Honeywell and Intel launch a personal safety solution for industrial workers

Honeywell (HON) and Intel have collaborated to launch a personal connected safety solution for industrial workers and first responders that would reduce workplace injury and improve productivity.

The companies will offer centralised command centre for managing safety data by connecting multiple devices, systems and data sources through a cloud-based service and then streamlines data collection to give safety managers an integrated view of safety and compliance.

The prototype of the Honeywell Connected Worker solution was demonstrated at the annual Intel’s Internet of Things (IoT) Insights Day.

The mobile hub incorporated in the solution collects and provides sensor fusion or data collected from a variety of sensors on a worker through a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), a heart rate monitor, and several Intel Quark SE microcontroller based devices, including a toxic gas monitor, an activity detection device, and a non-verbal gesture device.

The sensor fusion is expected to provide a broad picture of what that worker is experiencing by monitoring the workers for toxic gas exposure, breathing, heart rate, posture and motion.

The resulting data is displayed on a visual, cloud-based dashboard, giving plant managers and incident commanders with required information needed to better anticipate unsafe conditions and prevent potential situations that could threaten worker safety.

Additionally, the data will also prevent equipment failure that could lead to unsafe conditions or costly downtime.

Honeywell Industrial Safety president Carl Johnson said: “This collaboration between Honeywell and Intel showcases how we are connecting industrial workers to the digital world and creating safer work environments.”

Intel IoT Group senior vice-president Doug Davis said: “The joint use case from Honeywell and Intel demonstrates an industrial wearable solution for a connected worker to help protect workers from unexpected and previously undetected risks in industrial environments.

“Today’s demonstration is a great example of an edge-to-enterprise solution that validates how real-time information can be turned into potentially life-saving actions.”