Inspection software and safety management on the road in 2012

By Jesse Kohl on January 27th, 2012 @ 10:59 am
Field ID inspection software booth

Field ID at NSC 2011

Each year, Field ID co-founders Somen Mondal and Shaun Ricci hit the road several times to present and showcase our industry-leading inspection software at conferences and events. And we’ve already got a few great travel plans for 2012.

Events are a great way for us to meet with industry leaders from various sectors, give live demonstrations of our system, and share our thoughts on effective safety management, quality control, and compliance issues.

Today, we’re posting a quick list of where we plan to be in 2012. This list will probably grow, and we’ll be updating the events page at FieldID.com throughout the year. So if you’re in the area(s) on the dates below, let us know!

Builders Association Contractor Safety Forum

Thursday February 9, 2012 – Chicago, Illinois

Field ID will be presenting at the Builders Association’s Contractor Safety Forum on Feburary 9th in Chicago, Illinois. COO Shaun Ricci will discuss how technology can help safety programs, and members will discuss their experiences with Field ID software. This event will also feature a presentation from McShane Construction Company, one of our valued users.

WSTDA 2012 Annual Meeting

Tuesday June 5, 2012 – Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Field ID will be attending the WSTDA Annual Meeting from June 5th-7th this year in Lake Louise, Alberta. Field ID CEO Somen Mondal will be participating in a special panel discussion on RFID.

2012 NSC Congress & Expo – Orlando, Florida

Sunday October 21, 2012 – Orlando, Florida

Field ID is looking forward to joining more than 12,000 health and safety professionals at NSC 2012! We will again be presenting live demonstrations of Field ID on the floor at NSC 2012, which runs from October 21st-26th this year.

LiftEx 2012 Conference – Coventry, UK

Thursday November 29, 2012 – Coventry, UK

Field ID will be attending LiftEx 2012, the largest lifting industry event. Hosted by the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association, LiftEx 2012 will run two days on November 29th and 30th, 2012. Watch for a special Field ID webinar relating to this event!

 

In addition to our in-person events, Field ID will be hosting several online events in 2012. Watch for our webinars in the coming weeks and months!

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Categories: Events | Inspection Software


Workplace safety solutions needed to address economic burden of injuries

By Jesse Kohl on January 26th, 2012 @ 11:03 am

workplace safety solutionsWorkplace safety advocates often talk about the high cost of neglecting safety and prevention measures, but the overall medical and health care costs of job-related injuries and illnesses are even “greater than generally assumed,” according to a new study. In fact, the costs are higher than those racked up by cancer and stroke. And the argument for workplaces to adopt better workplace safety management solutions grows even stronger…

Workplace injury and illnesses cost the United States about $250 billion per year, according to the newly published research. The study, titled “Economic Burden of Occupational Injury and Illness in the United States,” was detailed in the latest issue of the Milbank Quarterly, a multidisciplinary journal of population health and health policy.

Here are the official findings, directly from the study:

Findings: The number of fatal and nonfatal injuries in 2007 was estimated to be more than 5,600 and almost 8,559,000, respectively, at a cost of $6 billion and $186 billion. The number of fatal and nonfatal illnesses was estimated at more than 53,000 and nearly 427,000, respectively, with cost estimates of $46 billion and $12 billion. For injuries and diseases combined, medical cost estimates were $67 billion (27% of the total), and indirect costs were almost $183 billion (73%). Injuries comprised 77 percent of the total, and diseases accounted for 23 percent. The total estimated costs were approximately $250 billion, compared with the inflation-adjusted cost of $217 billion for 1992.”

We found this to be an amazingly high cost, but we were even more surprised that the study’s author, J. Paul Leigh, declared the costs to be “at least as large as the cost of cancer.” Only about 25 per cent of the costs, adds Leigh, are covered by workers’ compensation, so “all members of society share the burden” of these costs.

Industries and businesses with higher rates of jobsite or worker injury may need to look at how safety is currently being managed. There’s always room for improvement. This $250 billion cost to the economy may seem somewhat abstract in the context of day-to-day operations, but chances are that there’s a real cost you can assign to downtime caused by worker injury or illness – no matter what business you’re in.

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Categories: Inspection Management | Inspection Software | Safety Management


The DARPA fire suppression wand (magic not included)

By Herbert Hernandez on January 25th, 2012 @ 11:22 am

At Field ID, we’re crazy about new technology, innovation in both hardware and software, and how it can all come together for safety management. Given its importance to overall safety, fire safety management is clearly very important to many of our users. So when I stumbled on a DARPA project fire suppression using a “magical” wand, I was so impressed had to share it.

It’s not really magic. But breakthroughs in science can be just as impressive, and they can create the illusion of magic. This video of the technology in action is a perfect example of what I mean.

 

 

Here’s the background. The DARPA Instant Fire Suppression (IFS) program, a U.S. military initiative, sought to establish the feasibility of a flame-suppression system based on destabilization of flame plasma with electromagnetic fields and acoustics techniques. The DARPA research team at Harvard University has recently demonstrated suppression of small methane and related fuel fires by using a hand-held electrode, or wand. TIME Magazine named DARPA’s fire suppression technology among the 50 best inventions of 2011.

Many of today’s fire suppression technologies are decades old and focus largely on disrupting the chemical reactions involved in combustion by spraying water, foams or other chemicals on the flames. They can also cause damage to valuable property, environmental toxicity and have limited effectiveness for some types of fire. All existing suppressants are composed of matter and must be physically delivered and dispersed throughout the fire. This limits the rate at which fires can be extinguished and the ability to combat fires in confined spaces or behind obstacles.

But DARPA’s approach is truly novel. One day, this new approach could eventually make its way to commercial and residential use. Can you imagine using a wand to deal with small to large scale fires and eliminating certain problems such as fire extinguisher size or distance to a fire hydrant? It may be possible in the future, but for now this technology is in its early stages.

According to Matthew Goodman, DARPA program manager: “We successfully suppressed small flames and limited re-ignition of those flames, as well as exhibited the ability to bend flames. These effects, to date are very local—scaling is a challenge that remains to be overcome. We’ve made scientific breakthroughs in our understanding and quantification of the interaction between electromagnetic and acoustic waves with flame plasma.”

Technology is evolving every day, and so is Field ID. Personally, I can’t wait for the day that the first “fire suppression wand” gets entered into our system for inspection or safety audits.

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Categories: Equipment Safety | Inspection Management | Inspection Software | Safety Management


Safety inspections ordered on Airbus cracked wing parts

By Jesse Kohl on January 24th, 2012 @ 11:28 am
Safety inspections ordered on Airbus A380

The world's largest passenger plane.

Air safety regulators in Europe have ordered safety inspections be performed on about one third of the Airbus A380 jets in service. Why? Cracks were found in wing parts (well, on a component of the wings). At Modern Safety, we found this news fascinating. The world’s largest passenger airliner – with four massive engines and double-deck seating for 525 people – is in the news for a safety issue. It may be a minor issue, but it’s noteworthy.

The European Aviation Safety Agency issued the “airworthiness” directive on Friday, after the Airbus A380 cracks were reported by Singapore Airlines and Quantas Airways. The cracks appeared in wing-rib feet, which attach the vertical rib to the wing. Other airlines operating A380s – such as Dubai-based Emirates – are monitoring their A380 fleets. The safety concern affects about 20 of the superjumbo jets, which will need to be grounded, but it also affects the overall perception around this amazing plane.

At a price of about $389.9 million (US) per unit, over 60 A380s have been delivered to airlines so far, with total orders having reached 253 as of December 2011.

Here’s a list of where these superjumbo jets are going:

Airline

A380 Orders
Air Austral

2
Air France

12
Asiana Airlines

6
British Airways

12
China Southern

5
Emirates

90
Etihad

10
Hong Kong Airlines

10
Kingdom Holding Company

1
Kingfisher Airlines

5
Korean Airlines

10
Lufthansa

17
Malaysia Airlines

6
Qantas Airways

20
Qatar Airways

10
Singapore Airlines

19
Skymark

6
Thai Airways

6
Virgin Atlantic

6
TOTAL

253

 

*Source: Airbus, January 2012

Airbus CEO Tom Enders called the cracks “embarrassing,” but added that the problem poses no dangers to passengers. He told CNN: ““This is to a certain extent embarrassing, yes, but we will do everything to make sure safety is not compromised and repair damaged rib feet for the customers.”

More than two weeks before the EASA issued the “airworthiness” directive, Airbus advised that cracks resulted from a manufacturing issue and did not require immediate safety checks. The company advised that the cracks could be repaired during scheduled four-year maintenance checks. BusinessWeek/Bloomberg coverage reports that an EASA now wants any A380 with more than 1,300 takeoffs and landings to undergo inspections, and any planes with more than 1,800 trips would need to be checked within four days.

Safety inspections in aviation can be a complex thing, and we’d recommend inspection software and electronic safety management over pen and paper checks any day.

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Categories: Industrial Safety | Inspection Management | Inspection Software | Safety Compliance | Safety Management


Safety video review – Modern Safety

By Jesse Kohl on January 20th, 2012 @ 11:34 am

At Field ID, we’re big fans of online video. We’ve created numerous safety and inspection software videos on our YouTube channel, but we also like share interesting safety and software-related videos we find throughout our work week. Organizations, companies and individuals have been creating safety videos for decades now, and with the popularity and growth of online video, safety resources new and old are more accessible than ever.

Today, we’re sharing three safety videos that caught our attention this week. Some of these videos my be new, and some may be older. But all of them will be relevant to Modern Safety. Please be sure to lower your volume levels before clicking play.

Thank God You’re Here, Safety Officers: Safety is a serious matter, but here’s a humourous look at safety inspections on a construction site.

 

 

Shipyard Safety Animation: Last year, we wrote a blog post relating to shipyard safety. At the time, we came across this instructional animation. It’s stayed with us ever since.

 

 

Raw Video Crane Accident: Once in a while, it’s important to recognize that things go wrong to inspire greater attention to safety.

 

Do you have a favourite safety video? Let us know and we may include it in future posts!

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