New Zealand Trial Paves the Way for Safer Waste Collection across ANZ.
Smart Environmental, one of New Zealand’s largest waste management companies, has completed the first Australasian trial of our active safety solution for side-arm heavy vehicles that significantly improves public safety around waste trucks.
MAX-SAFE Side-Arm Pedestrian ProtectionTM is a new camera-based AI solution designed to detect and protect pedestrians and other vulnerable road users (VRUs) from the unique operations of side-arm waste management vehicles.
Developed by SGESCO-MAX in 2023, the solution for the trial was integrated with BUCHER MUNICIPAL’s side arm Recycling truck mechanics to audibly and visually alert the vehicle driver and pedestrians – and actively halt the vehicle’s side arm or move it to a safer position – thereby preventing collision with a person or object. It was the first time such a system had been used in Australasia.
Identified Safety Risk (of Side Arm Waste Management Vehicles)
According to Smart Environmental’s General Manager Fleet & Systems, Jonathon Dick (Jonny, pictured), the company had identified a heightened and alarming safety risk around kerbside operations of their municipal vehicles due to several factors:
- COVID-19 had seen more people at home and subsequently staying at/around home during waste collection times.
- Technology has made people more distracted with less peripheral awareness (watching or listening to content on smartphones, distracted with conversations, earphones on to quieten exterior noise).
- The rise of e-scooters often on footpaths.
- Recycling trucks were more sophisticated with drivers often relying on in-cabin camera monitoring rather than looking outside.
Jonny noted that while there had been no major safety incidents, risk assessments all pointed towards a perfect-storm scenario –one they wanted to avoid.
To date, Smart Environmental had addressed this risk with traditional mirrors and cameras. Keeping people safe, however, required drivers identifying a risk and responding in time to manually stop the movement of the hydraulic side arm.
Typical residential wheelie bins are 240L and once full can be of a reasonable weight. If the arm or the bin (empty or full) were to collide with a person, it could cause serious injuries.
“Aside from protecting the public, we wanted to remove the pressure and stress on our drivers facing this more prevalent safety risk – and worse having to deal with a disastrous aftermath,” said Jonny. “A better solution was needed.”
The Solution
Smart Environmental contacted various New Zealand suppliers and in the process met AED (Autokraft Electrical and Diesel), the NZ distributor of MAX-SAFE solutions. After discovering SGESCO-MAX’s MAX-SAFE Side-Arm Pedestrian Protection, which only became available in 2023, Jonny co-ordinated with SGESCO-MAX and AB Equipment (representing BUCHER MUNICIPAL in New Zealand) to develop an integrated solution. SGESCO-MAX in turn worked with BUCHER MUNICIPAL Australia to deliver a completely integrated safety solution for the trial.
The MAX-SAFE Side-Arm Pedestrian Protection solution includes dual cameras mounted on the cabin and body of the vehicle in the optimal position to cover the operation of the Side-Arm.
Using the latest advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) the solution detects VRUs within a defined work zone along the left side of a vehicle including a few metres to the front and rear. The zone is fully configurable.
With all safety modules included, it will identify when a pedestrian(s) is within the zone where the side-lift arm operates and:
- Warn the operator via an in cabin audible voice alert and flashing light
- Warn the pedestrian(s) via audible voice alert and external flashing LED light bar
- Stop the side-lift arm from operating and, if safe to do so, raise it to its highest position, thereby removing the arm as a safety hazard.
The Trial
Following months of R&D, including full factory testing, at the start of November 2023, the side arm safety solution was installed on one of Smart Environmental’s Recycling vehicle operating across north Auckland.
The MAX-SAFE Side Arm Protection trial ran for one month with the vehicle operating from 7 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday on busy urban streets. The school traffic window and children being about was a major concern for Smart Environmental and something they wanted to monitor.
As part of the trial, a camera was set-up whereby the driver could instantly tap a button to record what was happening outside the vehicle once an alert went off.
This vision was then uploaded and shared with Jonny and his team.
“For consistency of feedback, we wanted to limit the trial to one driver,” said Jonny, “however, the trial involved other staff members joining the driver in ride-alongs to monitor what was happening, and to the evaluate the system’s effectiveness.”
The Findings
Less than 45 minutes into day one of the trial, the system prevented what could have been a serious accident with an adult,” said Jonny. “It highlighted how close a near miss it was and how vital this type of solution was.”
“Fortunately, the trial also far exceeded our expectations on the technologies’ ability to actively remove the arm and bin as a safety hazard.”
“While we had used different technologies and cameras in the past to reduce this risk, the safety difference the MAX-SAFE BUCHER solution made was like being on steroids in comparison. It actively alerted pedestrians and removed the arm risk much faster than any driver could manually do.”
Removing the possibility of delayed human reaction or error, could be the difference in preventing an accident and saving a life, Jonny said.
The Future
For Smart Environmental, one of the key learnings of the trial has been the value of a fully integrated active safety system over a passive one. There was no disputing the life-saving value in it, with no impact on productivity, he said.
“The integrated MAX-SAFE BUCHER solution prevents the arm from entering the area and removes the arm from the hazard error. It combats the risk of drivers becoming de-sensitised to humans around the vehicle and accidents not happening, when, in reality, they are moments away from happening. It safeguards drivers and the public.”
Jonny also noted that with the alerts to pedestrians, they were able to educate the public on the risks they were placing themselves in by being too close to operating vehicles.
Following the Side Arm Protection trial, Smart Environmental would begin work with various councils across New Zealand to appraise them of the risks and findings of the trials so they could collectively plan the way forward for safer kerbside collections.
