For decades, workplace safety has meant preparing for the worst — a helmet for the fall, gloves for the shock, protective gear for the hazard. But the next frontier may be making sure the accident never happens. At Jarsh Safety, technology is being woven into workplace protection through intelligent, IoT-enabled solutions that sense what workers cannot, flag danger before it strikes and make safety less of a burden. From air-conditioned helmets to SmartVolt devices that detect electrical fields from a safe distance, the company is moving safety from reaction to prevention. In a conversation with Kausthub Kaundinya, co-founder and CEO of Jarsh Safety, CE explores the thinking, technology and frontline insights driving this shift.
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What was the problem that made you realise workplace safety needed to be approached differently?
Jarsh Safety began by accident. We set out to make more comfortable helmets, but exposure to factories revealed a much bigger opportunity. After launching the AC helmet, we approached major safety manufacturers and found factories stocked with thousands of products, yet ‘safety’ still largely meant helmets, shoes and reflective jackets.
Two things stood out: these products were purely mechanical, with no electronics or smart technology, and despite the sheer volume of products, people were still dying. That signalled a real gap.
According to the International Labour Organisation, about 7,000 people die daily from industry-related accidents and occupational diseases — roughly 2.5 million a year — while unrecorded cases could push that three to four times higher. Despite the safety industry dating back to 1850, fatalities persist.
This changed our vision. Instead of relying on traditional safety gear that protects people after an accident, technology could predict and prevent accidents through engineering controls, early warnings about impending danger and reducing human involvement in risky operations.
What has working closely with frontline workers taught you that you would not have learned in a lab or boardroom?
We learned quite late that our buyer is different from our user. The user is the frontline worker, while the buyer could be the safety officer, operations manager or finance team. Each looks at the same product differently.
Finance sees it as an expense that should be reduced, eliminated or offset. Operations asks whether it hampers work or adds to existing delays. Safety looks at whether it creates or reduces hazards. The frontline worker wants protection without additional weight, sweat, repeated removal or hindrance to the job.
We learned this through interacting with thousands of workers and around a hundred companies across the country. Every product therefore needs a multi-angle value proposition.
If a product is merely pushed by the safety team, it is probably a first, second or third order. Operations managers and frontline workers have to like it, demand it and see that it is not a hindrance. First orders may come top-down, but repeat orders always come bottom-up. Without ground-level acceptance, there is very little a safety manager can do.
What are some of the biggest invisible safety risks industries still underestimate?
We work with a few hazards. One is electrical hazards, which are invisible. Electricity cannot be seen, smelled or heard; you can only touch and feel it, and by then it is too late.
Our devices detect an electrical source from a safe distance and warn you that you are entering an electrified zone. At higher voltages, even walking into such a zone can cause a shock. The devices come in multiple forms, including a wearable and an infrastructure system such as a tripod LED system that can identify a surge during isolation operations.
The second is lone workers — frontline workers with little or no supervision. They are more prone to mistakes, and if something goes wrong, rescue and information become difficult. It is an ignored segment, but incidents are increasing.
Third is smart fall protection. People working 20 or 30 feet above the ground, or even 100 or 150 feet up, face accidents where there is often no midway — a fall can mean death.
The fourth is lighting. Darkness is a major problem because diesel generators and large lighting systems cannot be deployed everywhere. Lighting needs to be portable, easy to carry and deployable.
We also work on equipment for explosive environments involving LPG, CNG, hydrocarbons and other explosive substances. Even using an iPhone in such environments can pose a risk, which is why explosion-proof, certified equipment is required.
Apart from the air-conditioned helmet, what other innovations have you created?
SmartVolt detects an electrical field from a distance and provides an early caution. It is a 50-gram wearable that can be worn on a helmet or purse. If someone is working with an 11 kV line, it can detect it from seven to eight feet away and provide an early warning.
It has a battery life of nearly 200 hours, so it can be used for over a month by switching it on and leaving it, then recharged with a mobile charger.
It is one of our most widely moving products and has been adopted by several electricity distribution companies across Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
How do you identify a problem that needs to be solved through innovation?
Rather than a problem, for us the problem is the hazard. We identify it in two ways.
We have an in-house R&D team and a product management team that scouts for problems. Once an idea takes shape, we create mock-ups and test the concept with clients, asking whether the use cases and features fit, and what price they think it can fetch. If it makes a business case and saves lives, we develop it.
The second source is our clients. Since Jarsh has built a name for technical safety solutions, companies approach us when they face problems for which there is no existing solution. We evaluate the business case and, if it makes financial sense, develop the product from scratch.
One energy company’s problem is often shared by others. We therefore see such clients as problem-statement partners. They provide site access, prototyping and testing, and real-world feedback. Once the product is ready, it can be sold to other clients.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for AI and sensors in workplace safety?
The growth of smart factories fits directly into what we are doing. A factory could span 800 acres with 5,000 or 6,000 people. Unlike neighbourhoods, factories are large areas with relatively few people, making visibility on every employee’s safety important.
Technology can monitor every person through devices that act as personal assistants, such as smart ID cards. If somebody falls in a facility with open pits, trenches or manholes, the system can detect it and immediately alert the rescue team or safety officer through a 4G network. It can also detect when someone is down because of an internal health issue, such as a heart attack, or is unconscious in a washroom.
Our vision is a safety control room called Envision, similar to railway control rooms or air-traffic control. It would show every work permit, risky job and hazardous activity on one dashboard in real time.
If five people are working at height, you can see their status. If five are involved in chemical cleaning, you can see their gas levels, vitals and more. If a hazard moves towards a danger zone, it appears as an alert.
Machine safety already does this — for instance, rising gas pressure in a tank triggers an alarm. Envision extends that principle to people: track gas levels for gas hazards, temperature for fire and vitals for people working at height, creating a single view of safety across the factory.