0
0
- NSC.org
- NSC Shop
- Injury Facts
- Safety+Health Magazine
We are pleased to introduce the finalists for the 2026 Green Cross for Safety Innovation award. This award recognizes a researcher, corporation or organization that has achieved success addressing a long-held challenge in safety with a new or novel approach.
A pioneering hybrid drone-robot inspection system, FalconScan was developed by Aramco to address one of the oil and gas industry’s most significant safety challenges: inspecting elevated piping without exposing workers to fall hazards. Traditionally, inspections require extensive scaffolding, placing personnel at height while increasing project costs, equipment requirements and operational downtime. FalconScan replaces this high-risk process with a fully remote inspection solution. The system combines an aerial drone capable of magnetically attaching to elevated pipelines with a crawler robot that performs comprehensive 360-degree ultrasonic inspections.
Since deployment across Aramco facilities, this system has significantly reduced worker exposure to fall hazards while lowering inspection costs, minimizing downtime and improving operational efficiency.
Following a 2022 struck-by incident in which an employee was run over in an active work zone, Clayton County Water Authority challenged itself to eliminate unnecessary worker exposure to live traffic. The result was M.I.T.C.H.™ 2.0 (Mobile Illuminated Traffic Control Hub), a self-contained, solar-powered mobile platform that consolidates all temporary traffic control devices, lighting, communications, PPE and safety equipment into a single deployable unit.
The innovation has produced measurable safety improvements: a 57% reduction in work zone setup time, a 23% reduction in employee exposure to live traffic, less than 1% secondary dispatches and zero stuck-by incidents since implementation.
In heavy highway and bridge construction, equipment moves constantly between projects, operators and regions. Longview Bridge and Road identified a critical limitation of paper inspections: A hazard could be documented yet remain in a truck, binder or equipment book before reaching the person responsible for correcting it.
LBR developed a QR Code Equipment Safety Inspection and Repair Reporting System that transforms each pre-operation inspection into immediate, traceable action. Each submission captures the equipment, operator, jobsite, condition and repair need, creating a real-time record accessible to field supervision, safety and maintenance personnel. By Aug. 4, 2026, the system had recorded 678 inspections, demonstrating sustained field adoption and identifying repair needs involving lights, tires, hoses, brakes, backup alarms and fluid conditions.
Meet the 2026 Safety Advocate and Safety Excellence finalists.
There are no items in your cart