BAM Nuttall trials smart helmet technology

BAM Nuttall trials smart helmet technology



Civil engineering contractor BAM Nuttall has collaborated with Australian firm SmartCap Technologies to test new wearable safety technology.


Life by SmartCap consists of a ‘LifeBand’, which can be worn on its own or inside a safety helmet and utilises brain activity to provide fatigue alerts via Bluetooth to an app when the risk of microsleep is identified.

BAM currently has five such units undergoing testing on its rail network in Wales and plan to carry out a trial in Scotland.

Colin Evison, head of innovation at BAM Nuttall, said: “BAM Nuttall has a real appetite to explore technology solutions around the issues regarding health and safety on site.

“After hearing about SmartCap’s success with drivers of vehicles in Australian mining operations, we made initial contact last year with their team to see whether they could transfer their technology to suit more of a construction environment.”

Darryn Fisher, vice-president of global sales and marketing at SmartCap, said: “We are delighted to have expanded into the UK construction market with BAM Nuttall; previously our only client in the UK was in the marine shipping industry.

“Our predictive technology will help to develop techniques to effectively manage fatigue and raise alarms to guarantee [that] BAM Nuttall’s workforce is safe.”

The technology behind the LifeBand was developed at CRCMining – a Cooperative Research Centre established by the Australian government and supported by four universities and 13 industry partners.



Leave a comment