PPE Detection in the Workplace

The Problem We Are Solving: PPE Compliance

‍Is everyone at the site wearing proper PPE?

PPE is mandatory to wear in many industries to protect workers from injuries and hazards. As a facility or site manager, it can be difficult to ensure PPE compliance, especially if you’re overseeing multiple sites at once. More often, managers are only made aware of failures in PPE compliance after a costly incident has happened.

A computer vision-based PPE detection system is customizable to ensure that your employees' PPE is monitored 24/7. You can also create alerts to notify site managers, compliance managers, and facilities operations leads to instantly notify in case of any issues. Let's go into more detail.

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Current Alternatives to an Automated PPE Detection System

• Manual checks by employees: At the start of each workday or once an employee enters a site, they are expected to make sure they are wearing accurate PPE. PPE compliance is left in the hands of the individuals committed to wearing it, where a natural human error rate impacts consistent adherence.
• Manually checking surveillance systems: Similar to manual checks by employees, having management manually scan cameras for lack of or misuse of PPE also leaves room for human error, is expensive to staff 24/7, and even more expensive to monitor across several sites.
• Other traditional computer vision solutions: If your business has multiple locations, the traditional computer vision solutions for PPE detection can be incredibly expensive and take up to months to deploy. They will also require updates to a customized model any time the environment changes or for each new location.

Groundlight's Solution: PPE Detection Using Computer Vision

Groundlight's PPE detection using a computer vision system identifies when PPE is properly worn or not worn properly in the workplace, faster, cheaper, and more reliably than ever before.

To integrate this PPE detection system, a workplace does not need cameras installed ahead of time- Groundlight works with many USB and Wifi cameras on the market today.

The customer asks the camera(s) a question like, “Is everyone wearing proper PPE?” After a few snaps of an image from the feed, the customer identifies examples of desired PPE compliance– what it looks like when people are not in compliance and what it looks like when they are. Is it the use of a specific type of construction hat? The use of a reflective vest? Goggles? All of these items? 

Groundlight Machine Learning models then analyze the feed’s images, and if any individual visible is not wearing proper PPE, customized alerts instantly go to the people who need them via text message or email. 

Customers can expect Groundlight AI to start working immediately, with strong confidence responses in minutes.

Key Features

The key features of our PPE detection system using computer vision include:

• Easily integrates with a site’s existing cameras (or new ones!)
• Customer can specify what “proper” use of PPE looks like at their site(s)
• Can be deployed for multiple sites and locations all in the same day
• Adapts to environmental changes like lighting through Humans-in-the-loop verification and ML active learning 
• Site managers can receive instant text or email notifications for PPE issues on site

Impact

An automated PPE detection system adds an extra layer of protection and safety by monitoring PPE throughout the day and analyzing the work zone in real-time. Groundlight AI offers its customers an automated system for your PPE detection needs, powered by computer vision.

Here's a look at how your business will benefit by implementing a PPE detection system using computer vision.

• Consistently achieve compliance standards: Give your employees a much-needed confidence boost, knowing that the best safety standards are being applied at their workplace with this automated technology.
• Reduce needless injuries and accidents: With an automated PPE detection system, the likelihood of accidents and injuries on-site plummets. 
• Better allocation of resources: Fewer accidents and injuries at a job site means lower unexpected costs, getting better use of your company's time and human resources.
• Time savings for facility managers: Automated PPE detection means facility managers and leaders have the bandwidth to focus on other important areas of their work, as opposed to worrying about staffing and relying on human review of surveillance footage.