Technology Spotlight: Introducing Blindsight

In Australia, every 7 seconds a worker is injured on the job. As a high-risk industry we must do better to drive certainty around site safety. Award-winning start-up, Presien aims to effortlessly protect people in the dynamic construction environment using AI-vision technology.

The start-up originating from Laing O’Rourke’s Technology & Innovation Group are creating a new standard in health and safety through purposeful technology. Thanks to Blindsight, the newest technology to come from Presien, operators are empowered with an extra set of eyes when working in high-risk environments.

More than 60 per cent of workplace fatalities are vehicle related. This statistic is unfortunately unsurprising when looking at the dynamic nature of construction. The ever-changing environment of people, plant, and infrastructure on projects places immense responsibility on operators to see everything. Blindsight is an operators extra set of eyes; it ‘sees’ objects, understands what they are, and what actions to take. When Blindsight detects a dangerous situation, such as a person in a blind spot, it alerts workers, calling their attention to the risk before it turns into a costly accident. This is all done seamlessly in real-time, with no special tags or changes in operating procedures. Near misses can be automatically recorded, including videos, data and analytics made immediately available to Health & Safety personnel to baseline, understand, and improve safety practices.

Blindsight is already playing a major role in the safe delivery of infrastructure projects across Australia with early adopters such Fulton Hogan, Queensland Rail, BMD, North East Water, Anglo American and Transport for NSW, all introducing the new technology to the industry.

As adoption is growing, so is recognition. Presien and Laing O’Rourke have won over 10 industry awards and accolades for the technology, including the 2020 Australian Institute of Health and Safety Award, 2018 Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Most Innovative Companies list, The Australian’s Top 100 Innovators list for 2021 and winner of CEMEX Ventures Construction Start-up Competition 2021.

Presien has raised $7m in venture capital funding, led by Main Sequence Ventures, and retains a partnership with Laing O’Rourke to accelerate the development and commercialisation of the AI vision technology, to drive site safety across the industry.