Gilbane Building Company has been a part of the San Francisco Bay Area since 1995. It was founded in 1873 and still a privately held, family-owned company, Gilbane has 46 office locations worldwide. Gilbane has built some of the most complex and celebrated construction projects in the nation and has been recognized for excellence in safety by the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).
Triax Technologies, Inc. is a Norwalk, Connecticut-based technology company that develops and delivers IoT solutions for the construction industry. Its flagship Spot-r system connects workers, equipment and managers through a proprietary, minimal infrastructure network, sensors and a cloud-based dashboard. By providing real-time, data-driven visibility into daily site operations and safety incidents, Spot-r is changing the way construction companies manage resources, information and risk. Triax develops intelligent, actionable solutions that address the complexities of an active job site, and it helps firms streamline processes and build safer and smarter.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. announced a collaboration with Gilbane and Triax Technologies to explore the potential safety benefits of wearable devices.
“Work-related injuries remain a significant source of exposure for contractors, and it’s a priority for us to find new ways to help them manage risk and keep workers out of harm’s way,” said Rick Keegan, President of Construction at Travelers. “This project will help us gain valuable data-driven insight, and we look forward to working with Gilbane and Triax to identify the best uses for wearable technology to help improve outcomes and employee safety.”
Travelers will review data collected from a variety of Triax’s Spot-r IoT devices, including those being used at a 60,000-square-foot, six-floor Gilbane construction site in New York City over 20 months. More than 130 employees will use the Spot-r ClipTM, an unobtrusive device worn on the worker’s waist belt. The Spot-r Clip enables faster response times to possible injuries by automatically detecting worker falls and providing supervisors with real-time notification of worker location and other safety incident details. The IoT device also includes a feature that allows workers to easily report hazards or incidents. On-site machinery will be fitted with the Spot-r EquipTagTM, which monitors equipment location and usage. Additionally, the site will have Spot-r EvacTagsTM, which allow managers to trigger high-decibel, highly visible emergency alarms to workers via a dashboard.
In 2016, Travelers created the Early Severity PredictorSM, an industry-first predictive model that identifies the likelihood of an injured employee developing chronic pain so that he or she can reduce the need for opioids or other painkillers during recovery.
The following year, the company launched ZoneCheckSM, a first-of-its-kind online tool to help contractors identify areas surrounding a job site that could be affected by vibrations from heavy equipment. Most recently, the company introduced a digital self-service tool, MyTravelers® for Injured Employees, which streamlines the workers compensation claim process.