Major Road Projects Victoria is continuing its commitment to increasing safety on project sites with a recent test demonstration of the Leica Geosystems Safety Awareness equipment.
The MRPV Safety team partnered with CR Kennedy and Symal to hold the three-day demonstration of the Leica Geosystems platform on the Pakenham Roads Upgrade worksite.
Worker safety remains our highest priority on our projects, with this technology helping to reduce the risk of striking services that would otherwise put operators into dangerous situations and contribute to project delays.
MRPV Senior Safety Manager Jamie Dineen said the new tech is ‘cutting edge’.
“MRPV is always on the lookout for safety innovations, so crews return home safely each day and projects can proceed without delays,” Dineen said.
“The ability to automatically stop machinery before an incident occurs is cutting edge in our industry – if an excavator is about to dig too deep, move or leave a designated zone, the Leica Geosystems Safety Awareness would prevent that potential event from happening in the first place.
“Not only would this system increase operator and spotter safety, but it would significantly reduce the risk of striking underground utilities like water, gas, and communications lines.”
This groundbreaking technology allows projects to manage how heavy equipment interacts with utilities and other infrastructure.
The system controls where heavy construction equipment can operate within a programmable work zone – whether controlling digging depth, dipper arm height and slew radius amongst other settings.
If a machine would move into these no-go zones, the Leica Geosystems platform automatically stops the machinery, preventing damage to underground or overhead services and structures.
This system will keep businesses and residents from experiencing any disruption of services from nearby construction activities.
Initial deployment in targeted areas will validate its cost-effectiveness of eliminating rework and lost productivity before wider integration in other MRPV projects.
This is one of many safety innovations being explored at MRPV project sites including the Pakenham Road Upgrade as they look to continuously innovate in this space.
