Preventing accidents and saving lives is Brigade Electronics' mission. At the same time, it is the vehicle safety leader's biggest challenge. What opportunities exist to maximize safety around machinery on construction sites?
"We have the best job in the world." Huib Slijkhuis, sales manager Benelux, does not hide his enthusiasm and pride. "We operate in over ninety countries, are the largest and oldest company in the world when it comes to safety with vehicles and in 1976 were the first to introduce the reversing alarm in Europe."
More and more attention is being paid to safety on and around construction sites, and laws and regulations are also becoming stricter. Since 1976 developments have certainly not stood still. Ultrasonic obstacle detection, radar obstacle detection, white noise reversing alarms and of course the traditional camera and monitor systems. The Backeye®360 - the system with 360-degree all-round visibility - was introduced in 2014 and is now almost unthinkable as a safety system on vehicles and machines. It eliminates all blind spots and thus increases safety. All major importers of excavators therefore apply this system.
"The next step to even greater safety is to combine the Backeye®360 with radar," Huib knows. Suppose a driver does not look in his mirror or on his monitor for a moment, thanks to the detection, he will receive an audible notification if something or someone comes too close to the vehicle. "Our work is never finished in this respect. We have more than sixty projects running and are active all over the world in various markets. We always keep a finger on the pulse when it comes to what kind of demand there is in the market. We respond to that."
Every customer problem is a challenge, according to Huib. "A solution must be workable, simple, effective, reliable but certainly also affordable. What we bring to market is therefore fully tested and complies with all laws, regulations and certifications." The Backsense Radar Detection has been developed especially for the construction industry. Radar detects objects and persons and warns the driver by means of an acoustic signal. The Backsense is a very robust system, resistant to all weather conditions such as rain, fog, snow, hail, moisture, mud, etc.
The Backsense can also be combined with the Backeye 360 so that one can see on the screen what is happening 360 degrees around the machine, but also see where something/someone is in the detection zone. Especially for the construction industry Radar detection is a godsend, as the visibility on large machines is really poor, often also caused by the high sitting position of the driver.
Construction is one of the sectors with the most serious, and sometimes fatal, accidents. And even though efforts have already been made in terms of prevention, the number of accidents is still far too high. Slijkhuis: "For companies that prefer safety above all else and want to be sure that both driver and bystander are alerted, Brigade has introduced Zonesafe." Zonesafe works by means of an antenna and tags. The antenna is placed on the machine and employees walking in the area wear a tag. If the employee enters the detection zone, he and the driver are alerted through a vibrating tag. This system can also be used to shield a particular area so that no one can walk in that area without being alerted that they are in an "exclusion zone.
"In short, we don't have to get bored yet," Huib said. "As long as so many accidents still happen, it's up to us to keep introducing new and better safety systems. Just until everyone is aware of the importance of working safely."