Feasibility of identifying and detecting events that are precursors of hazardous situations in an integrated digital architecture

In the field of risk prevention, return on experience (ROE) is one of the possible strategies for risk control. It can thus be used for corrective purposes by a posteriori analysis of incidents and accidents, and it can also be implemented for preventive purposes with the attention given to precursor signals. For work equipment, from a technical point of view, the appearance of interconnected programmable logic controllers offers an opportunity to access a large number of parameters and magnitudes that are measurable and observable and that characterise operation of the machine.
The issue for this study is to assess the feasibility of constructing the first phase of return on experience (detection of events) by basing it on the capacities offered as of now by communicating sensors. Thus, the idea is to see whether it is possible to use the functional data of the equipment to establish a link between the deviation from proper practices by the operator(s) of the system and said data generated by the system, with a view to avoiding dangerous situations leading to an accident.
For that purpose, firstly we will conduct a review of the state of art so as to gain a better understanding of the field of communicating sensors and return on experience, and then we want to show, by an example, the feasibility of the approach pre-selected for this exploratory study. This approach consists in identifying hazardous or potentially hazardous situations outside foreseeable uses, either by means of accounts of known accidents or by imagining accidents through experts who know the context. Then, it involves seeing whether it is possible to link up with observable data of the system (in particular deviations in such data) accessible via the communicating sensors of the work equipment. If the existing data is not sufficient, use of new data will be proposed. Some of this work will be performed through the joint INRS-ENSAM LC2S laboratory. ENSAM (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers) has a platform that can serve as a support structure for this study and its research topics are similar.
It is expected that the results will show the feasibility of using data and measurable or observable values for work equipment that are accessible via communicating sensors for the purposes of preventing occupational accidents.
Planned dissemination: A technical memo or an article in an occupational journal intended for occupational safety & health specialists is planned. Depending on the review of the state of the art and on the prospects offered by this study, a scientific publication or presentation is being considered.