Implementation of computer vision for safety compliance can help enterprises meet safety regulations, ensuring the safety of their employees and assets by enabling a proactive approach.
Safety is essential, whether that be of your employees or that of your business assets. Thus, enterprises must ensure that their operations don’t compromise on safety in any aspect. However, current safety practices are mostly reactive. Rather than averting any unfortunate incident in the first place, these procedures only provide solutions to salvage a regrettable situation. Computer vision can help turn these reactive safety measures into proactive ones. It ensures that time, resources, and capital usually spent in reactive safety measures are saved. Most importantly, using computer vision for safety compliance helps prevent serious injuries that might occur to workers.
Leveraging Computer Vision For Safety Compliance
Artificial intelligence is gaining prominence in various industries. One of its branches, computer vision, gives digital systems the ability to ‘see’ things. Computer vision thus proves to be an efficient observer and can help enterprises maintain safety standards at their workplace. Here’s how computer vision can help achieve safety in various aspects.
Material Safety
Automatic scanners with computer vision technology can be installed at places like a warehouse or a production unit. The computer vision tool can identify flaws in the machinery or raw materials used. It can help detect scratches, defective machine parts, and even electrical and fire safety shortcomings. Computer vision can monitor the materials at lightning speeds and can even catch minor defects that slip the human eye. This can help avert financial losses caused in reactive repair and maintenance procedures and even life-threatening scenarios that may occur due to faulty equipment. For example, a computer vision solution can process multiple inputs from various electric circuits and alert the authorities if it detects any abnormal activity, or it can even be programmed to cut the electrical supply automatically.
Employee Safety
Computer vision can be used to watch and keep a tab on how people interact with the equipment they are operating. Computer vision can detect the occurrence of a hazardous incident such as:
- employees stepping in a risk-prone area,
- an operator taking an illegal turn that can harm him or others,
- employees working without wearing safety gear such as safety glasses and hard hats, or
- machines being operated without adherence to safety norms.
The computer vision system can detect such situations that can compromise employee safety and can send audible or visual signals in advance.
General Safety
Computer vision can also be used for enforcing other general safety protocols expected at the workplace. For instance, facial recognition technology can be used to monitor individuals entering and leaving the premises. This can help in detecting and identifying any suspicious individual who might enter the workplace with malicious intent. Similarly, computer vision can also be used to monitor workplace infrastructure. It can detect any unwanted changes that might have occurred due to certain circumstances, such as a high degree of wear and tear. It can, therefore, alert the authorities well in advance, and repair procedures can be carried out to avert any mishap.
Before implementing a computer vision solution, enterprises must first test it. They should have an on-site calibration to ensure that the technology can provide maximum benefit. Employees, too, should be trained to adopt safety practices and not rely entirely on computer vision for safety compliance.