Smart harness

Abstract

This invention relates to a smart harness. In particular, the invention relates to a safety hook, to a smart harness, to a safety monitoring system, and to a method of monitoring worker safety. The safety hook includes a hook attachable to a support structure, an attachment for connecting to a smart harness, a closable gate, and a sensor for detecting connection to the support structure. The smart harness includes two such safety hooks and a processor configured to detect when either hook is unclipped and to transmit status data to a remote receiver. The safety monitoring system comprises at least one smart harness and a monitoring server operable to receive and analyse sensor data. The method involves issuing the smart harness to a worker, monitoring the sensors for anomalies, alerting the worker via indicators upon detection of an anomaly, and reporting the anomaly to a remote monitoring site.

Description

[0001] SMART HARNESS

[0002] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] This invention relates to a smart harness. In particular, the invention relates to a safety hook, to a smart harness, to a safety monitoring system, and to a method of monitoring worker safety.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The inventor is aware of conventional safety harnesses aimed at workers working at height.

[0006] However, many injuries occur due to incorrect usage of safety equipment.

[0007] The inventor thus invented a harness and a system that can be used to monitor climbing behaviour and that can flag unsafe working practices.

[0008] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a safety hook, which includes a hook attachable to a support structure, in use; an attachment fast with the hook for attaching to a smart harness; a gate arranged to close the hook, when attached to a smart harness; a sensor disposed onto the hook for sensing when the hook is attached to a support structure.

[0010] The sensor solution will have an intrinsically safe (IS) derivative which can be used in industrial and unsafe areas where intrinsic safe devices are required. This may mean that the low-level electronic components and design elements will be different from the normal smart harness to accommodate for the Intrinsic safe certification requirements. Some of the required changes may include but are not limited to using only components from pre-approved manufacturers, removing imbedded battery charging functionality in favour of external charging functionality, increasing certain components used in safety circuits, potting all electronics, using specific connectors for cables and specialized housings for the controller as well as battery. Changes will be made in accordance with the rating required based on the area of intended use.

[0011] The hook sensor may be in the form of any one of a micro-switch, a noncontact proximity switch, and the like.

[0012] According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a smart harness, which includes a safety harness attachable to a person, when in use; two safety hooks as described, of which the attachments are attached to the safety harness; and a harness processor connected to the two safety hooks, operable to detect when any one of the safety hooks are unclipped from a support structure and operable to transmit the status of the safety hooks to a remote receiver.

[0013] The smart harness may include a harness transmitter for transmitting the hook status of the safety hooks to the remote receiver. The transmitter may be in the form of a harness transceiver for permitting bi-directional communication with the remote receiver. The harness transceiver may be a Low Power Wide Area Network component, operable to facilitate long range communications with a remote transceiver.

[0014] The smart harness may include a fall detection sensor, operable to detect when the safety harness experienced a fall exceeding a predefined deceleration.

[0015] In one embodiment the fall detection sensor may be in the form of a frangible conductive wire, attached or attachable to the smart harness, operable to break when the smart harness experiences a fall, a non-conductive wire being indicative of a smart harness that was subjected to a fall exceeding a predefined deceleration.

[0016] The smart harness may include identification means in the form of any one of optical identification means, such as a barcode, a QR code, or the like, and electronic identification means in the form of a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag, Radio Frequency (RF) or the like, uniquely associated with the smart harness.

[0017] The two hook sensors and the fall detection sensor may define operational sensors which are critical to the monitoring of the smart harness.

[0018] The smart harness may in addition include additional operational sensors, which are connected to the harness processor in the form of any one or more of: a user activatable emergency button, operable to signal an emergency event; an accelerometer arranged to detect acceleration / deceleration in a particular direction; a barometer arranged to provide an indication of height of the smart harness; a Global Positioning System (GPS) arranged to provide an indication of the geo-location of the smart harness; a vibration motor, arranged to provide haptic feedback to the wearer of the smart harness; an audible indicator, such as a buzzer, arranged upon activation to attract the attention of the wearer of the smart harness; a power supply in the form of a battery, for powering electronic elements of the smart harness; a gas sensor for detecting certain types of gasses; a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature to which the smart harness is exposed; a heart rate monitor for detecting the heart rate of a wearer of the smart harness; and a portable wind sensor for sensing wind speeds to which the smart harness is exposed to. The harness processor may be operable to transmit the status of any one of the operational sensors via the harness transmitter to the remote receiver.

[0019] The harness processor may include solid state memory for recording the status of the operational sensors at certain time intervals.

[0020] According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a safety monitoring system, which includes at least one smart harness as described; and a monitoring server, operable to receive harness parameters which includes the status of the operational sensors from the at least one smart harness.

[0021] The monitoring server may include a receiver for receiving harness parameters; a database for storing harness parameters from the at least one smart harness; an application server providing a user front end for a user to access the database.

[0022] The monitoring server receiver may be in the form of a transceiver, operable to permit bi-directional communication with the at least one smart harness transceiver.

[0023] The application server may be in the form of any one of a web interface, standalone application or a mobile application interface.

[0024] The safety monitoring system may include a relay device, operable to receive harness parameters from the at least one smart harness and to transmit harness parameters to the monitoring server.

[0025] The relay device may thus be in the form of a LAN transceiver, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) transceiver or any manner of internet connectivity currently available on the market, a Fibre termination box, or the like, operable to receive wireless signals from the harness transmitter and to forward the signals to the monitoring server. The database may include a definition of a geofenced area in which the at least one smart harness is permitted to work. Operation of the smart harness outside of the geofenced area as measured by the GPS receiver defining an anomaly.

[0026] The database may include anomaly definitions which includes any one or more of: simultaneous unclipping of the safety hooks of the smart harness; a fall signal from the fall detection sensor; operation of the at least one smart harness outside of a predefined geofenced area, as measured by the GPS sensor of the at least one smart harness; operation of the at least one smart harness at a height outside of a predefined height definition, as measured by any one or both of the GPS sensor and the Barometric sensor; activation of the user activatable emergency button; acceleration measurements as measured by the accelerometer beyond certain predefined acceleration limits of the smart harness; detection of certain gasses by the gas sensor; detection of a temperature outside of predefined temperature ranges, as measured by the temperature sensor; detection of a wind speeds outside of predefined windspeed ranges, as measured by the windspeed sensor; detection of a heart rate data outside of predefined heart rate ranges, as measured by the heartrate sensor.

[0027] The predefined geofenced area may be a three-dimensional zone which includes a definition of operating height.

[0028] The safety monitoring system may be operable to transmit an anomaly signal to a smart harness upon detection of a predefined anomaly.

[0029] To this end, the monitoring server may include a server transmitter operable to transmit the anomaly signal from the monitoring server to at least one smart harness receiver. The harness transmitter may be in the form of a bi-directional transceiver and the server receiver may be in the form of a bi-directional transceiver for bi-directional communication between at least one harness and the monitoring server.

[0030] The safety monitoring system may be operable to initiate responsive steps upon occurrence of an anomaly. To this end the database may include a definition of responsive steps to be stored in association with each predefined anomaly. For example, when a particular smart harness reaches a predefined height, the monitoring of other operational sensors may be initiated, or when an emergency button is pressed, certain predefined actions might be initiated by the safety monitoring system.

[0031] The definition of responsive steps in the database may include: fatigue monitoring and responsive steps when the heart rate monitor measures certain predefined user characteristics; environmental monitoring and responsive steps when the gas sensor measures certain predefined gas levels; wind speed monitoring and responsive steps when the windspeed monitor measures a predefined windspeed; and the like.

[0032] The safety monitoring system may include a predictive analysis module, operable from collection of data to predict certain predefined unsafe conditions, such as: average hooking / unhooking time may predict fatigue, training shortcomings, unsafe operating conditions.

[0033] In operation, the safety monitoring system may include bi-directional communication between the at least one smart harness and the monitoring server to permit over the air firmware updates, over the air configuration management, integration with native API's on the monitoring server side, and the like.

[0034] Sensors within a microcontroller enable remote monitoring and additional controls to determine if the safety hooks are connected to the same conductive structure like a scaffolding pipe, or life line wire. This feature enables the operator's ability to designate hooking only to specific infrastructure and allows for infrastructure changes to be recommended if consistent anomalies are detected (Material Recognition).

[0035] The Pylon hook sensor may include motion sensing capabilities that provide telemetry data which is used to measure and user’s climbing patterns and to add additional data to help with controls and proper usage of the climbing equipment. In some iterations this may serve as a control check for hooking and unhooking actions (Motion Recognition).

[0036] A load sensor may be integrated into the lanyard attachment to the harness and serves as an additional safety measure to detect fall arrests in the event where a fall occurs which is not violent enough to rip the Lanyard energy absorber or trigger the fall detection sensor. In some iterations, the load cell may also serve as a control check for determining the hook state of the pylon hooks (Load Sensor).

[0037] The invention extends to a method of monitoring worker safety, which includes providing a smart harness as described; issuing a smart harness to a worker to be monitored; upon activating the smart harness, monitoring sensors on the smart harness; detecting anomalies in the operation of the harness; alerting the worker by means of audio / visual / tactile indicators that an anomaly has been detected; and reporting the anomaly at a remote monitoring site.

[0038] The invention is now described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying figures:

[0039] FIGURE(S)

[0040] In the figure(s):

[0041] Figure 1 shows a safety hook in accordance with one aspect of the invention;

[0042] Figure 2 shows a smart harness in accordance with another aspect of the invention; Figure 3 shows a functional block diagram of the smart harness of Figure 2;

[0043] Figure 4 shows the functional flow diagram of a smart harness checkout event performed by the safety monitoring system;

[0044] Figure 5 shows the functional flow diagram of a smart harness check event performed by the safety monitoring system;

[0045] Figure 6 shows the functional flow diagram of a smart harness start climbing event performed by the safety monitoring system;

[0046] Figure 7 shows the functional flow diagram of a smart harness single hook unclip event performed by the safety monitoring system;

[0047] Figure 8 shows the functional flow diagram of a smart harness double hook unclip event performed by the safety monitoring system;

[0048] Figure 9 shows the functional flow diagram of a smart harness double hook clip event performed by the safety monitoring system; and

[0049] Figure 10 shows the functional flow diagram of a smart harness fall event performed by the safety monitoring system;

[0050] In the figures, like reference numerals denote like parts of the invention unless otherwise indicated.

[0051] EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0052] In Figure 1 a safety hook (10) is shown. The safety hook has a hook (12) attachable to a support structure (not shown), an attachment (14) fast with the hook (12) for attaching to a smart harness (see Figure 2), a gate (16) arranged to close the hook (12), when attached to a support structure, and a sensor (18) disposed onto the hook (12) for sensing when the hook (12) is attached to a support structure. This is achieved by a hooking mechanism which is operable to sense if the hook (12) hangs from a support structure.

[0053] In the example of Figure 1 , the sensor (18) is in the form of a microswitch. As can be seen in Figure 1 , the non-contact switch imbedded in the actuating hook attachment will indicate if the hook (12) is attached to a supporting structure.

[0054] The sensor (18) has an additional conductive sensor (20) where the two pylons can communicate with each other over low voltage, low frequency radio waves to detect if both Pylon hooks are hooked to the same conductive climbing structure. This to ensure that plastic pipes or non-approved climbing equipment is not used for the harness operations.

[0055] The sensor (18) also has a motion sensing unit (19) which measures telemetry data on the speed and motion of the climbing activities and motion patterns which are used to measure the performance and compliance of the climber.

[0056] In Figure 2 smart harness (30) in accordance with another aspect of the invention is shown.

[0057] The smart harness (30) includes harness webbing (32) (Updated the harness webbing picture) attachable to a person with two safety hooks (10), as described above, mounted onto the harness webbing (32). The smart harness (30) also includes a harness processor (34) electrically connected to the two safety hooks (10), which are operable to detect when any one of the safety hooks (10) are unclipped from a support structure (not shown). The harness processor (34) is operable to transmit the status of the safety hooks (10) to a remote receiver, as described below. The harness processor (34) can also detect if the sensor (18) is unplugged, or the cabling gets damaged.

[0058] In Figure 3 a functional block diagram of the smart harness (30) of Figure 2 shows more details of the components of the smart harness (30). The harness processor (34) is shown schematically connected to the two safety hooks (10) sensors (18) as well as to a fall detection sensor (36), operable to detect when the smart harness (30) experienced a fall exceeding a predefined deceleration.

[0059] In this example the fall detection sensor (36) is in the form of a frangible conductive wire, attached or attachable to the smart harness (30), operable to break when the smart harness (30) experienced a fall. A non-conductive wire being indicative of a smart harness (30) that was subjected to a fall exceeding a predefined deceleration.

[0060] The smart harness (30) includes a harness transceiver (38) for transmitting the hook status of the safety hooks and other data to a remote transceiver. The harness transceiver (38) in this example permits bi-directional communication with the remote transceiver. It is to be appreciated that in another example, the harness transceiver (38) permits bi-directional communication with wireless network communication backbone infrastructure. In this example, the harness transceiver (38) medium employs Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWA) and Cellular communications, including 5G, operable to facilitate long range communications with the remote transceiver.

[0061] The communication media could be swopped out with other wireless technology modules, for example, 802.11 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc.

[0062] The smart harness (30) includes identification means in the form of a QR code as well as electronic identification means in the form of a Near Field Communication (NFC) or Radio Frequency (RF) tags (40), uniquely associated with the smart harness (30).

[0063] The two hook sensors (18) and the fall detection sensor (36) define operational sensors which are critical to the monitoring of the smart harness (30).

[0064] As shown schematically in Figure 3, the smart harness (30) includes additional operational sensors, which are connected to the harness processor (34).

[0065] The additional operational sensors include: a user activatable emergency button (not shown), operable to signal an emergency event; an accelerometer (42) arranged to detect acceleration / deceleration in a particular direction; a barometer (44) arranged to provide an indication of the height of the smart harness (30); a Global Positioning System (GPS) (46) arranged to provide an indication of the three-dimensional geo-location of the smart harness; an audible indicator, in the form of a buzzer (50), arranged upon activation to attract the attention of the wearer of the smart harness; a power supply in the form of a battery (52) and a battery charger (54), for powering electronic components of the smart harness; a gas sensor (56) for detecting certain types of gasses; a temperature sensor (58) for detecting a temperature to which the smart harness is exposed; a heart rate monitor (60) for detecting the heart rate of a wearer of the smart harness; and a portable wind sensor (62) for sensing wind speeds to which the smart harness is exposed to.

[0066] The harness processor (34) is connected to a vibration motor (48), arranged to generate haptic feedback on the smart harness, for alerting the user of harness clip and unclip performance.

[0067] In use, the harness processor (34) is operable to transmit the status of any one of the operational sensors (18, 36, 42 - 58, 60-62) via the harness transmitter (38) to the remote receiver.

[0068] The harness processor (34) includes solid state memory (not shown) for recording the status of the operational sensors (18, 36, 42 - 58, 60-62) at certain time intervals.

[0069] Also shown diagrammatically in Figure 3 is a safety monitoring system (70), which includes at least one smart harness (30) as described and a monitoring server (72), operable to receive harness parameters which includes the status of the operational sensors (18, 36, 42 - 58, 60-62) from at least one smart harness (30).

[0070] The monitoring server (72) includes a transceiver (not shown) for receiving harness parameters, a database (74) for storing harness parameters from the at least one smart harness (30) and an application server (76) providing a user front end (78), in the form of any one of a web interface or a mobile application interface, for a user to access the database (74).

[0071] The monitoring server transceiver in this example is operable to permit bi-directional communication with the at least one smart harness transceiver (38). In this example, due to the distance between the smart harness (30) and the monitoring server (72), the safety monitoring system (70) includes a relay device (80), operable to receive harness parameters from the at least one smart harness (30), to transmit harness parameters to the monitoring server (72) and to permit communication backwards from the monitoring server (72) to the at least one smart harness (30).

[0072] The relay device (80) includes wired and wireless transceivers (82) connected to a microcontroller (84) and a power supply in the form of a battery (86) and battery charger (88).

[0073] The database (74) includes a definition of a three dimensional geofenced space in which the at least one smart harness (30) is permitted to work. Operation of the smart harness (30) outside of the geofenced space as measured by the GPS receiver (46) will define an anomaly.

[0074] The database (74) has more anomaly definitions which includes any one or more of: simultaneous unclipping of the safety hooks (10) of the smart harness (30); a fall signal from the fall detection sensor (36); operation of the smart harness (30) at a height outside of a predefined height definition, as measured by any one or both of the GPS sensor (46) and the Barometric sensor (44); activation of the user activatable emergency button (not shown); acceleration measurements as measured by the accelerometer (42) beyond certain predefined acceleration limits of the smart harness (30); detection of certain toxic or flammable gasses by the gas sensor (56); detection of a temperature outside of predefined temperature ranges, as measured by the temperature sensor (58); detection of a wind speeds outside of predefined windspeed ranges, as measured by the windspeed sensor (62); detection of a heart rate data outside of predefined heartrate ranges, as measured by the heartrate sensor (60). The safety monitoring system (70) is operable to transmit an anomaly signal to a smart harness (30) upon detection of a predefined anomaly.

[0075] The safety monitoring system (70) is operable to initiate responsive steps upon occurrence of an anomaly. To this end the database (74) includes a definition of responsive steps to be stored in association with each predefined anomaly. For example, when a particular smart harness (10) reaches a predefined height, the monitoring of other operational sensors (18, 36, 42 - 58, 60-62) is initiated, or when an emergency button (not shown) is pressed, certain predefined actions might be initiated by the safety monitoring system (70).

[0076] The definition of responsive steps in the database (74) include: fatigue monitoring and responsive steps when the heart rate monitor (60) measures certain predefined user characteristics environmental monitoring and responsive steps when the gas sensor (56) measures certain predefined gas levels; wind speed monitoring and responsive steps when the windspeed monitor (62) measures a predefined windspeed; and the like.

[0077] Load sensor (51 ) between the Harness and the Pylon hooks to measure weight load on the hook lanyard and detect a nonviolent fall where the shock absorber and the fall detection sensor did not activate.

[0078] The safety monitoring system includes a predictive analysis module, operable from collection of data to predict certain predefined unsafe conditions, such as average hooking / unhooking times, that may predict fatigue, training shortcomings, unsafe operating conditions.

[0079] Figures 4 to 10 show flow diagrams of predefined events that the safety monitoring system (70) is operable to handle.

[0080] In Figure 4 the functional flow diagram of a smart harness (10) checkout event (100) is shown. At (102) the harness (10) is checked out by scanning the NFC tag (40), the tag number is stored at (104), allocated to a worker at (106), the harness status is updated to "active" at (108), a dashboard (not shown) is updated to "checked out" at (110) and the updated storage status is stored in the database (74).

[0081] In Figure 5 the functional flow diagram of a smart harness (10) check event (112) performed by the safety monitoring system (70) is shown. At (114) the harness (10) is switched on. The harness processor (34) checks for a system heartbeat from all embedded components (akin to an electronic self-test) (60) at (116). If the heartbeat is not picked up at (120) and the harness is checked out at (130) a fault is raised at (124) and reported on the front end (78) and the buzzer (50) and an optical indicator are activated on the harness (30) at (132). If a heartbeat is picked up at (118) a "no fault" flag is set at (122) and a no-fault is reported on the front end (78) at (126) and a green indicator LED is activated at (128).

[0082] In Figure 6 the functional flow diagram of a smart harness (10) start climbing event (140) performed by the safety monitoring system (70) is shown. The process initiates at (142). The bi-directional communication between the harness (30) and the monitoring server (72) is checked at (144). At (146) a check is performed by the harness processor (34) to determine if both hooks (10) are clipped to a support structure. At (148) a green hooked indicator is set on the monitoring server front (78) and a green indicator LED is activated at (150). The climbing event is to determine if the sensor reaches the height threshold to start with normal sensor activation and sensor activities. If the height threshold is not reached, the sensor will not activate normal operations.

[0083] In Figure 7 the functional flow diagram of a smart harness (10) single hook unclip event (160) is shown. The process initiates at (162). At (164) a check is performed to see if either of the two hooks (10) are unclipped. At (166) a check is performed to determine if the unhooking lasted less than a predefined time duration. If the unhooking lasted less than a predetermined time duration at (168) a yellow indicator is set at (170) on the server front end (78) and a red light is activated on the harness (30). If it is determined at (166) that a hook (10) is unclipped for longer than the predefined time duration at (174) an orange indicator is set on the server front end (78) at (176). If the unclipping persists for longer than 5 seconds a red indicator is set on the front end (78) at (178), the buzzer (50) is activated on the harness (30) at (180) and the vibration motor (48) is activated on the harness (30) at (182).

[0084] In Figure 8 the functional flow diagram of a smart harness (30) double hook (10) unclip event (190) is shown. The process initiates at (192). At (194) it is determined that both hooks (10) are unclipped. At (196) a red indicator is set on the server front end (78), at (198) a red indicator is activated on the hooks (10), at (200) the buzzer (50) is activated on the harness (30) and at (202) the vibration motor (48) is activated on the harness (30).

[0085] In Figure 9 the functional flow diagram of a smart harness (30) double hook (10) clip event (210) is shown. The process initiates at (212) and at (214) it is determined that both the hooks (10) are clipped. At (216) the green indicator showing that both hooks (10) are clipped, is activated on the server front end (78) and at (218) a green indicator is activated on the harness (30).

[0086] In Figure 10 the functional flow diagram of a smart harness (30) fall event (220) is shown. The process initiates at (222). At (224) it is determined that the fall detection sensor (36) has been activated and at (226) the sudden drop in barometric pressure of the barometer (44) is detected. At (228) it is thus determined that a fall occurred. At (230) a red fall arrest indicator is activated on the server front end (78), at (232) a notification is forwarded to rescue services and at (234) the harness (30) is blacklisted on the database (74). The blacklisted harness means the system will not be able to book out the harness for operation in future.

[0087] The inventor believes that the safety hook, the smart harness, and the safety monitoring system as described provides a novel and inventive invention that will be of particular use in the safe working at heights environments.

Claims

CLAIMS:1 . A safety hook, which includes a hook attachable to a support structure, in use; an attachment fast with the hook for attaching to a smart harness; a gate arranged to close the hook, when attached to a smart harness; a sensor disposed onto the hook for sensing when the hook is attached to a support structure.

2. The safety hook as claimed in claim 1 , in which the sensor is in the form of any one of a micro-switch, and a non-contact proximity switch.

3. The safety hook as claimed in claim 1 , in which the safety hook sensor includes motion sensing capabilities.

4. A smart harness, which includes a safety harness attachable to a person, when in use; two safety hooks as claimed in claim 1 , of which the attachments are attached to the safety harness; and a harness processor connected to the two safety hooks, operable to detect when any one of the safety hooks are unclipped from a support structure and operable to transmit the status of the safety hooks to a remote receiver.

5. The smart harness as claimed in claim 4, which includes a harness transmitter for transmitting the hook status of the safety hooks to the remote receiver.

6. The smart harness as claimed in claim 5, in which the transmitter is in the form of a harness transceiver for permitting bi-directional communication with the remote receiver.

7. The smart harness as claimed in claim 6, in which the harness transceiver is a Low Power Wide Area Network component, operable to facilitate long range communications with a remote transceiver.

8. The smart harness as claimed in claim 4, which includes a fall detection sensor, operable to detect when the safety harness experienced a fall exceeding a predefined deceleration.

9. The smart harness as claimed in claim 8, in which the fall detection sensor is in the form of a frangible conductive wire, attached or attachable to the smart harness, operable to break when the smart harness experiences a fall, a non- conductive wire being indicative of a smart harness that was subjected to a fall exceeding a predefined deceleration.

10. The smart harness as claimed in claim 4, which includes identification means in the form of any one of optical identification means, and electronic identification means, uniquely associated with the smart harness.

11. The smart harness as claimed in claim 10, in which the optical identification means is in the form of any one of a barcode, and a QR code.

12. The smart harness as claimed in claim 10, in which the electronic identification means is in the form of any one of a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag, and Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver.

13. The smart harness as claimed in claim 4, which includes additional operational sensors, which are connected to the harness processor in the form of any one or more of: a user activatable emergency button, operable to signal an emergency event; an accelerometer arranged to detect acceleration / deceleration in a particular direction; a barometer arranged to provide an indication of height of the smart harness; a Global Positioning System (GPS) arranged to provide an indication of the geo-location of the smart harness; a vibration motor, arranged to provide haptic feedback to the wearer of the smart harness; an audible indicator, such as a buzzer, arranged upon activation to attract the attention of the wearer of the smart harness;a power supply in the form of a battery, for powering electronic elements of the smart harness; a gas sensor for detecting certain types of gasses; a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature to which the smart harness is exposed; a heart rate monitor for detecting the heart rate of a wearer of the smart harness; and a portable wind sensor for sensing wind speeds to which the smart harness is exposed to.

14. The smart harness as claimed in claim 13, in which the harness processor is operable to transmit the status of any one of the operational sensors via the harness transmitter to the remote receiver.

15. The smart harness as claimed in claim 13, in which the harness processor includes solid state memory for recording the status of the operational sensors at certain time intervals.

16. The smart harness as claimed in claim 5, in which the harness transmitter is in the form of a bi-directional transceiver.

17. A safety monitoring system, which includes at least one smart harness as described; and a monitoring server receiver, operable to receive harness parameters which includes the status of the operational sensors from the at least one smart harness.

18. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 17, in which the monitoring server includes a receiver for receiving harness parameters; a database for storing harness parameters from the at least one smart harness; an application server providing a user front end for a user to access the database.

19. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 17, in which the monitoring server receiver is in the form of a transceiver, operable to permit bidirectional communication with the at least one smart harness transceiver.

20. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 18, in which the application server is in the form of any one of a web interface, a standalone application, and a mobile application interface.

21. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 17, which includes a relay device, operable to receive harness parameters from the at least one smart harness and to transmit harness parameters to the monitoring server.

22. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 21 , in which the relay device is in the form of any one of a LAN transceiver, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) transceiver, and a Fibre termination box, operable to receive wireless signals from the harness transmitter and to forward the signals to the monitoring server.

23. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 18, in which the database includes a definition of a geofenced area in which the at least one smart harness is permitted to work, anomaly24. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 18, in which the database includes anomaly definitions which includes any one or more of: simultaneous unclipping of the safety hooks of the smart harness; a fall signal from the fall detection sensor; operation of the at least one smart harness outside of a predefined geofenced area, as measured by the GPS sensor of the at least one smart harness; operation of the at least one smart harness at a height outside of a predefined height definition, as measured by any one or both of the GPS sensor and the Barometric sensor; activation of the user activatable emergency button; acceleration measurements as measured by the accelerometer beyond certain predefined acceleration limits of the smart harness; detection of certain gasses by the gas sensor;detection of a temperature outside of predefined temperature ranges, as measured by the temperature sensor; detection of a wind speeds outside of predefined windspeed ranges, as measured by the windspeed sensor; and detection of a heart rate data outside of predefined heart rate ranges, as measured by the heartrate sensor.

25. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 24, in which the predefined geofenced area defines a three-dimensional zone which includes a definition of operating height.

26. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 17, in which the monitoring server includes a server transmitter operable to transmit an anomaly signal from the monitoring server to at least one smart harness receiver.

27. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 17, in which the server receiver is in the form of a bi-directional transceiver for bi-directional communication between at least one harness and the monitoring server.

28. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 17, which includes a predictive analysis module, operable from collection of data to predict certain predefined unsafe conditions.

29. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 28, in which the predefined unsafe conditions include any one of: average hooking / unhooking time which predicts fatigue, training shortcomings, and unsafe operating conditions.

30. The safety monitoring system as claimed in claim 17, which includes bidirectional communication between the at least one smart harness and the monitoring server to permit over the air firmware updates, over the air configuration management, and integration with native API's on the monitoring server side.

31. A method of monitoring worker safety, which includesproviding a smart harness as described; issuing a smart harness to a worker to be monitored; upon activating the smart harness, monitoring sensors on the smart harness; detecting anomalies in the operation of the harness; alerting the worker by means of audio / visual / tactile indicators that an anomaly has been detected; and reporting the anomaly at a remote monitoring site.

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