HoistCam was featured as a special report in May/June 2013 edition of Overhead Crane & Hoist magazine as the publications “Game Changer.” The article features statistics from OSHA regulators, commentary from Netarus and, more importantly, feedback from HoistCam™ customers. The pictures from the article depict the HoistCam installed as a camera on a tower crane at a construction site. A downloadable version of the article is also available in PDF format.
Overhead Crane and Hoist Magazine
Saving lives on the job site with the wireless HoistCam
Every issue OCH showcases a game changing application, process, or system that has the potential to significantly impact the way we work. Our Game Changers come from every part of the overhead crane and hoist supply chain, but they all have one thing in common: they regard change as an opportunity rather than a threat. This month’s OCH Game Changer is GM Engineering Services, which has developed a novel camera which has the potential to drastically reduce the number of accidents for crane and hoist operators.
Virginia Beach [Virginia, USA] tech company Netarus has developed a rapidly deployable wireless high visibility surveillance solution named HoistCam which, the company says, could prevent accidents and save lives on jobs sites where hoists and cranes are in use. According to the Federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) 4,609 works were killed on the job in 2011 almost 90 a week or nearly 13 deaths every day. The OSHA is an agency responsible for the health and safety of 130 million workers, employed at more than 8 million work sites around the US. The OSHA said the death tally in 2011 represented a slight increase from 4,551, fatal work injuries in 2009, and it is the second lowest annual total since the fatal injury census was first conducted in 1992. And, according to the New York Daily News, there has been an alarming increase in specifically crane related accidents over recent years. Many of these have led to fatalities or construction workers suffering serious injuries.
HoistCam places the eyes of the crane operator anywhere in the construction grounds
But the rise in safety issues could soon be a thing of the past, according to the executives at Netarus.
Christopher Machut, Netarus’ Chief Technology explained: “HoistCam places the eye of the crane operator anywhere in and around the construction grounds or marine port. This provides them with line-of-sight thus ensuring a safer work environment as well as higher efficiency by the crane operator. In effect, by solving an OSHA safety concern, crane operators can now become more productive and more confident in their work.”
Unlike traditional camera systems that are permanently affixed to a crane, HoistCam is completely wireless with the only permanently mounted components on the platform being the receiver’s antenna along with the crane operator’s display. HoistCam also effectively eliminates the distractions and complexity of more costly camera systems by removing the joystick from the operator’s cab.
Safety issues could soon be a thing of the past. (HoistCam Attached to Hook Block of Crane)