Worker Safety Technology | Guardhat
The Genesis of Guardhat Technologies
Saikat Dey, the founder of Detroit-based Guardhat Technologies, commenced his career within the steel manufacturing sector. Prior to establishing Guardhat, he held the position of chief executive officer at Severstal International, a multinational steel conglomerate headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan.
While leading the global operations of the fourth-largest steel producer by both volume and revenue – overseeing 3,600 employees across facilities in Mississippi, Michigan, and West Virginia’s coal mines – Dey developed a strong focus on workplace safety, as he stated.
Safety as a Key Performance Indicator
Beyond conventional financial metrics like cash flow and EBITDA, Dey emphasized that worker safety was a crucial factor influencing employee compensation. Frontline worker safety and well-being were considered key performance indicators, according to Dey.
Dey’s dedication to improving safety within his plants prompted him to engage with union representatives and initiate the development of the technology that would ultimately become the foundation of Guardhat’s product line.
An Integrated Safety System
The company offers a comprehensive, multi-product intelligent safety system. This system integrates wearable technology with proprietary software to identify, warn about, and ultimately prevent hazardous incidents in industrial settings.
Guardhat’s vision is supported by investors including Detroit Venture Partners, led by Dan Gilbert, General Catalyst, and RTP Ventures, spearheaded by Ru-Net Holdings co-founder Leonid Boguslavsky. Crucially, the company also has the endorsement of the unions representing the workers who utilize its technology.
Addressing a Critical Need
Industrial workplaces, such as those in mining, metals, and oil & gas, experience approximately fifteen worker fatalities each day. Furthermore, over 3 million individuals sustain injuries annually. This presents a significant financial and ethical concern for industry leaders.
At Severstal, Dey’s compensation was partially dependent on worker safety performance, with 40 percent tied to these metrics.
The Spark of Innovation
The initial concept for Guardhat arose during a routine inspection of the company’s Detroit-area steel plant. Dey observed an employee whose carbon monoxide alarm activated, yet the worker simply deactivated the monitor instead of investigating the potential leak.
“This occurred within a Detroit steel facility boasting North America’s largest blast furnace,” Dey explained. “The employee’s actions carried the potential for a catastrophic accident.”
Core Technological Questions
This incident inspired the development of Guardhat’s technology, designed to answer fundamental questions applicable to any industrial facility: Where is the worker located? What environmental hazards are present? And, how quickly can assistance be provided? These are the core functionalities of Guardhat’s system.
“We lacked effective methods for preventing accidents or intervening with timely information when they did occur,” Dey noted.
Collaboration with Unions
The technology’s design involved close collaboration with leaders from Detroit-area unions, ensuring that the product would be readily accepted and utilized by workers. This collaborative approach was essential.
“We resolved to pursue this initiative in September 2014,” Dey stated. “The union representatives encouraged me to proceed with the venture. As a person of color leading a $6 billion operation at one of the U.S.’s largest steelmakers, launching this from a garage required considerable courage, perhaps even recklessness, and substantial support from friends within the UAW.”
This partnership ensured that worker data would be handled responsibly, avoiding perceptions of unnecessary or punitive monitoring.
From Concept to Reality
The company’s initial offering was the HC1 – a helmet equipped with a comprehensive suite of sensors. “The goal was to integrate the technology into equipment that all workers are required to wear,” Dey explained.
The team soon realized that the wearable device alone was insufficient. “The helmet is merely a form factor… and regardless of the form factor, it’s vital to establish a single source of truth for all information pertaining to the worker.”
Early Investment and Testing
Like many Detroit startups, Dey and his team initially sought funding from Dan Gilbert. Gilbert personally tested a prototype, challenging the Guardhat team to locate him and accurately determine his position.
With Gilbert’s investment, the product design firm frog labs and 3M joined the project. This led to rigorous prototype testing.
“I vividly recall our first day of testing at a certified lab in Akron, Ohio,” Dey recounted. “They were dropping metal balls from a height of 5 meters – each ball costing $3,000 – and 27 helmets were ultimately reduced to powder. We failed every test because we didn’t initially know how to construct a durable helmet.”
Collaboration with frog and other partners ultimately resulted in a finalized device. Currently, the technology is deployed by over 5,000 workers and has either prevented or alerted workers to at least 2,000 potentially dangerous situations.
A Detroit-Born Innovation
For Dey, the company’s origins in Detroit are deeply symbolic. “The Detroit connection represents the hard-won lessons learned from years of experience within these demanding industries.”
