China aims to improve safety on site with “intelligent helmets”

"Intelligent helmets" have been distributed to workers on some of China’s high-speed rail sites to boost safety and efficiency.

The hard hats, which were developed by the China Railway Wuhan Electrification Bureau Group, have made their debut on work sites Hubei Province. They are equipped with a high-definition camera that can record the progress of work, an antenna for communication and a control chip that can be accessed through a smartphone app.

The chips integrate the helmets into an internet of things system that aims to create an integrated safety system for sites. This allows it to sound an alarm if a worker appears to be getting into a dangerous situation.

China Daily reports that the helmets’ technology will be updated in the future as "smart sites" develop.

The evolution of the hard hat has progressed rapidly in recent years. In March, technology company Trimble unveiled helmets that allow workers see holographic models overlaid on real structures, and in May Swedish safety firm MIPS unveiled its Armit hat, which offered a smart brain protection system, while back in December 2016, Qatar University developed a solar-powered hat with a built-in fan that reduced the temperature of construction workers heads by up to 10°C.

Image: Construction workers in action in Hubei (Dreamstime)

Further reading:

• Trimble teams with Microsoft to launch virtual reality hard hat
• World’s first "brain saving" hard hat to be launched
• Qatar workers to get air-con hard hats for sweltering summer work