Reducing RIDDOR's with Drones represents an awesome opportunity for the Health & Safety world.
For those outside of the Health & Safety world RIDDORS's are the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.
I have spent the last couple of years working with Drones applied to everything from live broadcasting of Horse Racing to camel herding in the desert but strangely enough no one (as of yet) has even remotely suggested drones to specifically assist the Health & Safety role.
Use Phantom 2 on a Oil Rig
As a brief history I personally have some experience of the Health & Safety training world. Budget can always be found for training but as a rule this is normally associated to remedy after a situation has happened, and can be an enforced legal matter enforced by Government bodies. Interestingly, we do already have associated success with a couple of drones out in the workplace. Working with a couple of pilots that were using drones to monitor daily build changes and surveying large development sites the use of drones was received with a large amount of scepticism. The possible encroachment of surveyors, inspectors and site project manager roles seemed to be the main concern. Would these new fangled drones erode the onsite jobs of management in some way? The results were as expected but once again the application of drones was put on ice, as the middle management just couldn't endorse an information tool that ultimately, functioned as a daily supergrass to already known inefficiencies of the sites actual management.
DJI Phantom 2
The cost of one RIDDOR? god only knows but I’d be guessing at £m’s.
Fancy applying this? Please do give us a call, and we’ll help you implement this. We are looking at ten test sites. Our phone number is +44 (0)191 296 1024 or you can email me at justin@heliguy.com
Use Phantom 2 on a Oil Rig
As a brief history I personally have some experience of the Health & Safety training world. Budget can always be found for training but as a rule this is normally associated to remedy after a situation has happened, and can be an enforced legal matter enforced by Government bodies. Interestingly, we do already have associated success with a couple of drones out in the workplace. Working with a couple of pilots that were using drones to monitor daily build changes and surveying large development sites the use of drones was received with a large amount of scepticism. The possible encroachment of surveyors, inspectors and site project manager roles seemed to be the main concern. Would these new fangled drones erode the onsite jobs of management in some way? The results were as expected but once again the application of drones was put on ice, as the middle management just couldn't endorse an information tool that ultimately, functioned as a daily supergrass to already known inefficiencies of the sites actual management.
How Drones Can Help Health & Safety
The morning toolbox talk outlined the need for staff to understand, how to deal with the risks associated with flying a drone overhead. Filming would be undertaken and to ignore the drone as it performed inspections around the site. A day of flying did bring about a rather interesting benefit, a day where the site had no accidents whatsoever – work this one out for yourself! The benefits were immediately outwaying the costs of the drone at a site. Let’s broaden this working scenario, to see how you can make this work for you. Take a multi £million building works development, incorporating heavy vehicles, working cranes etc. On site are many company employees and lots of contractor teams. Constant logistics, valuable stocks, tools, generators and a site full of very “nickable” assets and can you make sure that everyone has identifiable Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) vests or a numbered helmets, or better still how’s about adding RFID tags to the vests so that company identity and working zones can be allocated? Perimeterd areas can be created to watch stray unauthorised movements, and bingo you have a comprehensive asset and people management system. The drone audits the people and also 3D models the areas, as well as providing live video feeds from the air. Let the drone fly autonomously by adding a series of waypoints and send feedback down to a portacabin at site with a broadband connection. Ping this information back to head office and this would allow senior Health & Safety managers to apply real time Zero Tolerance. Someone a few metres from a vehicle or a contractor in the wrong unauthorised location. Apply the law, communicate back to the site and deal with it before the accident happens. Change behaviours and bring in some clever training to back up the drone improvement strategy. Reducing accidents is the easiest buy in ever and the drone is the fixer. So what are you waiting for? A DJI Phantom 2 (or more professionally, the DJI Inspire 1) with digital connectivity to the onboard camera, a wifi enabled connection and you are ready to work for less than £1K. DJI Phantom 2
The cost of one RIDDOR? god only knows but I’d be guessing at £m’s.
Fancy applying this? Please do give us a call, and we’ll help you implement this. We are looking at ten test sites. Our phone number is +44 (0)191 296 1024 or you can email me at justin@heliguy.com
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