ARTIFICIAL Intelligence is going to be the most dramatic gamechanger of the 21st century. It has already started to have a disruptive impact on most areas of private and public life and is expected to gain pace. The businesses of engineering and construction will be no different.
Many safety-related hazards and risks to human lives are encountered at engineering and construction sites and on production shop-floors. As a leader in EPC projects, hi-tech manufacturing and services, L&T always adopts innovative measures to improve safety practices that are aimed at creating a Zero Harm environment. A key area, in this context, is the use of digital technology to ensure safety at the workplace.
Several companies are embracing technologies to ensure safety, but as a tech leader, L&T is among the few that have begun adopting AI to enhance workplace safety. L&T’s digital technological experts have developed an AI platform that identifies issues such as an ‘unsafe condition’ or an ‘unsafe act’.
At project sites, AI platforms are deployed to detect the absence of safety jackets or helmets, workmen without safety shoes and other such unsafe acts. Since the first wave of COVID-19 last year, AI is being used to detect the absence of face masks and inadequate social distancing by workmen.
Using video analytics and CCTV networks, AI engines identify such individuals, locate their supervisors in real-time and alerts them to take quick corrective action. The innovative use of AI can only further improve the standards of safety across construction sites as conditions there changes on an hourly or daily basis. AI can detect and flag unsafe conditions 24X7.
Moreover, safety-related information, including data, accumulates and adherence to laid down safety standards is measured. Subsequently, the data can analyse recurring unsafe conditions or acts and highlight the target area for improvement in safety – whether to focus on training or re-educating workers.
In fact, an entire menu of digital solutions has been devised to keep workmen and on-site engineers safe from potentially hazardous situations. These include the application of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), for safety training.
There is, for instance, a dedicated mobile app named Safety. Launched in 2016, it has some 18,000+ users, covering 700+ projects cumulatively registering some 300,000 engagements per month. There are also apps such as ViewEHS and Ib4u that are used by specific wings of L&T Construction.
