Part IV: 6 ways to enhance safety for workers - Kwant.ai

How to Save Lives

One word to summarize a day at the construction site? Dynamic. Project sites are fast-paced one day and dragging the next. It’s an ever-changing process with constantly evolving structures and high job turnover ratios.

The site itself transforms with heavy machinery and expensive material, changing places each day as our buildings and structures evolve. Through the chaotic nature of a project, what keeps your budget intact and schedule on track? Coordination.

While many of us love the ever-changing nature of our jobs, there is a dark side to this dynamic space. Unceasing changes can result in confusion in dangerous areas, overworking to meet deadlines, and zones that were safe one day may be hazardous the next.

Kwant is driven to improve conditions by providing crucial information that the human eye alone cannot see. Unlike anything you’ve seen before, Kwant.ai can alert you if an unauthorized zone is breached, if an OSHA certification has expired, or if an employee is in dire need of assistance, all without lifting a finger. Here are areas where Kwant.AI will help to improve your safety environment in any project management.

1. Workforce Compliance

Administrative tasks relating to constant labor changes are no small feat. Kwant is here to take the tedious burden off your shoulders, and grant your team the freedom to address more critical matters with your time.

With one comprehensive database, you can monitor each tradesman on-site and track their credentials with ease. One example: OSHA training. If an individual is working on your site today, but their certification expired 10/31/21, their name will appear in RED.

You can even receive an alert that your site is not 100% compliant! Also, no worries! You can operate your workforce certification smoothly. Kwant will send preventive alerts 30 days in advance to avoid such expiration problems, saving time and increasing your efficiency.

2. Unauthorized Access

The challenge mainly arises due to multiple trades working simultaneously. The admin work doesn’t stop at OSHA training! Most trades require intensive specialized training to perform the work necessary in a safe and effective manner.

This can create zones on sites that are dangerous to those uncertified. One common case is electrocution. Certified electricians are directly exposed to electric risks such as shock, electrocution, explosions, and burns. It’s critical to observe potentially dangerous activity that can occur in that area.

Traditional hazard signage is important to warn other tradesmen, however, in cases where hazardous zones keep changing by the hour. Other tradesmen have often seen to be unaware of the hazards and are unknowingly exposed. This results in various cases of electrocution injuries, shock, and in some severe cases, even death.

Here’s where Kwant becomes your site's active security eyes & ears. Any time throughout the day- at the desktop or on mobile devices- you can mark these areas as “unsafe” in the Kwant platform and an alert will notify the workers when they enter a high-voltage zone.

It will also notify a site leader that someone without the proper credentials or gear is in an unsafe zone, so both the worker and supervisor are made aware of the danger and get out of a potentially harmful situation.

It’s imperative that we’re aware of these risks, as the construction industry has more electric-related fatalities than any other. Any of these accidents will threaten workers and leave immeasurable consequences to the company.

3. Restricted Zones

These alerts are not exclusive to proper certification. We can use this technology in a number of productive ways. Any area can be marked as restricted for any reason.

You know your site better than we do, so we want you to have the power to control access from your fingertips. Working in an occupied space? Both the worker and safety manager are alerted if the worker’s gone too far.

For example, Does crane operation create a high risk drop zone? 60% of crane-related deaths are related to falling objects, which is a challenging risk to detect. Hence, restrict the area for anyone except the operating team.

‍Give your tradespeople an extra set of eyes to watch out for that risk and minimize these risks by over 10%.

4. Collision Prevention

Site assets such as heavy machinery, equipment, and large vehicles make workers susceptible to struck-by and caught-in hazards that can lead to devastating injuries and fatalities.

Kwant’s ability to track both people and assets can help to prevent such tragic events from occurring on your site. Thanks to the state-of-the-art real time-tracking database, workers and managers can be alerted when any worker is in close vicinity on a collision with an asset.

Alerts can be set for when workers and equipment or vehicles are within a few feet of each other or along the same path. Then, Kwant will send an alert to both that they must change the course. In the case they do not react adequately, the SOS alert button serves as a second layer of accident prevention.

5. Fall Detection and SOS Alert Button

Kwant emphasizes a safe construction by a preventative approach. One can never be too careful. We understand that sites are ever-changing, and those unsafe events may happen no matter how many precautions we take.

With fall detection technology, it can detect the motion and impact when someone falls or slips on site. The sound will alarm and the message will automatically be sent to the safety manager.

Moreover, each worker will be equipped with an SOS alert button – one double-tap manually can send an alert instantly to safety manager and site leaders with their trade phone and location and will get them help 92% faster than a phone call, or trying to find someone to help.

Also, Kwant can help you manage mass communication in a crisis. The site leaders can send an urgent message to everyone if evacuation is needed to a specific safe spot.

It is recommended to use this emergency feature supporting your existing safety procedures and to react faster to be aware that the urgency is not ignored.

6. Environmental Metrics

With the nature of the job being labor-intensive, apparently, the physical hardship these individuals endure should not be understated. Kwant aids in environmental monitoring by providing sensors equipped with monitoring temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide, VOCs, particulate matter.

As an employee safety, Kwant can analyze and warn a heat advisory if there is an effect or a time when temperatures are dangerously high or freeze.

As a site preventive deterioration, employees can monitor Kwant’s temporary humidity metric and control ambient conditions to adjust cooling equipment, ductwork, and ancillary items in various locations.

Otherwise, It could lead to mounting damages in the form of mold, material degradation, corrosion, melting, and productivity problems.

To sum up, here are benefits that Kwant help to prevent from Safety Damages

• Prevent violation risks of OSHA compliance and safety training
• Notify workers in real-time of unsafe high-voltage zones
• Monitor the position of workers in the hazardous workplace for immediate action
• Prevent near-misses, injuries and fatalities with SOS alerts
• Reduce productivity delays or material degradation due to environmental factors
• Minimize legal consequences, financial losses, and reputational damages
• Predict incident occurrences from historical data records

In addition to the above, every safe project management requires a team effort of contractors, subcontractors, and numerous laborers to coordinate… meaning risks of multiple forms can appear at any stage.

Kwant is a tool in your belt, which is a smartphone-based interactive platform that integrates with other apps for example Autodesk, P6 oracle, Procore. Today, Construction is the leading industry in health incidents including injuries and death- 259 fatalities in 2018 alone.  

Kwant is paving the way to use the latest technology to provide safety and peace of mind to those who do so much for our society. It is impossible for humans to track everything at once.

Therefore, let Kwant help to monitor, identify, and warn of any potential danger from databases and experiences. It is our team’s purpose to provide a safe construction site. So, let us help keep your teammates safe.

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