People working in and around machinery in industrial, engineering and maintenance sectors can now be protected and better managed using an innovative real-time location system from Oxfordshire-based Salunda Ltd.

The patent-protected sotware delivers the latest in advanced location capability, integrating multiple tchnologies into a reliable and robust zone management system that improves the location of both people and mobile and autonomous machinery, providing position performance to avert incidents and cut the risk of workplace injuries and accidents.

Salunda was established to market sensor technologies, equipment and fluid monitoring solutions for harsh environments. The company owns a portfolio of over sixty patents and exclusive licences for emergency stop functionality. Customers include leading oilfield operators, service companies and equipment manufacturers. The Company is backed by leading UK high-tech investor IP Group plc.

Crew Hawk is suitable for industrial health and safety applications where people could be at risk from contamination (toxic materials), intense heat, high pressure (hydraulic oil), high voltage, heavy plant such as cranes and forklift trucks, blind lifts, high noise levels and crush injuries.

Working around moving machinery can be dangerous, particularly if it is automated or line of sight is obscured. Crew Hawk connects wearable locators attached to PPE and compact mag-mounted equipment sensors to a reliable and secure network, to automatically trigger personalised warnings and pause equipment to prevent a collision if someone is too close.

Wearable device
The individual is alerted to the risk of danger by an alarm on the wearable device, with the system also preventing the equipment from moving until the individual has left the area and returned to a secure location.

An intuitive user interface allows swift set-up to create a portable safety system that can be rapidly deployed across different industrial zones and will warn people before they enter a restricted or red zone, reducing the occurrence of costly lost time incidents or production downtime. ‘Flight recorder’ playback features permit incident investigation, while analytical tools pinpoint accident blackspots.

Crew Hawk can be deployed in an explosive atmosphere - and is ATEX and IECEx certified. This ‘Ex’ certification grants access to multiple industrial applications previously gated before the development of the location solution.

Being modular, the system is upgradable and the incorporation of digital ranging cameras (time of flight or Lidar) provides additional levels of work area access, safety and security. It can also be integrated with machine vision to discriminate between ‘authorised’ and ‘unauthorised’ personnel and detects those workers that do not have wearable sensors, providing a uniquely fail-safe solution.

System versatility allows configuration for extended levels of access control to critical areas, assigning a serial number to an individual, or their role, to allow only authorised personnel to enter restricted or hazardous areas. Access control is also configurable more dynamically to manage different stages of an operation.

As a result of comprehensive performance validation, Crew Hawk systems are already rolled out globally, including in South America, Australia, and South East Asia. More details at www.salunda.com