The Buddie System is a wireless, instant safety alert device designed for Dogmen by Dogmen – allowing a Dogman to set off a rapid alarm that alerts a crane operator to an emergency. The Buddie System has been designed by experienced Dogmen, Jade Harris and Gary Panagiotidis.
- Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to receive the latest news from Australasia’s lifting industry.
- Don’t miss a lift and subscribe to our monthly magazine.
- Download our latest digital magazine to catch up on the biggest news and developments in the crane industry.
Just about everything has an emergency stop button on it these days, so Jade and Gary developed one for Dogmen – part of a system that overcomes the potential shortfalls of two-way radio failure while providing Dogmen with another form of communication.
Both Dogmen and crane operators rely heavily on two-way radio communication in many scenarios – but alternatives are not always so well developed.
Image; The Buddie System.
In circumstances where something goes wrong with the two-way – such as a flat battery, frequency drop out, dropped radio or accidental channel change, or if the Dogman is unable to access his or her two-way radio – often the only way to communicate with the crane operator is through a whistle.
In so many cases, whistles are outdated, impractical and on large scale projects, often inaudible.
The Buddie System is designed to be even more attention-grabbing than a whistle, but with the convenience of the lanyard on which the whistle is so often attached.
With an official launch planned for The Crane Industry Council of Australia (CICA) National Conference and Exhibition in Adelaide, October 17th to 19th, the Buddie System is designed to be “A redundancy safety system in case communication via the two-way radio fails,” says Gary.
“We’ve all experienced interference on two ways and on occasions there can be delays in the transmission. Batteries can start beeping and go flat halfway through a lift, which can delay the signal, that’s if the signal gets through at all,” he said.
“You might have told the crane operator to bring the load down and then you’ve dropped your hand mic and you can’t get to it. Or you could be slinging a load and your handset gets caught somewhere in the load, which has probably happened to most of us. You then have to try to get back to that mic as quickly as you can to say stop.
“With The Buddie System, you have the device around your neck, you just pull it, the alarm goes off in the cab and the operator immediately stops the crane,” said Gary.
Perfect pairing
With The Buddie System, the Dogman wears a lanyard around their neck, fitted with an alarm mechanism called the ‘Lanyard Device’.
The Lanyard Device is paired with a Crane Device which sits with the tower crane or mobile crane operator and the two communicate via long range (LoRa) radio frequency.
In the case of an emergency, the Lanyard Device is designed to separate and when it does, it triggers an audible alarm and flashing lights in the cabin, immediately alerting the operator to the problem.
“That’s the signal for crane operator to stop all motions and he’ll get on his two- way to check if everything is OK,” Jade said.
“It could be that the Dogman’s lanyard had accidently been caught on something and it separated that way setting off the alarm or it could be that something has gone wrong.”
The Buddie System is available to be purchased individually or in sets.
Pairing is simple. The ‘Lanyard Device’ is paired with a Crane Device via long range (LoRa) radio frequency by pressing the
pair function button on both devices or by plugging the Lanyard Device into the Crane Device.
Once paired the lanyard device’s unique ID is displayed on the Crane Device letting the crane operator know who he is paired with.
Confident everyone is paired, the crane operator can climb up into the crane and plug the Crane Device into the main power source. As with a radio check, there will be a lanyard check – with each Dogman pulling the lanyard and setting off The Buddie System’s alarm.
One simple check that it’s all working and the day begins.
If there is a morning and afternoon shift, operators can pair up to 10 lanyards with the Crane Device.
The user-friendly system also allows Dogmen to unpair their lanyard from one crane and take it to another, if they are going to work with either another crane or to another job.
Gary can see plenty of interest from Tier One builders and crane hire companies.
“There already has been interest from crane hire companies because of the safety aspect of The Buddie System,” he said.
“Although there is a little initial outlay to purchase the system, this could be a large saving when The Buddie System prevents an accident.
“We are thinking the construction, infrastructure, mining, wind energy and oil and gas industries will embrace The Buddie System and implement its use in their standard operating procedures,” Gary said.
“The conversations we are having with people high up in these type of organisations have been very positive with comments like ‘If the Buddie System was ready now we’d take it right away.’”
For further information visit www.thebuddiesystem.com