From developing a world-first industrial safety solution to winning awards, doors are opening for the innovative thinker Emil Tastula.
Company director Emil Tastula and his team at Universal Site Monitoring (USM) have achieved a step-change in workplace safety with a new generation of safety devices.
It’s been their mission to make work safer for people working in high risk and remote industries, such as underground mines, remote gas plants, and steel mills - and this big thinking is fast gaining traction.
USM won the Energy Resources Award in the 2018 Australian Technologies Competition and the Small and Succeeding NT category of the 2019 Telstra Business Awards.
In 2020, the Darwin-based company was also awarded a $20,000 grant to fast-track its innovation after taking part in the National Energy Resources Australia Innovation Challenge.
"Other workplace monitors only allow central control to react to an emergency," said Emil. "USM's connected worker safety solution predicts a possible emergency, which means action can be taken before the situation becomes critical."
USM’s ground-breaking system continuously manages multiple risks simultaneously by using a system of safety devices linked to a data interface.
It includes the Personal Safety Monitor (PSM) - a device which is slightly larger than a mobile phone-sized piece of hardware that clips onto a worker’s waistband, Mesh Access Point (MAP) and the Universal Data Interface (UDI).
“The PSM ensures a business’s most important assets - its staff - return home safely every day. It is unique and innovative," said Emil.
The PSM alerts its users to danger through alarms and sends real-time reports. It continually monitors among other things a worker's location, even when working underground or in remote areas without GSM network, ambient air temperature and noise levels, slips, trips and falls, man down events, gas leaks, and speed over ground and the worker's biometrics.
It collects live data and sends it in five-second data packages to a fully integrated universal data interface smart alert and navigation system. This enables proactive decision making and even prevention of rising emergencies.
The MAP enables data to be transmitted wirelessly in areas where usually communication would be impossible, by creating a network of devices that also allows for position tracking.
Emil came up with the safety concept, which is under Australian, United States and European patent protection, after working in the mining industry for more than 20 years.
He brought onboard primary school mate David Thomson along with cousin Andrew Throw who provided the IT brains and product designer Tim Earl who possessed the design skills.
“It’s been a great team effort,” said Emil.
The company received help from the Northern Territory (NT) Government with a grant under the Business Innovation Support Initiatives program and assistance under the marketing support scheme with travel and marketing.
Emil hopes to get further help through the government’s NT Local Jobs Fund, which he believes will help commercialise the PSM globally.
“We have made a tentative push into the defence sector recently, and we have received some solid support from the NT Government team that supports NT businesses wanting to get into the defence and border protection sector,” he said.
“With a team of technological experts based in Darwin, Universal Site Monitoring is perfectly situated to service Australia and the global market.”
Emil also encourages other small companies to look for Territory Government help. “Small businesses just need to stick to their guns, steadily put runs on the board, build relationships in government and, most importantly, submit applications for assistance where possible,” he said.
The PSM and MAP devices are available in a regular or intrinsically safe models. The UDI is accessible with computer, tablet or mobile devices, and the system can be customised to suit every operation.
