Our meeting on 23 March with the Innovation and Human Capital teams at Infraestruturas de Portugal confirmed a critical gap in safety management: the absence of a real-time thermal stress monitoring system for field workers. We found that, although schedule adjustments are currently made on extremely hot days, IP stated that a device capable of measuring heart rate and temperature and detecting falls — alerting the user via sound and vibration to the need for breaks or hydration — would be of significant value.
They also reinforced the importance of ensuring the hardware is ergonomic and safe for the demanding railway and road environment. In addition, there was an openness to having our prototype, designed to cover a full working day, tested in a real environment with the company’s operationals.
Conducted by Martim Neves and Manuel Costa.