In 2022, nearly 300 people died of heat-related illnesses in Texas, the most in two decades. Yet the following year, Governor Greg Abbott signed a law that prevented local governments from setting mandatory rest or water breaks for outdoor workers. Ross Daly, director of safety at Rogers-O’Brien Construction, a Dallas-based general contractor, says he has ignored what came to be known as the Death Star Bill. “We’re going to do right for our people, and provide a safe and healthy workplace,” he says.
The company already provided heat safety training every spring for its 98 construction workers, who work 50 to 60 hours a week in the blazing Texas heat. “Training and mindset only get you so far,” Daly says. Looking for helpful tech tools, they came across the VigiLife SafeGuard, a wearable sensor that uses analytics and alerts to enhance worker safety. Last summer, Rogers-O’Brien, winner of Fast Company’s 2024 World Changing Ideas Award in the mid-sized business category, became the first general contractor to use the SafeGuard for its workforce.
The wearable device connects to a watch, “almost like a fitness app,” Daly says. It monitors biometrics such as heart rate and core body temperature. Once one of those reaches a certain level, the sensor sends a warning to the worker to slow down. A second alert at a higher threshold will send an alert to the on-site safety manager to bring the worker into the air-conditioned office for rest and water until their body temperature returns to normal.
The rollout has been a success. After a monthlong pilot last April across four job sites, the company released the tool across all sites for the summer, and 80% of workers voluntarily opted in. While it provides the device for free to workers, those who declined were mainly concerned that it’s “a little bit too Big Brother,” Daly says. But he assures them that the company does not collect data or use the device to track productivity.
Most summers, Rogers-O’Brien has a few workers who experience minor heat-related illnesses like fatigue and heat cramps; last year, with the tool, they had zero. In a few cases, the device stepped in to prevent it. “Generally with the heat in Texas, you wait until you start feeling it, and at that point it’s too late,” Daly says. “The whole point of this system is to be a little more proactive and give you alerts before you get to that point.”
It also appears to be saving money. Heat-related illnesses add more costs to projects because of lost time, medical bills, and accident investigations. Though the company pays a monthly fee to SafeGuard and $125 for each Garmin smartwatch, these costs were $200,000 lower in 2023 than in 2022. But safety is the primary concern: “If [it saves] just one heat-related illness,” Daly says, “it’s paid for the whole system itself.”
Explore the full list of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas, 281 projects that are making the world more accessible, equitable, and sustainable for everyone. We’ve selected the companies, organizations, and nonprofits making the biggest impact across 50 categories, including architecture, energy, finance, transportation, and more.