are tough to recreate.
VR training uses a head-mounted display to immerse a user into a computer-generated environment, often with a full 360-degree view.
AR, also known as mixed reality, allows the overlay of video, sounds or graphics to help train or inform users while they experience a real-world view or interact with objects.
The use of AR or VR is ideal for training your employees to handle real-life situations and can minimise damage to the equipment and the cost of training.
Preventing slips, trips, and falls (STF) in facility management
The Workplace Safety and Health Institute launched an innovation challenge in April 2020 on Open Innovation Platform (OIP) to seek innovative technology solutions to detect STF near misses and hazards. The project was in collaboration with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and awarded to Vulcan AI Pte Ltd (Vulcan AI).
Through video analytics and wearables, the technology can detect STF incidents and near misses in real-time. Supervisor will receive a real-time alert via a mobile app to enable prompt intervention. It also allows STF hot spots to be identified for hazard removal or increased frequency of housekeeping.
The technology has now been commercialised with additional features such as scaling the dashboard to enable monitoring of multiple sites, health monitoring, productivity measurements and gamification. Trials are also being extended to other industries, such as Marine, Hospitality, F&B, and Construction to test its effectiveness in these sectors.
In 2021, WSHI also launched new tech challenges on PIER71 Smart Port Challenge and OIP to:
- Monitor workers’ health, detect STF near misses and hazards in Marine, in collaboration with the Association of Singapore Marine Industries (ASMI)
- Prevent STF and falls from height (FFH) in construction, in collaboration with the Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL)
Challenge statements launched in 2021
Digital wearables for real-time health monitoring
Digital wearable devices provide employers and employees real-time tracking of critical health and wellness information. It can monitor health indicators such as fatigue and heat stress, and alert affected parties of anomalies to avoid safety incidents. Common data collected include sleeping hours, heart rate variability (HRV), heart rate (HR), maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) and oxygen saturation (SpO2).
Some wearables detect biomechanics and alert workers when they are adopting unsafe postures such as improper bending, over-reaching, twisting, or prolonged exposure to body vibration transmitted from work tools. These wearables can also collect and store high risk posture and vibration data for employers to pin-point work activities and develop intervention measures to improve workplace ergonomics.
Workplace noise monitoring
Noise Induced Deafness (NID) is a condition where there is permanent hearing loss due to prolonged exposure to excessive noise. It results in communication difficulties and affects your workers’ quality of life.
The measurement of real-time noise levels using sound level meters allows you to effectively manage noise in workplaces. Intervention measures can be taken before noise levels exceed pre-set thresholds, to prevent damages to your workers' hearing.
Heat stress and preventive measures
Heat stress occurs when the body is unable to cool down through perspiration. This causes the body temperature to rise rapidly, which may cause damage to the brain and other vital organs.
You can help to implement preventive measures to manage heat stress in the workplace, including heat acclimatization, adequate water intake, shaded rest area and worker awareness. Read more about WSH Guidelines on Managing Heat Stress in the Workplace and related technology solutions.
