METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY IDENTIFYING POTENTIALLY UNSAFE WORK CONDITIONS TO PREDICT AND PREVENT THE OCCURRENCE OF WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS

• US 20090089108A1
• Filed: 09/27/2007
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kraemer, James R., Angell, Robert Lee
• Application Number:
  US11/862,608
• Publication Number:
  US 20090089108A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities

Abstract

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product for predicting an occurrence of a workplace accident. The process monitors current event data derived from a continuous video stream. The current event data comprises metadata describing events occurring at a workplace. The process then compares the current event data with previous event data that describes a set of previous events associated with a previously identified workplace accident. In response to detecting events in the current event data corresponding to at least one event in the set of previous events, the process generates a notification identifying a potential occurrence of the workplace accident.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for predicting an occurrence of a workplace accident, the computer implemented method comprising:

monitoring current event data derived from a continuous video stream, wherein the current event data comprises metadata describing events occurring at a workplace;

comparing the current event data with previous event data, wherein the previous event data describes a set of previous events associated with a previously identified workplace accident; and

responsive to detecting events in the current event data corresponding to at least one event in the set of previous events, generating a notification identifying a potential occurrence of the workplace accident.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the current event data further comprises metadata describing conditions at the workplace.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of previous events comprises events occurring in parallel.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of previous events comprises events occurring in series.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the notification is generated by at least one of an analysis server and a human user.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the notification identifies remedial actions for avoiding the potential occurrence of the workplace accident.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the video data from a set of sensors associated with the workplace; and

analyzing the video data to identify the current event data, wherein analyzing the video data comprises generating the metadata describing events occurring at the workplace.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the set of sensors comprises a set of digital video cameras.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 7 wherein analyzing the video data comprises processing the event data using at least one of a statistical method, a data mining method, a causal model, a mathematical model, or a simulation model.

10. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for predicting an occurrence of a workplace accident, the computer program product comprising;

computer usable program code for monitoring current event data derived from a continuous video stream, wherein the current event data comprises metadata describing events occurring at a workplace;

computer usable program code for comparing the current event data with previous event data, wherein the previous event data describes a set of previous events associated with a previously identified workplace accident; and

computer usable program code for generating a notification identifying a potential occurrence of the workplace accident in response to detecting events in the current event data corresponding to at least one event in the set of previous events.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the current event data further comprises metadata describing conditions at the workplace.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the set of previous events comprises events occurring in parallel.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the set of previous events comprises events occurring in series.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the notification is generated by at least one of an analysis server and a human user.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the notification identifies remedial actions for avoiding the potential occurrence of the workplace accident.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

computer usable program code for receiving the video data from a set of sensors associated with the workplace;

computer usable program code for analyzing the video data to identify the event data, wherein analyzing the video data comprises generating the metadata describing events occurring at the workplace.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the set of sensors comprises a set of digital video cameras.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer usable program code for analyzing the video data comprises computer usable program code for processing the event data using at least one of a statistical method, a data mining method, a causal model, a mathematical model, or a simulation model.

19. A system for predicting an occurrence of a workplace accident, the system comprising:

a set of sensors;

a database, wherein the database stores event data collected by the set of sensors; and

an analysis server, wherein the analysis server monitors current event data derived from a continuous video stream, wherein the current event data comprises metadata describing events occurring at a workplace;

compares the current event data with previous event data, wherein the previous event data describes a set of previous a set of previous events associated with a previously identified workplace accident; and

generates a notification identifying a potential occurrence of the workplace accident in response to detecting events in the current event data corresponding to at least one event in the set of previous events.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the set of sensors comprises a set of digital video cameras.