Team-Based Safety Helps Workers Make Safer, Informed Decisions

22 Safety Decisions | Summer/Fall 2019 S p o n s o r e d M a t e r i a l | S a f e t y D e c i s i o n s M a g a z i n e . c o m

Workers face more hazards on the job than anyone would like to imagine. Working in teams helps to ensure one another’s safety, but the unfortunate reality is that helping a team member in danger is one of the deadliest tasks a worker may take on. With connectivity bringing better, faster information to almost all other aspects of life, it’s time we use connectivity for the most important task of all: protecting our workers. We talked with Ryan Cantwell, senior product manager at Industrial Scientific Corporation, about how connected devices improve team and site safety to minimize risk and maximize efficiency for businesses.

Q: What is team-based safety? A: Team-based safety is when individuals at a worksite share information with one another to make safer decisions and achieve better safety outcomes for everyone on the site.

Think of it this way: if you check the news before driving to work, you know what to expect on your commute—from live weather conditions to traffic. When you know what’s happening around you, you can plan for a safe and efficient drive. If icy roads cause a five-car pileup a mile from your destination, you know you’ll need to watch for ice and maybe find a new route. You use the information you heard on the news to adjust your plans.

Team-based safety is the same in that sharing information enhances workers’ knowledge about what’s hap-pening around them at the site, leading to safer individuals, teams, and a safer organization overall.

Q: What role do gas monitors play in team-based safety?A: We know that a properly maintained gas detector is key to informing individ-uals when they are in danger. Traditional gas detectors are very good at alerting the user of hazards, but not so good at alerting nearby workers to these haz-ards. Team-based safety tackles this

Team-Based Safety Helps Workers Make Safer, Informed Decisions

Safety Decisions | Summer/Fall 2019 23 S p o n s o r e d M a t e r i a l | S a f e t y D e c i s i o n s M a g a z i n e . c o m

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awareness challenge, allowing connected personal gas monitors to relay information to one another so individuals on site can understand when and why another team member is in trouble.

Q: How do these devices alert someone if you’re in trouble? A: Monitors can relay gas alarms, man-down, and panic alerts that share the name of the person, their alarm status, and the gas conditions in that environment.

Q: How does sharing information keep workers safe?A: The goal of this type of information sharing is to prevent death on the job. This can happen in two ways: one is by a worker in danger using a wirelessly-connected gas monitor to quickly and easily signal fellow workers for help. The other is by alerting rescuers to the danger that put their fellow worker at risk, so they can make an informed decision in the moment. For example, a nearby worker would know not to enter a confined space to rescue a coworker if they could see that there is a high concentration of toxic gas inside.

Q: How can connected devices protect would-be rescuers?A: The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety estimates that 60% of would-be rescuers in confined spaces die trying to save a team member because the person inside the space can’t communicate about the dangers within. While gas monitors are designed to detect these dangers, without connectivity, they can’t share information, so it’s hard for that rescuer to know why another individual is in trouble. If that rescuer chooses to move forward on limited information, he or she is entering an unknown and potentially life-threatening situation.

Team-based safety wirelessly connects peer gas monitors on a local network to help decrease would-be rescuer fatalities by sharing alarm information with one another in real-time. This means that when a worker is exposed to a hazard, the rescuer has data to make an informed decision in seconds about whether to go in or seek additional help.

Q: It sounds like a great safety advantage. What types of applications can benefit most from connecting devices on a local network?A: The best use case for this solution is confined space entry. Properly training all workers before they work in or around confined spaces is crucial, but not every job is performed under ideal conditions or with enough information about gas hazards. Confined spaces typically present additional communi-cation challenges, but advancements in local networking allow signals to exit the confined space so workers can “see” what their peer is experiencing.

We’re also seeing adoption among emergency responders who are looking to establish safe zones, companies who perform hot work projects, as well as people monitoring fence lines.

Q: We talked about team safety also leading to site safety. How does team-based safety improve site safety?A: I’m glad you asked. We’ve been talking about sharing alarms between workers wearing portable personal gas monitors, but you can also connect and share alarms between personal gas monitors

and area monitors. Having area monitors connected to personal monitors allows individuals to know about hazards before being exposed. Typically, area monitors are placed in locations that are more likely to have hazards present so workers can be alerted of gas readings before approaching the area. Industrial Scien-tific is currently the only provider in the industry that offers connectivity between personal gas monitors and area monitors.

Q: Can you connect an entire team?A: That really depends on the size of your team. Local networks for team- and site-based safety are made for up to 25 devices, with the option to form multiple groups and expand the number of connected workers indefinitely.n

Ryan Cantwell serves as a senior product manager

at Industrial Scientific Corporation.

The Radius® BZ1 Area Monitor, together with the RGX™ Gateway, helps you to see gas hazards at a location in real time. With a 7-day run time, you can spend more time focused on your team’s safety and less time setting up equipment and swapping batteries.

www.indsci.com/real-time

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