FORWOOD SAFETY

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Digital automation through artificial intelligence ( AI ) is one of the most exciting trends across several industries right now and Scholz declares that Forwood Safety is firmly at the forefront in its sector . Not satisfied with using a preexisting solution in this regard , the company instead developed its own by hiring a team of data scientists to analyse the most effective way for AI to enhance safety . The breakthrough came via the revelation that using binary safety-related questions with choices of ‘ yes ’ or ‘ no ’ provided very fertile ground for algorithmic optimisation . “ 90 % of the time the answers are very straightforward . If you have a good set of questions , which can be answered consistently and always with a ‘ yes ’ or ‘ no ’, it helps your machine learning ( ML ) model gather data and form predictions based on patterns .” Considering the topic of AI-based automation more generally , Scholz states there are two aspects of importance to its development with regards to safety : 1 ) support via improved decisionmaking capabilities ; and 2 ) working

out practical applications which will benefit workers in the field . Both will require thought and attention , as well as close collaboration with partners and clients to pilot new approaches directly in the workplace . “ From my perspective , ML and its applications for analysing both still photos and video are going to be critical in the future of safety technology ,” he adds .

With a five-year strategic roadmap in place and solutions for

SUMMER / AUTUMN 2020