We are honored to announce Amazon as the recipient of our 2021 Innovation award for their nomination titled “SensorSafe RFID Freezer Technology ”.
Amazon developed a reliable, scalable, and safe sensor-based Internet of Things (IOT) solution that utilizes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to provide real-time monitoring and alerts for associates who are working inside of a walk-in freezer. The walk-in freezer environment has a temperature set point of -15 degrees Fahrenheit and ranges in size from 5,000 ft2 to 100,000 ft2. RFID Freezer Technology was developed to protect the health of employees by systemically managing job rotation, verifying associate compliance with required personal protective equipment (PPE), and verifying PPE cleanliness by assigning PPE to a single associate for the duration of their shift. The system manages these important components of cold stress prevention and industrial hygiene through RFID readers placed at the entryways to the walk-in freezer and through the integration of RFID microchip tags on the insulated PPE.
We are equally proud to announce the 2021 Innovation Award runners-up; General Mills for their nomination titled “Safety Metrics Refresh Strategy” and Lockheed Martin for their nomination titled “Assisting and Networking Sites Without ESH Resident Staff (ANSWERS)”
General Mills implemented a safety metrics refresh strategy that was not just a functional strategy, but an overall business strategy. The strategy allowed them to accelerate SIF prevention, effective S&E capital planning around critical risks, and focus on the integration of HOP principles. Without this strategic change, none of this would have been possible as the former strategy required applying equal focus on all incidents and managing the OSHA rate vs. preventing events of significance.
Lockheed Martin developed the “ANSWER” program which is a unique concept of operations designed to provide Environment, Safety, and Health (ESH) support to numerous sites within the enterprise that do not have onsite ESH staff support. Components of the ANSWERS program include a digital platform utilizing data analytics to provide real-time dashboards, ESH Part-Time Coordinators (PTCs), Artificial Intelligence, Customer Relations Management (CRM), and Wearable Technologies.
For this reason, we have initiated an ORC HSE Innovation Award recognizing fresh, effective approaches and programs designed to protect employee health, safety, and/or the environment.
The award recipients were selected based on a blind review that included an evaluation of the significance of the innovation, its potential for deployment across industries, and its overall sustainability and contribution to the field of occupational safety and health.
