Safety Shield Global has been honoured with a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of its innovative work in developing an Artificial Intelligence safety system for plant machinery.

Considered to be the highest commercial accolade possible for any UK business, the full list of this year’s recipients was announced this morning, with Cheshire-based Safety Shield delighted to be among those endorsed by His Majesty, King Charles III.

The most advanced AI ‘human form recognition device’ available on the market, Safety Shield’s award-winning system was designed to cut the risk of serious injury on busy construction sites and places of work where heavy plant are operational.

Providing a world-class level of protection for contractors in the most demanding of safety-focussed environments, Safety Shield gives operators a full 360-degree ‘window’ to ensure workforce safety.

Using AI to identify people who are in the danger zone, the system is trained to filter out all other objects and only detects the human form, acting as a third eye for the operator and sounding an alert if a collision is imminent.

The system can be fitted to any type of plant, for industries such as construction, rail, mining, demolition and waste, amongst others.

Manufactured in the UK, the device which can also be retrofitted to any plant or machinery, and has achieved AI accuracy at 99.6% via independent test bodies in the UK and Germany, achieving the gold standard of accuracy levels.

Jonathan Guest, Safety Shield Global founder and CEO, commented:

“I am deeply honoured and humbled that Safety Shield Global have been awarded with The King’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation. This award represents recognition of the resolution, vigour, and dedication of our team."

“I am infinitely grateful to everyone who has contributed to the dedication of achieving our mission of helping eliminate collisions associated with people and plant interface and help change behaviour on site."

“Artificial intelligence is booming across all industries, and we are proud to be at the forefront; we were the first to bring human detection technology for collision avoidance to the construction industry and our product is still the most accurate and advanced. We will continue to push the boundaries of possibilities as we strive to enact behavioural change for onsite safety.”

The King’s Award for Enterprise was renamed last year to reflect His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II, by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The Award programme, now in its 58th year, allows successful businesses to use the esteemed King’s Awards Emblem for the next five years.

Initially adapted from existing AI devices used in the automotive industry, Jonathan and his R&D team have worked tirelessly over the last decade alongside government officials, transport authorities, research institutes, international construction companies and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to develop the state-of-the-art product that is in use today.