Engineer News: Radar Helps Prevent Road Worker Fatalities
Safety is a huge part of the business of an engineer. The engineering designs must ensure the safety of the finished product, but worksite safety must also be a priority. Worksites are not contained in a bubble. Many sites involve infrastructure that is in the middle of a city. Heavy equipment must move safely through traffic or around other buildings where people live and work. Because of this, safety applies to both workers and other people driving vehicles or pedestrians that may also need to be around a build site.
Radar is now being used to help truck drivers and other heavy equipment operators overcome the challenges of multiple blind spots. A CS Magazine article summarizes the need for increased safety measures and how this new technology is helping. They report, “For drivers in the construction industry, detecting objects and people in blind spots is crucial to safety not only on the road, but also on worksites where ground workers are at risk from moving vehicles and machinery.”
Radar Helps Reduce Risk
The presence of multiple blind spots on heavy machinery motivated a company called Brigade Electronics to develop a system called Backsense Radar. This system uses frequency modulated continuous waves technology. Timestamped waves are interpreted and fed to a screen in the driver’s cab.
To address the challenge of multiple blind spots, Brigade created a network radar system. This system allows up to eight sensors on a single vehicle. All the sensors are networked together to give the driver obstacle feedback on one screen. Having this additional information allows the driver to move heavy equipment around a site or between locations in a safer way.
Safety at OEI
OEI always promotes worksite safety protocols. Our expert construction management team seamlessly collaborates with our engineers to ensure the proper use of materials, equipment, and safety gear for all workers. We also maintain safe access points to each work site by monitoring surroundings especially when big equipment is moving. This includes constant and consistent evaluation of site conditions including all people, machinery, materials, and even weather.
The use of technology and proper equipment is necessary, but OEI goes the extra step to ensure all people involved are educated on safety protocols when on a job site. By creating and developing competence our reliable team consistently exceeds project expectations. Safe work sites and cohesive teams work to make OEI a leading engineer firm. Visit our about page to learn more about the Core Foundations that make OEI your best choice for any engineering or architectural need.