How to protect workers in wineries?

Initial situation: In the Brescia area of Franciacorta, there are numerous wineries producing the world-famous wine of the same name. The Franciacorta production method requires compliance with certain quality standardssuch as the manual harvesting of the grapes, which must be done exclusively by hand. Another fundamental aspect of the production cycle is the type of tanks used for fermentation, storage and maturation of the wine. More and more often stainless steel tanks which ensure optimal hygienic conditions and do not alter the organoleptic qualities of the wine as they do not allow air exchange with the outside. Naturally, the tanks are often cleaned to maintain optimum hygienic conditions and to remove any tartrate deposits.

Problem: At a well-known winery in the area, a worker engaged in cleaning the fermentation tanks suddenly fell ill. These steel structures shield the GSM signalTherefore, the worker found himself in a condition of isolation and could not ask for help because of the total no signal. Following the incident, the company chose to turn to Irbema to find a solution to protect staff in this type of situation.

Solution: The technical inspection carried out by one of our consultants confirmed that the ideal system for this type of situation was the UHF radio kit composed of the man-down device Ascom a51 and from the mini receiver u981.

How does it work?

When the isolated worker is in an emergency situation, in a place where the signal is absent, the man-down device Ascom a51 enables the sending of an alarm that can be triggered manually, by pull, or automatically via the functions man down & no movement with which it is equipped. The alarm signal is immediately transmitted to the u981 receiver, which can be connected to a siren or a telephone dialer as required. In this way, help can be alerted in a timely manner even when the worker is inside the steel tanks, ensuring rapid intervention that can make the difference in saving a life.

Reliability e comfort distinguish both devices in the kit; in fact, the a51 device, in addition to being equipped with ALS (acoustic localisation following alarm activation), is very light (only 84 grams including battery) ensuring maximum freedom of movement for the worker.

The u981 mini receiver is also very discreet thanks to its small sizeIt is also available with either an internal or external antenna as required.