Introducing Safeguard

Less is more! Less cost, less data, more information. Mafic Safeguard is a stripped-back noise and dust sensor that only alerts you when you need to take action. We have built sensors that need no expertise to install, use or interpret the data.

The challenge we saw was sophisticated sensors need specialised skills to set up and then interpret, adding cost but perhaps most importantly limiting access to the information to only people ‘in the know’. At Mafic we put the information into the hands of the people who are actually making the noise or the dust so they can do something about it. This means, we cut cost, cut complexity and then only make people aware when something needs to be done.

We have been able to reduce the cost of the sensors significantly, this means a larger number can be deployed for a lower cost and a picture can be established about the noise and dust over the entire site. This enables offsite noise or dust sources to be identified and discounted and activities in specific parts of the site can be identified as sources and managed. And managed not by the Project Manager or NVAQ specialist but by the team supervisor or the trades themselves. The information is available as a traffic light visual indication or a QR code which can be grabbed from the sensor itself.

And here is the clever stuff. We have used the advances in technology to provide a system that does not need any maintenance or setup. The battery lasts for at least 3 years, the data is sent through a 4G network in real-time and there are no buttons, just unbox and off you go.

In the future I see 2 different types of sensors being deployed on construction sites, the first is the Class 1 rated microphone which is used to measure sound performance against a pre-agreed threshold. Failure to meet these performance measures will have commercial implications for the construction company. The second is a tool to better understand how noise is being generated on a site, how it is travelling across the site, and also, how effective the interventions are at reducing it. We call this an engineering approach and it’s all about reducing the noise rather than reporting it.

Please tell us what you think, should these problems be managed by the external consultant or is there mileage in empowering the workforce? Or perhaps, is the workforce already overloaded and adding to their responsibilities will degrade their performance and increase stress?