Why supervisors see it too late

Helmets, high-visibility vests and safety shoes are mandatory in many halls, yards and sites, and hazardous zones around machines, forklift lanes and loading bays are marked for a reason. Supervisors cannot be everywhere. When something happens, the camera has usually recorded it, but nobody saw it in time.

What ProDataAI Lens detects

  • Missing helmets, high-visibility vests and safety shoes in areas where they are required.
  • Entry into hazardous zones that you draw on the camera image, for example around a press, a crane path or a loading bay, active at the hours you set.
  • Too many people in a restricted area.
  • Fire and smoke in the same halls, if you switch it on. See fire and smoke early warning.

Safety alerts without performance monitoring

Works councils look closely at PPE detection, with good reason. ProDataAI Lens is set up so that it is used for safety only:

  • It reports what happened (a person without a helmet in hall 2) to the safety lead, without naming anyone. It does not recognise faces or identify people.
  • It does not track individuals across cameras and keeps no figures per employee.
  • Incident data is kept only as long as you set, and search can be switched off.
  • The purpose, the areas, the recipients and the retention are documented so they can be agreed with your works council before go-live.
Our recommendation

Agree in writing that safety alerts are used to prevent accidents, not to evaluate or discipline individual employees. That keeps the system out of performance monitoring, which is what the EU AI Act treats as high-risk.

How safety teams use the alerts

Lower-severity safety alerts can be bundled into a daily summary for the safety officer, showing where and when rules are missed most often: a doorway where vests come off, a shift change where helmets are forgotten. Entry into a danger zone near running machinery can be critical and go straight to the shift lead with the clip. Both help you fix the cause: signage, a vest station, a changed walking route.

Data protection and works council

Read our guide to GDPR, works council and the EU AI Act and the checklist for the DPIA and the works agreement. Our data protection and security pack includes a template for the works council agreement.

Frequently asked questions

Is PPE detection allowed in Germany?

It can be, with a clear safety purpose, proportionate settings, documentation and, where there is a works council, a works agreement under § 87 BetrVG. Using it to evaluate individual employees is what to avoid.

Does ProDataAI Lens identify who was not wearing a helmet?

No. It reports the event with a snapshot and a short clip to the person responsible for the area. It does not recognise faces or identify people.

How reliable is helmet and vest detection?

That depends on camera angle, distance and lighting, so we do not quote a general figure. In the pilot we agree the measures and you see the results on your own cameras.

Does it detect hard hats and high-visibility vests on existing cameras?

Yes, hard hats (helmets) and high-visibility vests are standard detections on ordinary IP cameras. Whether other high-visibility clothing, such as jackets, counts as compliant depends on how it looks on your cameras; we test it in the pilot.

ManufacturingSafety gear, danger zones, fire and smoke, restricted areas, the gate.Construction site monitoringTheft and intrusion at night, vehicles, unattended machinery.Logistics and warehousingGate and yard, loading bays, safety gear, fire in storage, the site at night.Checklist: DPIA and works agreementWhat to cover in the DPIA and the works agreement for AI video analytics.