Leading building materials manufacturer gains 24/7 visibility with Protex AI

About the company

As a global building supplies manufacturer based in Europe, the company operates from two core factories that house over 500 employees. Their Health and Safety Manager is a key figure in maintaining a safe and secure work environment for all employees and contractors across both locations.

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The problem

Implementation of a computer vision solution wasn't an immediate priority for the team at the building supplies manufacturer. However, creating operational efficiencies that lead to a safer work environment is at the core of their business. When the team from Protex AI approached the health and safety manager, he realized that it could be very valuable to their operations. The health and safety manager shared, "We weren't looking for a solution at the time, and we had no idea one existed. However, it became clear very quickly that it was beneficial to the operations."

With the senior management's priority for health and safety, the building supplies manufacturer welcomed the implementation of Protex AI's computer vision technology. The manager mentioned that monitoring high-risk activities, particularly contracted forklift operations and truck driver interactions, was a challenge in their previous processes. Past incidents made it clear to the manager that they needed a better way to monitor workplace activities to reduce the risk of accidents. Furthermore, the health and safety team previously relied on line supervision and CCTV systems to monitor these situations, but CCTV footage was only accessed after an incident occurred. The lack of continuous visibility made detecting non-compliance events difficult, and the company was unaware of unreported near misses and some violations that were occurring.

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The solution

Protex AI provided the building materials manufacturer with a comprehensive view of their operations, assisting them in identifying and addressing non-compliant behaviors. During the onboarding process, the health and safety manager and the team were particularly excited about Protex AI's custom rule-building flexibility. This enabled them to customize the system to their specific requirements and ensure that they were monitoring the high-risk interactions that were most important to them. Protex AI's success team aided them in successfully implementing the new rules. Following implementation, Protex AI provided complete visibility of all non-compliance events and enhanced their high-risk areas' safety measures. A safety officer took over using the system to monitor all high-risk events on a daily basis after adopting Protex AI. Protex AI assisted them in identifying non-compliance events that they were previously unaware of. The health and safety manager expressed, "There is no comparison between before and after Protex AI implementation. There are various non-compliances raised by the system that we were unaware of. For example, in one of our recent reports, we discovered a truck driver speeding leaving our factory during after-hours operations - this could not have been detected before Protex AI because the supervisor was not present to observe."

The outcome

The building materials manufacturer now has greater visibility into all non-compliant events, allowing them to proactively identify and address issues, as well as having more open conversations with contractors and employees. In the event that a contractor is non-compliant, the health and safety manager and the team can utilize the evidence based data generated by Protex AI to clearly communicate the issue and the potential dangers involved. Protex AI is now an integral part of their health and safety workflows. Without Protex, potential high-risk areas could be overlooked, and more supervisors would be required to monitor these areas. According to the manager, the adoption of Protex AI has significantly strengthened their ability to monitor high-risk activities and events. Prior to Protex, they relied on supervision and occasional access to CCTV footage during incidents, which was unreliable and ineffective in identifying non-compliances. The manager stated that "Non-compliances were present, but now we have a comprehensive view of all our non-compliance events." Thanks to Protex AI, they now have complete visibility and can monitor and address high-risk activities in real-time and develop preventative actions.