Progetto sicurezza sul lavoro: Safe 4.0

Safe 4.0

CO-FINANCED BY: Competence Center START 4.0 (CUP J31B20000180008)

The ongoing digital transformation and the consequent increase in the levels of human-machine-robot interaction significantly broaden safety issues; despite the adaptation of regulations and laws to ensure safety in the workplace, the protection of human resources therefore remains one of the primary issues to be addressed on the path towards Industry 4.0. The SAFE 4.0 project addresses this issue by means of an interdisciplinary consortium of leading companies, innovative SMEs, university spinoffs and research institutes involved in a collaborative Open Innovation project for the development of an integrated system for the prevention, management and optimization of Safety in Industry 4.0 scenarios.

The SAFE 4.0 project aims to combine the know-how of leading Italian companies and research organizations to develop a solution to increase the safety of workers, the real architects of company success. According to the consortium of this project, the ‘social challenge’ of the fourth industrial revolution is to use new exponential technologies to reduce the dramatic numbers of accidents at work that unfortunately still occur today.

SAFE 4.0 aims to develop an innovative solution by integrating “Connected Worker” IoT systems, HW platforms to monitor operators’ critical vital parameters (heartbeat, temperature, etc.) correlating them with industrial risk through machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques and technologies for free flow access control.

The Connected Worker will be composed of the latest generation of wearable devices equipped with an inertial platform to monitor the human-to-ground condition (inclination greater than x degrees, lack of movement, abrupt acceleration) and capable of supporting different radio modules such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.0, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), NB-IoT, WiFi, GPS, 2G/3G/4G to ensure maximum versatility according to the application scenario.

Small low-power sensors with a battery life of about five years will be installed inside the production system. By exchanging RF signals with the wearable device, they will make it possible to geo-localize an emergency event even in closed locations without GPS coverage by displaying the alarm on a web application helping to minimize intervention times and save lives.

The solution will also be able to automatically manage company evacuation plans by verifying in real-time how many people have reached the collection points and showing where any missing people are. To increase security levels and implement free flow access control, a sensor-based technology with stereoscopic cameras and artificial intelligence algorithms will be developed and integrated. This add-on, compared with the counting of the ‘Connected Worker’ system, will make it possible to obtain real-time information on the status of those present within the critical areas and alert security officers in the event of the presence of unauthorized personnel or intruders.

To complete the technology package included in SAFE 4.0, HW platforms will be integrated to detect the vital parameters of operators and, using artificial intelligence algorithms, will be correlated with industrial processing data. Based on a worker’s historical vital data, it will be possible to establish the risk in performing a task characterized by certain parameters relating to the physical effort required or skills needed, or whether the worker is in a phase of abnormal fatigue in relation to the task they are performing. SAFE 4.0 offers a ‘predictive safety’ solution, integrating 4.0 technologies and innovative sensors for the rapid intervention of rescue teams by focusing in on the health of the worker.

The project will be developed around 3 aspects:

Prevention: evaluation of innovative methods for analyzing the vital parameters of the worker related to industrial risk (e.g. analysis of the physical stress state of the worker based on their job) - evaluation of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for prevention automation (e.g. free flow access control via stereoscopic cameras for entrance monitoring)
Intervention:
- sensor management for automatic generation of safety risk alarms ("man down", "man at heights", "man in restricted area", "evacuation management")
- automatic management of personnel intervention, collection and evacuation procedures through IoT In & Outdoor hybrid networks
Intervention:
- modular IoT sensors to acquire the capillary knowledge of information in the workplace
- boards, devices and IoT platforms

The new technological system will be implemented to have high versatility and re-adaptability to different operating conditions, the purpose of which is to safeguard and protect workers by guaranteeing uniform safety conditions, regardless of the site in which they operate.
The uniqueness of the proposed solutions, the chosen technologies, and the Open Innovation methods used put the SAFE 4.0 project on track to constitute another milestone for the improvement of safety in Industry 4.0.

Smart Track’s role

Through the SAFE 4.0 project, Smart Track will have the opportunity to integrate data analysis methodologies and video streams using artificial intelligence algorithms into its know-how. The research and development employed within the SAFE 4.0 project will enable Smart Track to increase its competitive advantage in the safety sector by consolidating its position on the national and international market.

It will be a key opportunity to offer the market an innovative product with relevant technological significance to meet increased customer needs.