Following a request from industry to seek consistency for human form recognition systems (HFRS), as these are becoming increasingly used in construction, the Construction Industry Plant Safety Group have since devised and launched a good practice guide on the use of HFRS.
This is the latest publication from the Plant Safety Group, a pan-sector group managed by the CPA and set up through the HSE a number of years ago to produce guidance on specific plant safety topics..
Being struck by a moving vehicle still accounts for many workplace fatalities, for which HFRS is being increasingly used as an aid to minimising contact between workers and others when in the vicinity of active plant. Although segregation control measures remain the main action of keeping workers and others away from active plant, some still may be deliberately or inadvertently be within the danger area of a machine and their presence not always evident to the operator due to the configuration or design build of the machine.
With being more common-place and as the technology continually develops, a consistent approach to HFSR fitment and use was needed from which a large working group, consisting of plant owners, construction contractors, OEM/equipment suppliers and others came together under the management of the Plant Safety Group to devise this guidance. It aims to advise and inform owners, users, operators, managers. OEMs and third-party suppliers on the considerations for the fitment, use and management of HFRS installed on plant to detect and warn of human presence in defined danger zones.
This comprehensive guidance consists of some fifty pages covering the topics such as; HFRS types, function and fitment requirements; how systems should be managed on-site; the requirements for data collection, monitoring and ownership; the specific responsibilities to the fitment and use of HFRS and factors on education and behaviours.
Aaron Davis, Chair of the HFRS Working Group said “Borne of a need to generate consistency within industry, a working group started work on the guidance in late September 2024 and although a challenging piece of work, managed to have produced the publication in good time. We recognise that HFRS is still an emerging technology and with limited applicable standards currently available, some of the technical specifications within the publication are currently an industry aspiration, but provides aims in order to meet the needs of the sector in the provision of reliable and accurate systems. Although HFRS are currently only safety aids to people/plant interface requirements, OEMs and suppliers are working in partnership with the sector to encourage future developments of trustworthy products and systems.
I thank the working group and other supporters for their time, perseverance and patience in producing this guidance and to those who have produced supporting material and research reports. We acknowledge that the guidance is both comprehensive and technical in nature, but for which our next task is to produce a companion summary publication that outlines the key points of HFRS use. With the technology fast-moving, we further intend to undertake a review programme of the publication in approximately one-year’s time”
The Plant Safety Group’s HFRS guidance can be downloaded free of charge from https://cpa.uk.net/plant-safety-group/
