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HS2 data-mines for health & safety

8 Jan 21 Government-owned HS2 Ltd is to gather personal details of everyone and anyone that works on any of the HS2 construction sites around the country.

Computer says no
Computer says no

HS2 Ltd says that the mass harvest of personal data is for ‘health & safety reasons’.

It has commissioned Biosite Systems, a Swedish-owned company that supplies site security and fingerprint technology, to create a project-wide digital health and safety passport system, which it calls HSPS.

HSPS is founded on a central database that will be used by all of HS2’s main works civils contractors to share worker details. It will hold details of not just tier one employees but any site worker right through the supply chain, since no one will be allowed on site any more without an HSPS passport.

HS2 Ltd said that the collection and synchronisation of data “will help to ensure consistency of standards and performance… it will allow HS2 to track workforce data around areas such as competency mapping, health and safety assessments and fatigue management across the whole project. Where supplier companies and operatives are working across multiple locations, the new system will flag fatigue risks across the project”.

The workforce management software developed by Biosite will link biometric data to operative information and site access – HS2 Ltd will always know exactly who is on site, where and when.

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It will be the first time that workforce data will be available to view across a major project via a consolidated platform, it said.

Emma Head, HS2’s safety and assurance director, said: “Health and Safety is at the heart of everything we do as we build Britain’s new high speed railway. We aim to lead by innovation at HS2 and the new health & safety passport system is a pioneering way for us to further our best practice approach to workforce health and safety management.”

Li Wang, managing director at Biosite Systems Ltd, said: “We were able to utilise our experience working across HS2 projects to date to recommend a software solution that will bring together silos of data from JV projects in a central, cloud-based portal through a combination of online induction, biometric data-capture through various access control points at site level, and business intelligence software. The solution will focus on ensuring data integrity and synchronicity at every point, to ensure the team at HS2 have access to accurate data that will deliver valuable insight and help support project safety, efficiency and compliance.”

The HS2 HSPS initiative is scheduled to go live in spring 2021 with HS2’s main works civils contractors working on phase one. It will then be rolled out across the project including to the station construction contractors.

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MPU
MPU

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