Tended, an award-winning deep-tech start-up that develops advanced solutions to transform occupational safety has today received product acceptance for its first-of-a-kind geofencing technology from Network Rail.
Tended has formed an alliance with Unipart Rail to deploy the solution across rail networks. Together, they can deliver the safety solution as a hired, leased, managed service or sale and provide all functions to support its effective deployment including end-user and administrator training, logistics and nationwide distribution, real-time 24/7 support and proactive maintenance of hardware.
The acceptance comes after two years of R&D and testing in live environments alongside Network Rail and its frontline workforce. Tended’s advanced technological capabilities paired with the important contribution that the technology can make toward safety in the rail industry meant that product acceptance was obtained exceptionally quickly.
Tended’s wearable geofencing solution has been developed to further expand on the company’s suite of advanced safety solutions and to transform the safety of trackside workers. Featuring a high-tech, rugged wearable accompanied by a Planning Dashboard, the solution enables organisations to easily map out geofence zones over their worksites.
Geofences can be used to define hazardous or safe areas to assist workers in carrying out their work in positions of safety. Workers are assigned a small wearable device that provides real-time alerts if they approach a geofence boundary, alerting them of their potentially dangerous position and helping them regain situational awareness.
Using cutting-edge satellite technology, Tended’s geofencing solution achieves cm-level accuracy without any additional infrastructure requirements. As well as ensuring quick and easy set-up, this helps to keep costs down.
Recognising that between 80-90 per cent of occupational accidents are caused by human error, Tended focuses on human factors and places behavioural science and psychology at the forefront of product design. The wearable’s alerts are designed to nudge workers into safer behaviours, helping to promote safer decisions and actions over time. Dashboard analytics provide breach statistics that help formulate evidence-based safety improvement policies.
Tended’s geofencing solution recently won in the Engineering and Safety category at the Railway Industry Association Innovation Awards 2022 held on 1 July, having been cited by the judges for its incredible accuracy and life-saving potential.
Having also recently won the award for Greatest Cross-Sector Potential at the EIC Innovation and Showcase Awards 2022, Tended’s solution can augment safety across a wide range of industries, including construction, manufacturing, utilities and logistics. It can be tailored to suit a variety of working environments with innovative add-on features including people-to-plant collision avoidance, assisted marker board placement, asset tracking and environmental hazard exposure that monitors gas, sound and vibration. Organisations can combine this solution with Tended’s safety culture platform to identify the influences of unsafe behaviours and drive sustainable positive changes.
Tended CEO and founder, Leo Scott Smith, commented: “Safety in the rail industry is critical. Working with Network Rail, we’ve heard first-hand how workers have had seconds to jump out of the way of high-speed trains. Every incident on the rail network causes major disruption whether it’s caused by an accident or a piece of equipment left on the track; they can lead to huge costs and delays.
“Now that we have product acceptance, we are excited to bring innovation into this safety critical industry, empower people to work in confidence and help ensure that every worker can return home to their family after every shift.”
Jake Rudham, marketing and new products director, said: “ We are delighted to be working in collaboration with Tended, supporting their mission to make the world a safer place by using innovative geofencing safety technology, in order to prevent incidents and save lives.
“Their pioneering approach, passion and commitment to drive a strong safety culture within the rail industry, positions them as a perfect partner for Unipart Rail and aligns with our own culture and values. We are looking forward to continuing to work with them and to supporting the introduction of this fantastic innovation to the rail industry.”
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