A combination of wired and wireless systems delivers visibility when and where it is needed.
By Matt Wood
The combination of frequent storms, tourists, hungry rodents and corrosive ocean air pose a challenge for all truck fleets operating in Hawaii. However, for Honolulu Disposal Services’ garbage disposal trucks, the challenges can be even greater. Its trucks typically operate in bad weather and early morning hours when visibility is poor. They navigate busy, narrow urban streets and alleys. Despite all of their warning signs and sounds, these hulking vehicles seem to go unnoticed as people make their way home, to work and to the beach. Given these factors, the responsibility for safety lands squarely on the shoulders of Honolulu Disposal’s drivers. To help its drivers operate as safely as possible, Honolulu Disposal equips its trucks with cameras and monitors, and with PRECO Electronics’ PreView® Radar systems.
Safety, Safety, Safety
Honolulu Disposal Service, Inc. is a private solid waste management company based in Honolulu, HI. Incorporated in 2003, Honolulu Disposal provides collection, transfer, recycling and disposal of non-hazardous materials to Hawaiian governmental, commercial and municipal sectors. With facilities on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai, Honolulu Disposal manages a fleet of more than 220 refuse trucks, front loaders and other vehicles.
If you ask Roy Eccleshall why Honolulu Disposal invests in PRECO’s collision mitigation systems, and he recites his simple mantra, “Safety, safety, safety.” As the company’s Executive Vice President of Maintenance and Facilities, Eccleshall says that keeping people safe comes down to minimizing the impact of human error, whether on the part of his drivers, other vehicle drivers, bicyclists or pedestrians.
Roy first learned of PRECO Electronics’ safety technology in a Waste Advantage Magazine article and then met their team at WasteExpo. In 2011, Honolulu Disposal installed 10 PreView WorkSight® for Waste systems. After testing was complete, they installed PreView® Radar sensors on even more trucks. From there, they moved on to Wireless WorkSight® for Waste to combat a rodent issue.
“Our goal is to be proactive, not reactive about avoiding human mistakes,” Eccleshall says. “Several years ago we decided to give our drivers new tools to help them know what’s happening around their trucks. That’s when we started adding PRECO’s wired, and then wireless, radar systems to our fleet.”
Patented, Color-Coded Protection
PRECO’s PreView® Radar systems use intelligent safety technology to detect both moving and stationary objects around medium- and heavy-duty trucks and equipment. The system uses visual and audible alerts to warn operators of potentially hazardous conditions. PRECO’s customers have reported experiencing up to an 85 percent reduction in blind spot accidents, saving them significant time and money.
“We’ve used onboard cameras for years but the problem is that cameras only tell the drivers that something is near the truck—not how near it is. The PRECO system gives my drivers a better understanding of exactly how close those things are,” says Eccleshall.
When the PreView Wireless WorkSight® system senses an object within the detection area, it notifies the driver with an audible alert and a visual warning on an in-cab display unit. These short seconds of advance notice can mean the critical difference between accidents and close calls.
“When the dashboard-mounted warning lights turn from green to yellow, drivers know to become very cautious,” Eccleshall says. “When the lights turn from yellow to red, the driver immediately stops the truck, gets out and sees what’s going on.”
He says his drivers have to exercise particular caution when driving and backing up their trucks through downtown Honolulu’s famous Waikiki Beach. Tourists busy strolling to the shops and beaches just don’t seem to pay attention to large vehicles and backup alarms, even, he says, “when I changed the beeps to quacks.”
Ruggedized and Wireless for Expected—and Unexpected—Challenges
Eccleshall says he likes the fact that the radar sensors are ruggedized to resist harsh environmental conditions including dirt, mud, rain, snow and ice. Originally from Canada, he was all-too-familiar with these challenges. Moving to Hawaii, he soon found more.
“I didn’t know rats could be so destructive,” he says. “A garbage truck could be full of all kinds of good food, but all the rats seem to want to eat are electrical cables. It doesn’t take long at all for them to chew through the cables and disable the collision warning system.”
He was understandably thrilled when PRECO released its PreView Wireless WorkSight® system. Not only did the wireless solution prevent rodents from putting his trucks out of service, it also eliminated the need to install more than 75 feet of warning system cabling per truck, and dramatically reduced installation time.
“PRECO reduced our typical per-truck installation time by more than 60 percent. When you multiply that across a fleet of more than 200 vehicles, that’s a lot of savings. Plus, the wireless system eliminates the problem we’ve been having with salt corrosion. As tightly made as electrical cables are assembled these days, we still have problems when the salt works its way into the cable couplings, corrodes them, and shorts them out. Wireless WorkSight makes all of that go away.”
The Real Bottom Line
EVP Eccleshall has been in the waste industry long enough to know that accidents happen despite everyone’s best efforts. They happen in Hawaii, in Canada, in the U.S. and all around the world.
“People do funny things,” he says. “They walk behind vehicles. They pull in behind trucks that have pulled into dead-end alleys. They don’t hear the backup alarms or see the signs to ‘stay back 50 feet’ or ‘watch for wide turns.’ So we look for ways to get ahead of the curve, like using technology to reduce the effects of human error. PRECO’s collision mitigation solutions—especially their wireless systems—have saved us money. But in the end, it’s not about the money. It’s about safety.”
Matt Wood serves as the Vice President of Worldwide Sales at PRECO Electronics (Boise, ID). He is responsible for developing operation strategies, managing international and domestic sales channels, and expanding into new partnerships for heavy equipment and commercial vehicle industries. Matt started his career with PRECO and recently rejoined the team in January 2016 after serving as President and CEO at ProTeam. He recognizes the company’s mission of delivering valuable safety technologies to heavy-duty industries and is passionate about sharing PRECO’s collision mitigation offerings so companies can perform with greater confidence and peace-of-mind. He can be reached at (208) 323-1000 or visit www.preco.com.