Modernizing safety for field workers

In one sentence, what is this new solution?

Ericsson Safe Worker is a B2B, end-to-end ecosystem that makes the workplace safer by using, AI, Computer Vision and IoT technologies.

What challenges are you trying to solve with this platform?

Despite safety protocols, there are many deaths and accidents that occur in the field during the installation or maintenance of cell towers, antennas, or radios, for example. Today, tower structure related deaths in the telecommunications industry are roughly 10 times that of general construction.

These incidents are often due to seemingly harmless reasons like unauthorized personnel on-site or workers not wearing the proper PPE, and could be avoided if there is a greater safety culture with more safety validations in place.

In addition, auditing and reporting is complex and can be faster and more efficient. For example, safety process like the Job Safety Analysis (JSA) forms are often filled out manually. This often leads to inaccuracies, lack of compliance and a delayed process.

For instance, validation and safety checks in some of our advanced areas are authorized by a remote approver through a video call. Callers may experience long wait times and these checks can take hours. The process can increase risk – something we find in many sectors – because humans are vulnerable to mistakes and fatigue when participating in repetitive tasks.

We wanted to create a platform that offers a streamlined, digital way of tackling these protocol issues and ultimately keep workers safe.

How does this solution solve this challenge?

Safe Worker offers a mobile app for field crews and managers to focus on three main categories of a job: Prepare, Perform and Improve.

In the Prepare phase, safety precaution is implemented before workers arrive onsite and start the job. For example, if a worker is booked to climb a tower for maintenance work, there must be at least two certified climbers in a group, and they must have the relevant certification available and verified in the app before traveling to the site.

Through the in-app media and AI functions, the app can also validate that a worker is wearing the right PPE like Safety Helmet, Vest, Work Gloves and Work Boots. The app can also assist a crew through live weather updates and figure out the nearby trauma center by automating the Emergency Action Plan (EAP).

The Perform category involves continuous monitoring and live vital tracking, which can be done before, during and after the job, with the workers’ consent, to ensure that field workers are fit enough to carry out the job.

The Improve category involves capabilities like safety pattern recognition, automated reporting and distribution. Each safety-related incident is a valuable learning moment and this category works to prevent anything similar happening in the future. The Safe Worker ecosystem is dedicated to learning from historical incidents and figuring out ways to improve.

When there is an incident, the data can also be used as a system to improve Root Cause Analysis, investigation and litigation. The ecosystem is a solid proof of record with all the relevant data available to the company to pinpoint what potentially went wrong or what was missed.

How did the idea for Ericsson Safe Worker come about?

Ericsson Safe Worker is about saving lives. When we realized the number of lives being lost in field accidents and understood that almost all of them were preventable – we decided to pursue a solution that could help combat the problem.

In the core team, fellow Cofounder Chris Wright is a Tower Practice Expert with a strong safety background and passion. Cofounder Keerthi Narra is a Data Scientist with strong background in engineering AI products. Together, we found a common passion and we had the right mix of skills to make it happen.

What are the main benefits of developing the project within Ericsson ONE?

To grow this project and scale it into a company, we needed to be part of a strong startup culture. Ericsson ONE gave us the boost we needed, both financially and through its mentors. Ultimately, we want Ericsson Safe Worker to reach industry levels, and Ericsson ONE is helping us reach that goal.