On this week’s episode of EHSDA Shorts, we hear from Camille Oakes, President and CEO of Better Safety, about the Internet of Things. Tune in to hear her insights.
Transcript (edited for clarity):
Question: What is the Internet of Things?
Oakes: So the Internet of Things.
This is a term I first heard from an engineer. The best way to think about this is like a smart home or a smart office. The Internet of Things is a is a collection of pieces of hardware that are monitoring something and then they are collecting data about it.
And if those sensors are connected to some type of Internet network, they’re sharing that data, and you might even be able to control it.
So maybe you have some version of this in your house. If you think about your Nest, your thermostat, a Nest brand smart thermostat that’s connected to your phone. If you think about Alexa or Google Home, these are kind of Internet of Things.
Where it comes up with safety is when we’re talking about environmental changes, temperature, pressure, motion, or we’re talking about industrial hygiene.
So, this is where your Internet of Things might be a unit that is measuring the noise level, either on that person or in that area, and it is communicating that somewhere, and doing something about it.
Anything industrial hygiene can fall into here, and we’re not talking about a specific piece that [you] have to check. We’re talking about it connected to other things.
So, I can check that from my phone, from a remote location, from software somewhere, and I might even be able to control it or take action.
That’s [the] Internet of Things.