The Age of Smart PPE Technology is Here

Wearable technology - from Fitbit fitness trackers, Apple smart watches and Google glasses that connect the world to your fingertips or face - is all over the media these days.

Wearable technology makes us more accessible, aware, mindful, and knowledgeable… However, can it also make us safer? At MCR Safety, we plan on doing just that over the coming months and years, protecting and making workers safer. By incorporating Corvex Connected Safety technology into popular gloves, glasses and garment styles, workers are notified of potential hazards before entering dangerous areas and even while they’re working, reducing overall risks. With Corvex, workers become empowered to report safety risks, creating a fully connected safety community, from the shop floor to the C-suite.

Whether it is manufacturing cotton gloves, DuPont™ Kevlar® gloves, comfortable breathable-coated gloves, breathable rain suits, or wire core eyewear technology, MCR Safety leads the way in protecting people. 

We now manufacture personal protection equipment (PPE) that is digitally connected, worker-powered, and data driven!

Cotton gloves to DuPont™ Kevlar® gloves to digitally connected PPE

Below is an overview of Smart PPE and an overview of how MCR Safety is utilizing this new technology.

Progression and Innovation

Over time, significant product improvements and innovations have led to a better life for all.  The process is a part of humanity’s DNA and genetic makeup.  In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.  One hundred and thirty-five years later, we use handheld phones to give us directions, play games, and still even talk.

The Bell Telephone to powerful handheld devices

With today’s modern technology, can a worker’s safety gear talk? Is it possible to have dangerous hazards and situations communicated before they even occur? Could real-time data guide employee behavior? All of this is possible with MCR Safety PPE powered by Corvex technology!

Knowing Your Surroundings

People have always done their best to communicate hazards.

Language, of course, is fundamental in this way. If you’ve followed signs and avoided a construction zone marked with warnings, you’ve participated in some ancient methods for sharing vital information, like “Go this way, because that way is trouble.”

Construction Sign of the top four Hazards

Knowing your surroundings with Smart Technology.

Corvex technology allows workers to communicate with Smart PPE and a network of beacons, strategically placed around a worksite.  The beacons are configured to divide a location into zones, based around different safety and PPE requirements. 

As shown in the above image,  the system knows each worker’s identity, the zone where that worker is located, and the various safety requirements for that zone.  Each worker is connected to the safety system through a unique Corvex handheld device and MCR Safety Smart PPE.

The system is then able to communicate in real-time important safety notifications and information to workers.  For example, a worker is notified of hazardous chemicals and instructed to wear chemical resistant gloves, garments and goggles.

Instead of only visually being made aware of impending hazards, a worker will receive instant notification of a chemically hazardous environment.

As shown in the top right of the above image, a dashboard gives safety managers a detailed view of safety status.  Worker-powered safety systems driven by MCR Safety PPE and Corvex technology are easy to configure and can be implemented cost-effectively in a short period of time.

Wearing Smart PPE Benefits

The first companies to adopt this new technology will be some of America's safest companies. A company’s dedication to a thriving safety culture and employee engagement will drive this technology forward. Hazard elimination and reducing risks will only make safe companies even safer.

Here are some of the benefits companies will receive:

• Real-Time Site Awareness: Zone-based certification and PPE requirements, safety reminders and notifications, meaningful micro-training when needed.
• Hazard Elimination: Identify, share, and resolve safety hazards in real-time, proactively measure exposure to risk, supports continuous improvement/quality management.
• Safety Communication: Real-time team messaging (text, voice, video), safety alerts and emergency

Real World Applications

• Factory workers entering areas known for sharp objects are instructed to wear appropriate safety gear, such as cut-resistant gloves. Safety reminders, warnings and notifications provide workers with crucial messages. 
• Location, location, location – Safety managers will know when workers are entering unsafe areas, such as cold freezers, metalworking areas and chemical storage areas. They will know precisely where miners are at all times in dangerous mines.
• Oil field workers, such as Pump Operators and Wellhead Pumpers, are advised when working in an area known for higher rates of incidents. Micro Training can be deployed to these workers.
• Safety reminders are sent to construction workers entering high-risk work zones. Workers are reminded to wear Hi-Vis gear at all times.
• Chemical data sheets and permeation data are sent direct to workers encountering specific chemicals. Notifications will remind workers to wear their safety goggles and chemical resistant gloves.

MCR Safety PPE Powered with Corvex Technology

To allow devices to communicate with workers, NFC tags and sensor technology are built into the PPE workers are wearing.

NFC tag example

We only need to know the hazards your company faces and can introduce additional PPE styles powered with Corvex technology. Details for that process are in the next section.

360° Protection Program

MCR Safety’s 360° Protection Program ensures companies are equipped with all the tools and knowledge needed in selecting new Smart PPE.  This program helps users evaluate current safety needs, measure costs, analyze samples needed and conduct tests.  They also can execute and setup new Corvex technology in your facility.  Our team members will walk you through the Corvex technology needed, such as the Beacons and devices required, equipping your facility with the highest level of PPE protection! 

Like our 360° program, Corvex technology measures hazardous environments and is driven by data.  Both platforms ensure companies and workers are protected with the best PPE.

We are eager to get this technology incorporated into your facility. You can schedule a visit here.

The Future is Here. Are You Ready?

The next age of PPE protection is here!  MCR Safety will help transition you into this new PPE age, help educate your team and equip your facilities with these new technological advancements. 

Over the next couple of years, MCR Safety will also be equipping safety professionals with some powerful information. Our dedicated industry landing pages highlight the many hazards faced by specific industries and the products needing consideration.   Each industry’s unique hazards can utilize MCR Safety’s PPE powered with Corvex technology!

Just click on the image and check out our dedicated industry pages

On Guard and Keeping you Safe for Over 40 Years!

MCR Safety has proven to be a leader in gloves, glasses, and garments. Whether it’s on the shop floor, an oil rig, or construction site, we are there providing solutions to workplace hazards. We Protect People!

For more information, browse our website, request a catalog, find a distributor, or give us a call at 800-955-6887.

To learn more about Corvex, visit www.corvexsafety.com