In order to comprehensively improve construction safety, in recent years, Shanghai, Nanning and other places have reduced the occurrence rate of safety accidents at the source by promoting shared safety helmets, introducing “smart safety helmets” and other measures.
Shared safety increases efficiency
A worker was injured in the arm when he was accidentally scratched by an object on the construction site because he was not wearing a helmet… On a construction site in Fengxian District, Shanghai, more than 30 construction workers were concentrating on watching a training video on the correct use of helmets. The trainer analyzed the importance of helmets and their protective mechanisms through meticulous explanations and frame-by-frame presentations. Lao Gui, a steel worker, said frankly: “After this training, I deeply realized that helmets are the last line of defense to protect life safety and must not be ignored.”
This training is part of the special campaign “Keep your helmet on the job, protect safety” initiated by the Fengxian District Construction and Management Committee. The campaign promotes the “intelligent shared helmet” system throughout the district, realizes the deep integration and linkage management of the two major scenes of “construction site + surrounding roads”, and helps solve the pain points in construction safety. So far, more than 30 construction sites have been equipped with shared helmet cabinets, and it is planned to achieve full coverage of shared helmets in all construction sites in the district within the year to protect urban builders.
In response to the frequent problems of forgotten or lost helmets on construction sites, construction companies have installed convenient helmet sharing cabinets at the entrances and exits of construction sites. Construction workers can quickly borrow or return helmets with simple operations, which greatly improves work efficiency and reduces the risk of safety hazards caused by insufficient safety equipment. In addition, to ensure that helmets are always in the best condition, each construction site has also established a strict daily inspection system and regular maintenance mechanism to ensure that the intact rate of helmets reaches 100%, effectively avoiding safety accidents caused by equipment damage.
In order to further enhance the safety awareness and operation skills of construction workers, Fengxian District Construction and Management Committee has also set up eye-catching safety warning posters and detailed operation guides to popularize the correct use of helmets to construction workers in the form of illustrations.
Smart supervision promotes standardization
At a construction site in Liangqing District, Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, supervisors put on their “smart safety helmets” and started a new day of supervision and inspection. It is understood that this “smart safety helmet” is not only a safety protection product, but also a law enforcement recorder that integrates network transmission, lighting, video recording, real-time positioning, voice intercom, SOS (emergency distress signal) alarm and other functions. Last year, the Autonomous Region Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department arranged special subsidy funds to equip the first-line construction project quality and safety supervisors in the region with “smart safety helmets” to promote the informatization and standardization of the supervision team.
During daily site inspections and patrols, supervisors only need to wear hard hats to capture and record the quality of the construction and safety production conditions at the construction site in real time and accurately. A supervisor shared: “Once a potential safety hazard is discovered, just tap the shooting button on the hard hat to quickly obtain evidence, and then go back to the office to view the photos taken during the inspection on the computer.” Using high-definition pictures or videos taken by the “smart hard hat” as evidence not only ensures the integrity and authenticity of the data, but also provides strong support for the subsequent rectification requirements and the implementation of punishment measures.
In addition, the “smart safety helmet” has also achieved seamless connection with the Guangxi Construction Engineering Quality and Safety Supervision Information Management System. According to relevant persons in charge, problems found by supervisors on site can be quickly uploaded to the background through the built-in communication system of the safety helmet. Housing and Urban-Rural Development authorities at all levels can communicate with front-line supervisors in real time to achieve remote investigation and real-time guidance, which greatly enhances the timeliness and flexibility of supervision, enables regulatory authorities to respond quickly, implement precise policies, effectively identify and eliminate major accident hazards, and comprehensively improve supervision efficiency. Relevant person in charge of the Autonomous Region Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department said that in the future, the supervision system will be continuously improved, the intelligent management of construction will be strengthened, and the digitalization, refinement and intelligence of the entire process of construction site management will be effectively improved.
Real-time location and elimination of hidden dangers
At the construction site of Zhengyang Middle Road Station of Metro Line 9 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, a “small yellow box” is added to the back of the construction workers’ helmets. It is reported that the “small yellow box” is the “smart brain” of the helmet, which can not only realize the three-dimensional positioning of the wearer, but also sense and monitor the surrounding environment of the wearer in real time. The helmet has a built-in chip that stores personnel information and has information transmission functions. There are multiple information collection piles distributed in the construction site. By using sensor network technology and multi-mode positioning technology, the system can realize accurate positioning of personnel.
Wearing smart helmets for construction workers is only the first step towards intelligence. By analyzing the data transmitted by the chip through the intelligent management system, multi-dimensional intelligent management such as personnel deployment, safety control, attendance statistics, and work efficiency analysis can be realized. At the same time, by using the intelligent management system to establish a virtual model of the construction site, the dangerous areas on site can be marked in the model (electronic fence technology). When people approach these dangerous areas, the system will automatically issue a voice prompt. In addition, the safety helmet is bound to the operator on a 1-to-1 real-name basis. If an emergency occurs on site, the operator can press and hold the SOS button for help. The system platform will immediately receive the distress message, and the background map will display its location in real time. In addition, the movement trajectory of the person wearing the safety helmet can be viewed, thereby realizing intelligent control of construction safety with pre-prevention, in-process alarm, and post-event backtracking.
Some construction sites in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province have adopted panoramic inspections, image comparison, AI (artificial intelligence) monitoring and other technical means to implement safer and more sophisticated engineering management methods. At the project site, construction safety officers wear panoramic safety helmets and conduct detailed inspections in the main area of the construction site every day according to established requirements, effectively filling the internal inspection blind spots that are difficult for drones to reach. These image data can be transmitted to the background storage in real time, and project management personnel can quickly identify and deal with safety hazards at the construction site, and conduct targeted inspections and command of key areas. The project department also compares and analyzes the panoramic images taken by construction safety officers at the same location and at different time points to accurately evaluate the rectification and implementation of quality and safety hazards at the construction site, greatly improving the rectification efficiency and execution. In addition, AI monitoring can automatically identify a variety of potential hazards, including the wearing of safety helmets, the wearing of reflective clothing, the warning of edge protection approaching, and personnel smoking, realizing a closed-loop management of the entire process from hazard identification to the implementation of responsibilities to the completion of rectification.