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Updating Road Safety: Integrating Technology, Improved Practices and a Robust Culture

Published on January 01, 2023

3 minutes

Safety is the backbone of Air Liquide’s business culture which is embedded in a network of shared beliefs, practices, and attitudes that has been painstakingly manifested within the organization. With innovation imbued into Air Liquide’s operational systems, safety too, needs to be updated in order to keep up with Industry 4.0. Hence, application of the Air Liquide safety strategy also needs to evolve as new technologies are adopted.

In Southeast Asia, road infrastructure is an issue as many areas are still developing. As such, Road Safety takes the helm of our safety priorities in Southeast Asia.

WE BELIEVE THAT OUR WORKERS AND DRIVERS ARE CUSTOMERS OF OUR SAFETY EFFORTS - AND WE STRIVE TO TAKE THE NECESSARY STEPS TO ENSURE THAT OUR EMPLOYEES ARE IN GOOD HANDS.

New Devices

Being notified of safety risks in real time was a technology that was unheard of years ago. Today, Seeing Machines have become one of the top new innovative, reliable and cost-effective technologies in road safety. As driver fatigue and distractions have been identified as the most critical road accident caused, implementing the Seeing Machines as a digital solution to enhance our safety standards has been a breakthrough in how we have enhanced our safety protocol in the digital age.

Seeing Machines work on computer vision algorithms which track eye gaze, head position and pupil size. Artificial technology then analyses the data to quickly and accurately detect driver drowsiness, distraction and microsleep events. Should such events be detected, drivers are immediately alerted with acoustic and vibratory alarms.

THE DEPLOYMENT OF SEEING MACHINES WITHIN AIR LIQUIDE SOUTHEAST ASIA HAS PROGRESSED WELL WITH 94 VEHICLES EQUIPPED AS OF DECEMBER 2018. IN 2019, WE ARE WORKING TO INCREASE THIS FIGURE.

Measuring Safety

Of course, real time alerts are not all that new technology has to offer. Power BI is a useful data analysis tool that extrapolates the data received from the Seeing Machines. By filtering and mapping out results based on events, fleets and time, such data management supersedes traditional spreadsheets by leaps and bounds, and identifies driving patterns in driving behaviour that can be corrected through training or systems providing the foundation for future enhancements in safety.

Growing the Safety Momentum

While it is all merry and good to have technological advancements in safety, we recognize that humans play an indispensable role as a bridge between technology and its successful application. Adopting technologies such as the Seeing Machines is not effective unless we  ensure that our drivers are well equipped with regular training and coaching sessions. Only with this holistic strategy can there be a real step forward in our road safety performance.

With the help of innovation and digitalization, we expect to reach many ‘zeros’ in 2019. Zero fatigue events, zero cell phone events, zero ‘sensors covered’ events, and zero critical overspeed events.