Hughes & Salvidge improving mobile fleet safety with OnGrade
Company becomes first UK demolition contractor to use SiteZone proximity warning system
DEMOLITION specialists Hughes & Salvidge have taken a proactive lead on anti-collision safety by specifying the use of OnGrade’s proximity warning system, SiteZone, as part of their on-site health and safety remit.
The use of SiteZone has often been taken up by sub-contractors working on a project, as recommended by the client/developer. However, Hughes & Salvidge have taken the corporate decision to use the SiteZone proximity warning system on all projects at their Heathrow Airport operations, involving plant and personnel.
A first for OnGrade, the application of the SiteZone unit in the demolition industry is a milestone in its quest to improve site safety awareness.
‘SiteZone has already proved a success in the construction and waste sectors,’ commented Gary Escott, director of OnGrade. ‘However, we know that the demolition business is high-risk because personnel on foot often work in close proximity to heavy plant on site. The team at Hughes & Salvidge have shown just how dedicated they are to their staff’s safety and using SiteZone will help them to reinforce and improve safety performance.’
All of the company’s plant and vehicles being operated at Heathrow Airport have been fitted with SiteZone, which uses radio frequency identification (RFID) detection. This means that SiteZone can see around corners, through dust and smoke and in poor light conditions, giving targeted warning alarms to both drivers and workers on foot should they enter each other’s working area.
Plant and vehicles are fitted with SiteZone base stations, while site workers have RFID transponders fitted to their hard hat/sleeve. When a site worker breaches a predefined detection zone, both the worker and driver receive a ‘proximity warning’. This two-way alarm feature is fundamental to site safety, since responsibility for avoiding accidents is shared by both parties.
SiteZone also logs incident data, which can be transmitted and viewed on a cloud service by using the telematics function. It collects essential data from SiteZone in the event of a zone breach to help managers monitor and improve site safety.
Tony Jack, group safety, health, environment and quality manger for Hughes & Salvidge, said: ‘We work very hard on our approach to, and development and implementation of matters, relating to health and safety. We are very proud of our H&S record and we are delighted to enhance this further with the introduction of the SiteZone proximity warning system on our plant.
‘The feedback from our plant operators, on-ground personnel and clients has been excellent and as an employer it has given us great satisfaction that we have provided an extra element to our already stringent Health and Safety processes to help keep our staff safe.’
