Time-on-site and fall detection for 2,200 workers.
A European tier-1 contractor needed real safety headcount and fall detection on a 2,200-worker megaproject.
The programme and figures on this page come from an earlier work by our advisers. The client name is withheld under NDA. Figures are as reported at the time. Named references are available under NDA when you engage.
What they were up against.
Headcount was a guess
On a 2,200-worker site, the safety headcount was a turnstile estimate.
Falls went unseen
Lone-worker falls at height in remote corners went unnoticed.
Plant unmanaged
Plant utilisation was unknown and theft was common.
Earlier work by our advisers. Client name withheld under NDA. Client name withheld under NDA; figures as reported at the time. Named references available under NDA. We model your own numbers when you engage.
Independent, tied to a named KPI.
We delivered worker time-on-site, lone-worker fall detection and plant tracking across a megaproject infrastructure build.
What the engagement delivered.
- Automatic time-on-site and safety headcount
- Lone-worker fall detection with location
- Plant and tool utilisation tracking
Results in this engagement
The stack behind it
Baseline, method, period and what we excluded.
This page describes an engagement our advisers led in earlier roles. The client name is withheld under NDA. Figures are as reported at the time, with published industry sources where noted.
- Baseline: Time-on-site from turnstiles; lone-worker response via phone trees.
- Method: Badge/UWB time-on-site; fall/lone-worker alerts with tested escalation; induction-gated zones.
- Period: Active plot through a high-risk phase (height/confined).
- Excluded: Sensor counts installed without a drilled response path.
Programme context
Construction safety locating uses geofences, SOS and zone entry alerts on dynamic sites. Temporary infrastructure and contractor churn are the hard parts.
Weekly site layout updates are part of the operating model.
Outcomes in this engagement and how they were earned
Outcomes: faster emergency response, better induction compliance, evidence for principal contractor duties.
Lessons from this engagement
Lessons: drilled response paths; device logistics; privacy framing for unions.
Deeper problem framing
Dynamic sites, contractor churn, temporary power: office RTLS fails. Emergencies need drilled paths.
Approach
Geofence SOS; weekly layout updates; device logistics; union/privacy framing; drill response.
Outcomes and measurement
Emergency locate time, induction compliance, incident evidence quality.
Governance, risk and what we refuse to claim
This engagement was earlier work by our advisers. The client name is withheld under NDA. We will not attribute percentages to a confidential site. When you engage, we rebuild baselines from your incidents, labour samples and system logs.
We refuse vanity accuracy claims without a coverage map, and we refuse programmes that silently add productivity surveillance onto a safety business case without a fresh DPIA or labour consultation.
Implementation sequence and change management
Principal contractor SOP; weekly geofence updates; SOS drill calendar; device issue desk; privacy notice for workforce.
KPIs: locate time on drill, induction compliance.
Buyer checklist, supplier challenges and engagement shape
For construction safety, fund weekly geofence maintenance and SOS drills as opex, not afterthoughts.
Buyer checklist before you sign: (1) written system of record for events; (2) acceptance tests with 95th-percentile performance under real interference; (3) integration owner named in IT/OT; (4) privacy or labour consultation path if people are tagged; (5) cybersecurity zoning sketch; (6) five-year TCO including batteries, spares, recalibration and SLA escalations; (7) exit/export terms so you are not hostage to a cloud tenant; (8) a pilot that can fail without political punishment.
Supplier claims to challenge in this pattern: brochure accuracy without production load; 'compliance included' without artefacts; ROI that assumes perfect adoption in 30 days; references that cannot be called under NDA; install partners who have never worked your vertical's overlays; shared support accounts; and any design that dumps locating onto a flat plant or clinical VLAN.
How TRACIO typically engages: stage-1 architecture and measurement design; independent shortlist and RFP language; pilot acceptance criteria; then optional implementation oversight or programme rescue if a prior pilot stalled. We don't sell hardware, so our advice stays independent. Pages like this one exist so you can prepare the workshop. Your numbers replace every planning band when we model payback.
Risk register themes that recur: mute fatigue on alerts; shadow spreadsheets reappearing beside the platform; battery logistics understaffed; master data too weak to support identity; works-council or IG review starting too late; and success declared on demo day before night-shift reality.
Document baseline windows explicitly: what you measured, for how long, which shifts, and what you excluded. Investment committees and auditors both punish fuzzy before/after stories. If your baseline is weak, spend two to four weeks fixing measurement before ordering anchors or portals. That discipline is cheaper than a stranded deployment and is the difference between a locating programme and a technology souvenir.
Training and communications plan: who explains purpose to operators, how often refreshers run, how contractors are inducted, and how successes are fed back without turning safety systems into league tables. Budget a champion network on each shift. Platforms do not adopt themselves. Where unions or works councils exist, share the purpose statement and retention rules early. Surprise monitoring is how programmes die. Finally, schedule a formal gate review against the written criteria; celebrate a no-go if evidence is weak. Expanding failure is not delivery.
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Site labour and plant
Independent advisory means the radio is chosen last. After the job, the constraints and the system of record are clear.
Who is on site, what is utilised
Time-on-site and plant jobs get distinct metrics.
Rugged, independent equipment
Selection survives weather, temporary networks and changing contractors.
Into the systems PMs already use
No orphan safety dashboard if it can feed existing tools.
Measurement
Baseline: plant/tool find-time samples, mustering drills, and permit exceptions. Pilot: one zone or tower with RTLS/RFID tied to the site system of record. Steady-state: mean time-to-find, muster completion time, and open safety tickets. Figures are as reported in this engagement.