GERMANY – Altendorf, one of the producers of circular saws for small-scale wood, metal and plastic processing based in Minden, Germany, has won the German Occupational Safety Award 2021 with their Hand Guard technology.

971,547 occupational accidents took place in Germany in 2019. 16% of them alone occurred in the metal and wood processing industry. In turn, 1% of these accidents involved circular saws. Alternatively put, this equates to one accident per day involving a circular saw – the costs for workplace accidents and medical treatments are high and can be detrimental to customer orders.

This was reason enough for Altendorf, as the creator of the circular saw, to develop more innovative and reliable safety systems and revolutionise them with Hand Guard.

The globally unique, patented Hand Guard early warning system is fitted with two camera systems. This optical system is the only one of its kind on the market and is an industry breakthrough in terms of technical safety using artificial intelligence (AI) for hand detection.

Hand Guard recognises potential risks based on special AI hand detection software long before an accident can occur. In the event of an acute threat to fingers or hands, the saw blade quickly retracts within a quarter of a second underneath the workbench. In doing so, Hand Guard offers maximum protection for users prior to a tangible risk or even injury.

“Part of this success story is down to our innovative and successful collaboration with the professional association for wood and metal (BGHM) and the Institute for Occupational Health and Safety,” says Karl-Friedrich Schröder. Altendorf was able to come out on top among 176 applicants.

The prize was awarded on 26 October as part of a hybrid prize ceremony at the International Congress on Occupational Health and Safety (A+A) in Düsseldorf. The award was accepted by Karl-Friedrich Schröder and Julia Pohle, Manager of Research and Development on behalf of the entire project team.