Zonr, the smart safety system which creates virtual exclusion zones to protect worker safety in heavy industry, will be adopted by engineering contractor QTS Group across all its UK sites following a successful trial.
QTS collaborated with Zonr’s manufacturer Pathfindr – the asset tracking and Industrial IoT tech specialist – over its initial development and will now implement the system itself to improve health and safety across its rail engineering, infrastructure and electrification operations throughout the UK.
Zonr alerts workers through a proximity alarm when a vehicle or other hazard comes close, or if they step into a high-risk area – guiding them through a workplace to avoid potential incidents. It gives site operators real-time data over incursions, enabling interventions to be made in the moment, as well as providing holistic data to enable overall health and safety processes to be improved.
Alan McLeish, Managing Director of QTS Group, said: “Initial trials have gone extremely well, and we’ve been able to clearly demonstrate the simplicity and functionality of the system.
“Work sites are fast-moving, dynamic environments, and through using this system to automatically alert workers to dangers, we’re highly confident we can further improve safety across our sites.”
Rob Grahamslaw, CEO of Pathfindr, said: “The first real-world test for Zonr is a major milestone and we’re very pleased that QTS Group has committed to using it to improve health and safety across its sites.”
He added: “No technology will ever guarantee safety, but Zonr has been designed with the user in mind, enabling better decision making and alerting workers to dangers as soon as they arise. We look forward to working with more organisations to help improve their worker safety.”
Zonr is an evolution of Pathfindr’s Safe Distancing Assistant, a wearable device developed in 2020 to support social distancing, and was launched amid the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
For more information visit https://pathfindr.io/zonr-plant-proximity-solution/
Photo credit: QTS
