As a heavy equipment owner/operator, there are several important matters that you must prioritize when deciding on the type of heavy equipment to use, including speed, efficiency, and performance. However, two of the most important factors worth considering are safety and comfort.
It is crucial to ensure that heavy equipment operators work in a safe and comfortable environment to protect their health and enhance the effectiveness and safety of the entire task. These factors can impact operational efficiency, productivity, and overall well-being. Moreover, your company’s safety record has a direct impact on its ability to win new contracts, work on specific sites, and impact your profits in regards to the cost of incidents and their impact on WorkSafe rates over a 4 year period.
Unfortunately, the environments where heavy equipment operators work are often filled with hazards. Factors such as multiple contractors and employees working on a single site, heavy loads, moving machine parts, and unstable ground conditions can all pose risks.
Therefore, it is crucial that the heavy equipment includes various safety features designed to prevent accidents and injuries. Such features protect the workers while also helping to maintain smooth and continuous operation and compliance with health and safety standards and regulations.
In addition to providing safety and protection, good heavy equipment should also be comfortable for operators to use. When operators can work comfortably, they can focus better on their tasks, increasing efficiency and accuracy in machine operation. This also helps mitigate some long-term work-related injuries, such as repetitive strain injuries, hearing loss, muscle strains, compartment syndrome, or whole-body vibration issues.
While both operator safety and comfort are undeniably important when it comes to designing heavy equipment, there are many different ways that equipment manufacturers can prioritize these factors.
By adding certain features and tweaking designs, heavy equipment designers can create pieces of equipment with optimal levels of safety and comfort. Indeed, this has always been one of the major focuses at Volvo. The following are some of the ways that Volvo has shown its commitment to heavy equipment operator safety and comfort:
The Volvo Smart View with Obstacle Detection is a feature that has been included in Volvo’s latest series of excavators, which includes the ECR145 short swing, EC210, EC230, EC370, EC400, and EC500 crawler excavators.
When utilizing Volvo Smart View with Obstacle Detection, excavator operators can have a 360-degree view of their machine’s surroundings. These are not just regular cameras; they feature a new radar detection system that helps distinguish between objects and humans for a heightened level of awareness.
In this same series of excavators, additional lights have also been added to the cab, boom, and arm to provide sufficient lighting in dimmer work areas, further contributing to the visibility and consequent safety of these sites.
In addition, these excavators have been designed with various upgrades to the cab for the sake of improved operator comfort, including an updated seat design, enhanced ventilation, and added footrest support.
Another recent innovation from Volvo that has boosted the safety of its excavators—specifically the EC250E, EC300E, and EC350E—is the introduction of an advanced short-range remote control solution. This will benefit operators working on dangerous job sites or those requiring an up-close view of their tasks.
This feature allows for the machine to be remotely operated, as long as the operator is within 100 meters of it, rather than needing an operator inside it at all times. The operator can maintain two-way electronic communication with the machine via a radio transmitter and receiver.
With this solution, it is possible to operate an excavator safely, even in areas with a risk of falling objects or where the machine could potentially roll over, such as on demolition jobs. Volvo’s CE Engineering Solutions has designed this feature so that it can be completely customized based on your unique needs and working environment.
For most heavy equipment operators, a comfortable seat is key to having a productive day. This is something that Volvo definitely took seriously when designing its wheel loaders.
In Volvo wheel loaders, the operator’s seat can be heated or cooled as needed to make the cab more comfortable, no matter what the weather is like. In addition, this seat automatically adjusts to the operator’s weight, rather than needing to be manually adjusted. There are four possible heights that the seat can be set to, providing the flexibility necessary for maximum comfort.
With a seat that is this comfortable, less strain is put on wheel loader operators. Therefore, they can focus better on their work during their shifts and are less fatigued at the end of the day.
Another great innovation that Volvo has created to enhance the safety of its wheel loaders is a Collision Mitigation System. This is essentially an automatic braking feature that supports operator response, consequently reducing the risk of collisions, especially when working in reverse.
Visibility is often decreased when operators are working in reverse, and these circumstances frequently lead to collisions and other accidents. Thus, the Collision Mitigation System automatically applies service brakes when a wheeled loader approaches an obstacle, simultaneously alerting the operator so that they can act accordingly.
Since wheeled loaders are estimated to spend anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of their time being driven in reverse, this feature will make a huge difference in the safety of these machines’ operators.
The system has been designed to remember the last slope the machine climbed so that operators can reverse down a pile without activating it. The system can also be deactivated if need be, depending on work site conditions.
If you are looking for a reliable Volvo Construction Equipment dealer who can provide you with safe and comfortable machines, look no further than Nors. We have a wide selection of Volvo’s latest equipment that demonstrates consistently high performance without compromising safety or comfort.
We are stocked with both new and used Volvo equipment, and we also have equipment rentals available if you are not ready to fully commit to a specific machine yet.
For more information about why we are a top Volvo Construction Equipment dealer, or to learn more about the variety of Volvo machines we have available, call Nors at 1-833-730-0613 or contact us here.
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