A smartwatch dedicated to the safety of lone workers
The need
SNCF Réseau has a team of isolated workers, without visual or telephone contact with other agents for several hours. These workers perform regular and emergency maintenance tasks for rail infrastructure.
The need was to be able to detect falls, prolonged immobilizations and alerts issued manually or automatically, using a non-binding device. In order to generate a process for dealing with alerts and, if necessary, to involve emergency services.
Hitachi Rail STS, the world leader in the design and installation of railway signalling, wanted to meet this need by committing to a 4-month sprint.
The solution
After observation of the workstations and exchanges with the actors concerned, the proposed solution is a watch comprising motion sensors and connected by Bluetooth to the user's telephone to allow alerts to be sent to an emergency center.
The first version of this watch automatically detected the worker's fall and non-movement, manually triggered an SOS call, and notified workers of incoming calls, safety reminder messages, and white zones.
The experiment
The experiment took place at the Beuveil site, in Lorraine. Following the feedback from the testers, new features were added during the sprint. Such as sending email, text messages, phone calls and GPS positions in case of an alert, changing sensitivity to sudden movements and periods of low mobility, receiving alerts when entering a white zone and when the battery is low.
These new functionalities have been tested and appreciated by the isolated workers of Infralog Lorraine.
Apprenticeships
There is still room for improvement thanks to new user feedback. In particular on the ergonomics of the watch, the application available on the smartphone, the management of intervention areas with poor GSM coverage and the training to be provided to agents.
Learn more
Want to know more about the Hitachi Rail STS smartwatch for lone workers? Consult hither the page dedicated to this innovation on the Hitachi Rail STS website.
Hitachi Rail is a leading player in the global rail industry, employing more than 13,000 people around the world and offering a comprehensive range of products and services that include the design and production of rolling stock, the design of digital technologies, signalling systems, and the 24/7 operation and maintenance of rail and urban transport systems.
Hitachi Rail's involvement in the Rail Open Lab is motivated by its innovation strategy in the areas of digitalization and decarbonization that contribute to the evolution of railways towards smarter and more sustainable mobility.
Realization - A smartwatch dedicated to the safety of lone workers
