Uso integrato di sistemi di video monitoraggio e di misura delle prestazioni per migliorare il livello di sicurezza sul lavoro

Una delle tecnologie spesso presenti nelle aziende è rappresentata dai sistemi di videosorveglianza. Se da un lato l’efficacia di tali sistemi ai fini della sicurezza antintrusione è ampiamente riconosciuta, le potenzialità di un loro utilizzo per scopi di sicurezza sul lavoro non risultano ancora indagate. Il presente articolo illustra un progetto di ricerca applicata sviluppato dal gruppo di Impianti Industriali della Facoltà di Ingegneria dell’Università degli Studi di Brescia volto ad analizzare la potenziale utilità dell’utilizzo di sistemi di videosorveglianza per monitorare efficacemente le attività lavorative al fine di misurare, e quindi incrementare, il livello di salute e sicurezza sul lavoro. Nell’ambito del progetto, un sistema di video monitoraggio affiancato da un sistema di misura delle performance è stato implementato in un’azienda manifatturiera. La sperimentazione, resa possibile da un accordo tra parte datoriale e sindacale, ha consentito l’identificazione di interventi prioritari da attuare in azienda per il miglioramento del livello di sicurezza. Infatti, grazie all’analisi delle videoriprese è stato possibile individuare sia condizioni a rischio, che comportamenti a rischio o sicuri, connaturati con la specifica tipologia di attività dell’azienda. Le informazioni ed i dati così raccolti hanno consentito la quantificazione degli indicatori definiti dal sistema di misura delle prestazioni. Dall’analisi dell’andamento degli indicatori, si è evidenziato un aumento dei comportamenti sicuri durante il periodo di sperimentazione. Tale andamento può essere interpretato come conseguenza di breve periodo dell’effetto deterrenza legato all’installazione delle videocamere nei reparti produttivi. Una valutazione dell’efficacia di lungo periodo del sistema in termini di miglioramento del livello di sicurezza sul lavoro sarà possibile solamente a valle di ulteriori sperimentazioni. ------ Video surveillance systems represent one of the types of technology often available in companies. Even though the effectiveness of such systems for security reasons is well recognized, their potential for occupational safety reasons have not been investigated yet. This paper describes a research project, developed by the Industrial Plant group of the Engineering Faculty of the University of Brescia. The aim of the project is to analyse the potential of the use of video surveillance systems with the objective of effectively monitoring the working activity in order to measure, and therefore increase, the level of health and safety at work. Within the project, a video surveillance system coupled with a performance measurement system has been implemented in a manufacturing company. Through the experimentation of the system, that was possible because of an agreement between employer and unions, the priority interventions to implement in order to improve the safety level in the company have been identified. In fact, by means of the analysis of the video records, it was possible to identify both conditions at risk, and safe or at risk behaviours specific for the company. The gathered data made it possible to quantify the indicators included in the performance measurement system. A trend analysis of the indicators showed that the amount of safe behaviours increased during the experimentation period. This trend could be considered as a consequence in the short term of the deterrence effect connected to video cameras installation in the plant. An assessment of the long term effectiveness of the system in terms of safety level improvement will be possible only after further experimentations

Filtering, Piracy Surveillance and Disobedience

There has always been a cyclical relationship between the prevention of piracy and the protection of civil liberties. While civil liberties advocates previously warned about the aggressive nature of copyright protection initiatives, more recently, a number of major players in the music industry have eventually ceded to less direct forms of control over consumer behavior. As more aggressive forms of consumer control, like litigation, have receded, we have also seen a rise in more passive forms of consumer surveillance. Moreover, even as technology has developed more perfect means for filtering and surveillance over online piracy, a number of major players have opted in favor of “tolerated use,” a term coined by Professor Tim Wu to denote the allowance of uses that may be otherwise infringing, but that are allowed to exist for public use and enjoyment. Thus, while the eventual specter of copyright enforcement and monitoring remains a pervasive digital reality, the market may fuel a broad degree of consumer freedom through the toleration or taxation of certain kinds of activities. This Article is meant largely to address and to evaluate these shifts by drawing attention to the unique confluence of these two important moments: the growth of tolerated uses, coupled with an increasing trend towards more passive forms of piracy surveillance in light of the balance between copyright enforcement and civil liberties. The content industries may draw upon a broad definition of disobedience in their campaigns to educate the public about copyright law, but the market’s allowance of DRM-free content suggests an altogether different definition. The divide in turn between copyright enforcement and civil liberties results in a perfect storm of uncertainty, suggesting the development of an even further division between the role of the law and the role of the marketplace in copyright enforcement and innovation, respectively

The Fourth Amendment in the Twenty-First Century: Technology, Privacy, and Human Emotions

Police and local political officials in Tampa FL argued that the FaceIt system promotes safety, but privacy advocates objected to the city\u27s recording or utilizing facial images without the victims\u27 consent, some staging protests against the FaceIt system. Privacy objects seem to be far more widely shared than this small protest might suggest

The Fourth Amendment in the Twenty-First Century: Technology, Privacy, and Human Emotions

Police and local political officials in Tampa FL argued that the FaceIt system promotes safety, but privacy advocates objected to the city\u27s recording or utilizing facial images without the victims\u27 consent, some staging protests against the FaceIt system. Privacy objects seem to be far more widely shared than this small protest might suggest

InSPeCT: Integrated Surveillance for Port Container Traffic

This paper describes a fully-operational content-indexing and management system, designed for monitoring and profiling freight-based vehicular traffic in a seaport environment. The 'InSPeCT' system captures video footage of passing vehicles and uses tailored OCR to index the footage according to vehicle license plates and freight codes. In addition to real-time functionality such as alerting, the system provides advanced search techniques for the efficient retrieval of records, where each vehicle is profiled according to multi-angled video, context information, and links to external information sources. Currently being piloted at a busy national seaport, the feedback from port officials indicates the system to be extremely useful in supplementing their existing transportation-security structures

Unmanned Aerial Systems for Wildland and Forest Fires

Wildfires represent an important natural risk causing economic losses, human death and important environmental damage. In recent years, we witness an increase in fire intensity and frequency. Research has been conducted towards the development of dedicated solutions for wildland and forest fire assistance and fighting. Systems were proposed for the remote detection and tracking of fires. These systems have shown improvements in the area of efficient data collection and fire characterization within small scale environments. However, wildfires cover large areas making some of the proposed ground-based systems unsuitable for optimal coverage. To tackle this limitation, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) were proposed. UAS have proven to be useful due to their maneuverability, allowing for the implementation of remote sensing, allocation strategies and task planning. They can provide a low-cost alternative for the prevention, detection and real-time support of firefighting. In this paper we review previous work related to the use of UAS in wildfires. Onboard sensor instruments, fire perception algorithms and coordination strategies are considered. In addition, we present some of the recent frameworks proposing the use of both aerial vehicles and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UV) for a more efficient wildland firefighting strategy at a larger scale.Comment: A recent published version of this paper is available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/drones501001