Page 28 - OHS, March 2020

GAS DETECTION
Connected safety devices like our gas detectors not only keep us safer, but they can make our work life easier and more productive in many ways.
Again, we do this not because we are micro-managers who need to know where they’re working every minute of every day, but be- cause it’s our job to ensure their safety. If workers performing their duties alone need emergency assistance, it’s critical that we can lo- cate them. In the same sense, if we know a group of workers in a plant is in harm’s way, there is value beyond measure in alerting them that they need to move to a safe area.
Benefit Four: Connection to Insights
The smart phones that we’re so attached to collect and distribute tons of data about us. Apps monitor where we go, what we buy, and sometimes, what we talk about. In many cases, we have the abil- ity to stop it, but we don’t. Why? Because that data is useful to us. Sharing our data means we can get a good recommendation for a product or a hot tip on where to find a great meal.
But is this really making a difference in our lives? Our gas de- tectors collect a tremendous amount of data about what we are ex- posed to at work, and this data certainly makes a difference. We can use that data to identify hazards that we otherwise wouldn’t know about. We can use it to predict where accidents are likely to occur
and actually change those environments or change the way we work to prevent a tragedy. The gas detectors we carry collect data that will help save lives every day. How often do our cell phones do that?
Using Connectivity for Good
When the latest and greatest smart phone is released, we flock to the stores to buy it. It simply makes life easier. It connects faster or takes better pictures or just offers the latest and greatest apps. We want to be the first to try it, and our thirst for connectivity says we need to have it.
But when the newest gas detectors or other connected safety devices hit the market, we’re reluctant to adopt them. We fear being the first to try it. We fear the technology and question its reliability. On the other hand, cell phone technology is about as imperfect as the local weather forecast—but we accept it for what it is without a care. Connected safety devices like our gas detectors not only keep us safer, but they can make our work life easier and more produc- tive in many ways.
Let’s put our fears aside and make this the decade where we use our obsession with connectivity for good. When we use con- nectivity appropriately, we can improve our workplaces—and even save lives.
Dave Wagner is the director of applications engineering and product knowledge at Industrial Scientific.
No Fee
Gas Monitoring Solution
Smallest 5 Gas Monitor GX-3R Pro
New Product of the Year GX-3R Pro
Real time data, email, and text
17.7
800-754-5165 • www.rkiinstruments.com
22 Untitled-8Oc1cupational Health & Safety | MARCH 2020
www.o2h/3s/2o0nl1in:5e9.PcMom
Circle 22 on card.