This article was originally published in the July 2018 edition of Equipment Today:

Triax’s Spot-r safety system is a mobile technology that almost immediately improved safety and profit on KBE Building Corp.’s projects.

“In the 60 days since we implemented Spot-r, we have already stopped three conditions where employees were jumping up and down heights more than 19 in., and they were immediately corrected,” says Adam Peters, corporate safety director at KBE Building Corp. (KBE).

It can be difficult to measure the successes of a safety program in construction. “At KBE, safety starts at the top with our owner. Owner buy-in is critical for the success of a safety department,” Peters states. “Educating your people, giving them the authority to implement your program, and putting in place all the controls you can to eliminate risk is the next step toward success. This is how you establish a company-wide culture of employees who believe in your safety program and know the importance of safety at the jobsites.

“We feel at KBE we have some of the best field people and projects in the business, so Triax was our next step toward eliminating risk and continuing to have some of the safest sites in the industry,” he adds.

Sensor tracks safety automatically

KBE invested in the Spot-r safety system early in 2018. It monitors worker and equipment location, activity and safety on the jobsite using sensors worn by workers or tagged onto equipment. The contractor’s goal was to help eliminate false claims and to make the field team aware of employees falling or jumping on the jobsite.

“With some of the low-height falls, at first you don’t know if they’re jumping or falling,” says Peters. The Spot-r Clip identifies a quick change in elevation greater than 2 ft.

“OSHA doesn’t allow anyone to access areas that have a change in elevation of more than 19 in. without stairs, a ladder or a ramp. If it picks up that a person fell, it could be that they are jumping off a foundation wall or a loading dock because there isn’t a safer way up or down in place. When this happens, our team becomes alerted to it via the Spot-r dashboard and notifications. Then we can go investigate and fix the condition,” Peters explains.

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