Among the various technologies used by the construction industry to improve worker safety, so-called wearables have attracted great interest.
“We have a lot of customers and potential customers trying to experiment with some of these things,” said Boston-based Tom Grandmaison, vice president and head of engineering at Willis Towers Watson PLC.
Examples of wearables include cameras mounted on uniforms and helmets designed to alert workers to workplace hazards and to help track employee movements.
Another example is devices called “exoskeletons”, which are used by workers to support physical strength and support.
Some of the newer products in the wearables realm include safety devices that are sewn directly into reflective vests and helmets to warn of various hazards in the workplace, such as heavy equipment moving around the workplace.
“They̵
7;re getting pretty sophisticated,” said Dwayne Hartman, head of construction loss control for Kansas City, Missouri-based brokerage Lockton Cos. LLC.The construction industry has seen an increase in the use of wearables in recent years, Mr. Grandmaison, as more insurance companies and contractors look to the devices to “give them an edge in monitoring what’s going on in their projects.”
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