A research group led by Associate Professor Keiichi Odagiri of the Hamamatsu University School of Medicine and Senior Researcher Ryo Yamaguchi of the Shizuoka Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute has developed an alert application that warns forestry workers of approaching each other. The aim is to prevent industrial accidents during forestry work, and the company aims to put it into practical use after undergoing social implementation testing.
According to Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, the 1,000-person casualty rate, which indicates the number of casualties per 2.3 workers, is extremely high at 25.5 in the forestry industry, while the average for all industries is XNUMX. Associate Professor Odagiri and Senior Researcher Yamaguchi conducted joint research aimed at improving occupational safety and health in the forestry industry, and found that forestry workers are exposed to extremely high levels of stress and fatigue. It is believed that this stress and fatigue leads to a decline in attention and judgment, leading to an increase in the number of casualties from work-related accidents.
According to the research group, one of the causes of industrial accidents is that workers are surrounded by trees, making it difficult to see people approaching them. Therefore, they developed an app that emits a warning sound and vibration when a forestry worker's cell phone approaches. The warning sounds and vibrations increase in intensity in three stages as other forestry workers approach, allowing them to know when they are getting closer.
After actually testing the app in a forest, it became clear that radio waves were attenuated depending on the number and thickness of standing trees. For this reason, it is necessary to reset the warning sound for each forest in which you are working. The research group plans to conduct another test for social implementation, identify any problems, and make modifications to the app.
