Benefits of Body Cameras by Industries

The body-worn cameras use began with the police department, there was the need to check a lot of complaints that were coming from the citizens. The government was in dire need to know what officers were up to. These brought the body-worn camera to the existence, they are simply camera devices worn on the body that can be used to see whatever a person is doing at a time. This was especially useful for the police mostly while on duty, implanting the program was really helpful as it helped reduced the complaints that were coming in concerning the unnecessary use of force and unprofessional conduct amongst the police. Over the years, other industries have started to implement the body camera into their work programs. It is believed that just as it has helped the police department tremendously, it can also help them in major ways as we move to the next generation of industrial activities. Some industries where they are used are:

1. Agriculture
2. Mining
3. Construction
4. Manufacturing
5. Transportation
6. Communication
7. Electricity, gas and sanitary service
8. Wholesale trade
9. Retail trade
10. Finance, insurance and real estate

Agriculture: The agricultural sector is developing at a tremendous rate and diverse equipment and machinery are being adapted. While on the farm, workers who wear the body camera can record their daily activities and also give an extra eye that would attest to the work they claim to be doing. It could be used by staff who milk cattle, workers who collect eggs and even for the manual harvesting that doesn’t involve the use of tractors. Having the body camera is sure going to make a lot of monitoring on the farm very easy. It would also make attestation verifiable, in cases where things are getting missing or the yield is far less than is expected. While a worker is showing off the animals for sale perhaps, it would be good to have a body-worn camera that would make monitoring the animal being displayed visible so as to see its look or to even instruct on a choice of livestock to choose. For the workers who drive the tractors, having a body camera on could help know how much plowing they are doing and how well they are doing their job. While all of this is incorporated, it is important there is a server room where all of this can be seen or coordinated in real-time. It could also be stored as evidence whenever there might be a need to sanction or even sack a worker. Having the security on the farm wear the body cameras could also increase the security on the farm, making it possible to identify everyone going in and out of the gates. The body-worn camera could definitely take the agricultural business to the next phase.

Mining: Equipping workers in the mining industry completely sets them off on another level, it makes communication and instruction dissemination more possible. It makes remote project management very possible as you can be very far away, but still coordinate your workers giving them specifics on instruction on what needs to be done and how it should be done. While the body camera system is adopted there is a drop in transportation cost as you do not need to always travel down for supervision and reports, you get to see what’s done as its being done. With the camera used when work is done there is a major increase in the efficiency of the worker, knowing fully well they are all being monitored and their work input is being monitored there, everyone will be keen about giving their best to their work. Real-time security is improved as workers can be warned of impending dangers noticed by those working, they are also easily attended to as arrangement for treatment can be made more quickly. With a live video form activated and 2-way audio where both the viewer and the worker can communicate, communication is quite important and could save a lot of stress preventing a lot of damages that would have been done. A video is worth a thousand pictures, with the footages from the body camera you can defend against:

• Labor disputes
• Material delivery disputes
• Insurance claim
• Warranty claim

Construction: having the workers in the construction aids in any way, you could have them doing some normal construction work while the surveillance of the environment and its hazard can be left to the supervision team. In case of an accident that occurs a lot in construction sites footage can be used to clear things up. This could including checking if they were following the safety rules and regulations or if they were even paying attention when the accident occurred. Having the workers put on the body-worn camera can aid the security of the area, it makes communication between the security team and the construction site worker very prompt and strong. Also, the security personnel at the construction site would find the body camera as very useful, since they would be able to directly report whoever is entering into the site and check if they have authorization to even do so. This is another sure way of improving site security. In case of a major accident, the footage from the bodywork camera can be used to however investigate what must have happened, playing the footage can simply explain to an organization how the accident occurred. With powerful lens cameras, very high-quality images can be taken off very specific locations in a structure and used for validation or explanation.

Manufacturing: while it is very important that in the manufacturing industry every product/good made must be according to the standard given. There are defectives around, it becomes very essential that the product when a couple together is being seen and monitored. It is also imperative that for an industry that involves assembling of parts, they are all assembled well and they all meet the standard. Having the body-worn camera makes it very possible to inspect and verify that every single product made, they are matching the company’s production standards and that defectives are cut to the minimum. The body camera is also important since in the case of an accident where some incidence happens and the management is to take responsibility, video footage from the incident can be released and used to clear things up. Seeing a video that matches a worker’s testimony prompts quickly to taking responsibility and settling. The body camera would allow the employees staff in charge of supervision to be able to see what the individual worker is doing. By close monitoring this way, it becomes even easier to do workers assessments to fire the lazy and unserious while promoting and increasing the pay of the serious ones. Once workers are aware they are being watched, it creates these awareness in them that drives them always to do better while becoming more devoted to work. It reduces slacking off and encourages working really hard to ensure excellence.

Transportation: The transportation industry has been known to use cameras to monitor drivers for sometimes now, they also use GPS to track goods movement and location of their drivers that use their service for commercial driving. The body-worn cameras can be used by truck drivers, taxi and even airforce and sea captains. Having the body cameras on drivers especially is very effective, they can be monitored to know if they are obeying the traffic laws and complying with the rules and regulation. It makes it easy to note erring drivers and sack them. Many truck drivers drink while driving, they end up getting intoxicated in the end causing a ghastly accident destroying the company they work for goods. Air staffs on a plane can be made to wear body-worn cameras to know and check those flying in a particular air flight. With facial recognition software, it becomes easy to track criminals that might be boarding a bus or plane. You can easily reroute some journey the instance you know where the driver is going, some drivers stop around every area for many useless reasons, with body camera you’ll be able to see their movement while also monitoring their activities that might be impeding their work.

Communication: the communication sector might perhaps be the sector that needs the body camera the most, information is very important though it has always been but now it has become much more important. In the communication industry where our connection to people to pass information is being coordinated, it is important they are being monitored especially for performance optimization. Having the cameras on them helps know what they are doing, it makes it possible to check their approach to solving a communication problem when a call is made. It also makes it easy to see what the site engineers are doing-especially when trying to calibrate a device. When instruction is given from a remote location with the aid of a body camera, it becomes possible to see if this information is being followed to the letter or they are being ignored. With the body cameras on and working a joint effort can be made by an expert not on the field as he guides a field engineer to solving some communication devices issues. Being prompt to resolving a problem is really great as the quicker a problem is attended to the more satisfied the system and trust are. It is however good to note that sometimes body-worn cameras might not perfectly clear things up, sometimes it might require more than one camera to fully perform an investigation on a subject matter.

Electricity, gas and sanitary service: having a body-worn camera while servicing an electric pole or perhaps a network can be very advantageous, this way its possible to what this technician is doing in real-time and to also correct him when he’s making mistakes. It is very important to be able to communicate with employees as they work monitoring their work and getting an update on their progress. In the gas industry, at the extraction point having body cameras can help monitor if the workers are practicing safety ethics and are not trying any criminal act. At a retail point in some areas workers who sell gas commercials can be made to use body cameras to help know how much sales they are making and if the sales made in the video match the sales report submitted regularly. Sanitary services have to do with sanitation and the sanitary workers who get these jobs done, with a body camera worn it becomes very easy to see how much work is done by the worker and how much effort is put into making the society clean and sanitized. With the cameras employees can easily determine who is working well to suit their requirements and whose appearance isn’t frequent.

Wholesale trade: in the whole sales industry where there is often lots of boxes and carting of suppliers to a diverse location where they are requested, it is very important that there is a close eye on the workers as carts could go missing if less attention is paid to the activities going on. Adopting the body-worn camera program can be seen as a necessary step in the right direction as it becomes possible to see what workers spend their time doing. Having the body camera tends to reduce slacking off and rather create a sense of awareness that keeps them on their toes. This is a type of spirit every employee would love, with the cameras on their bodyworkers would be less prone to stealing or even committing crimes of any sort at work. Securities also have a part to play in the big system as they would be equipped with cameras, mandated to check everyone going in and out of the industry. While asking for clearance and also checking what the vehicles leaving are carrying, they have a very important role to play concerning curbing theft. It is important those at the control and access center to where the videos and footages are being seen either as recordings or in real-time, are very conscious people and can very much understand all situations while judging conditions.

Retail trade: just like the wholesale trade, the retail trade requires a lot of monitoring and attention. Having CCTV might not be enough footages needed to clear things up, having the body cameras gives the ability to see what your salesperson is doing. Having the camera on alone naturally increases awareness level, hence make the worker comply with the organizations rules and regulations. Workers slack off less and would be unable to steal, the body camera also helps to confirm that the number of customers in the video tally with the sales report. When there are cases of money loss or unaccounted for products, one of the best places to start the investigation is the body cam footage. With the time stamp on the video, it’s possible to trace the date that the particular product was sold and find out what actually happens. In cases of money loss, with the body camera, it’ll be shown on the screen when an individual is robbing the management of their cash. With evidence such as these, It becomes very possible to sack and arrest such individuals. With evidences you’d be providing it would be an easy case to settle.

Finance, Insurance and real estate: in the banking and finance sector where there is a lot of inflow and outflow of cash, people tend to get tempted to keep some. This is wrong and very condemnable, counting or handling money gives you no right to them. Having a body-worn camera in cases like this can prove to be very efficient as no one would attempt to steal money when their activities are being seen. The insurance industry deals with ensuring properties, goods and lives. The body camera can be used by agents while out on duty and can be revisited for assessment. Videos from their videos can be used as experience sections which can be used for later education. They could make mistakes in their insurance policy or approach, but it is important they learn from those mistakes and get better. Real estate management deals majorly with the selling of lands and property, it could also be used to get pictures or images of a particular estate that can be sent to the agency for assessment. Real estate management gets better with the body-worn camera although to do any real and serious work you’d need a very powerful camera to get the job done accurately. Since very high definition images are used and required in real estate management it is therefore important a very powerful lens type body camera is used.

Now that all these sectors have been briefly explained and we now know how important the body-worn cameras can be. Their effectiveness and how efficient they can make our industries should be the major factors in consideration. With all these said it is important that we know the most common problem with the cameras must be avoided. The privacy issue is a major problem with the cameras generally, if you’d be using the body camera it is very important you adhere to state laws concerning them. It is also very important that when recording people they must be aware of what is happening. It is wrong to just record people without their knowledge. When recording and a citizen asks that you stop it is very important that you do or might get sued on some count charges. When employers choose to adopt body-worn cameras it is important that the employees are informed, they must agree and sign then also they must be trained on how to use it like professionals.

Critics have pointed out a wide range of issues that have complex effects involving citizen privacy, access to private records and the recording of vulnerable population i.e children. These are problems that critics have pointed to as the issues arising from the use of body-worn cameras in the society. As a result of this the law enforcement agencies provide strict training and also have rules and policies concerning the use of the cameras to avoid running into problems while trying to solve one. But for private users who might want to use this same equipment, it would be important for them to know that privacy laws must be strictly adhered to.

Effect of the Body-worn cameras

Self-awareness: this entails being conscious that you are being watched, this is also known as Objective self-awareness. Awareness generally increases when an individual perceives they are being watched. Behavior modification occurs and there is a switch to socially acceptable behavior, by this it is proven that anything that makes one focus on their self generally increases self-awareness. Body-worn camera is one of the many ways of increasing civilian’s self-awareness and making them conscious their actions are being watched and recorded. This a method to make them restrain from doing wrong and offending the law. Self-awareness is the key factor that is being capitalized upon, once an individual becomes aware they are being recorded they naturally act right and switch to their best behavior.

Recommendation for technology use

The recommendation for the technology of use is:

1. The video must have a frame rate of at least 25 frames per second(fps)
2. The battery of camera in use must run for at least 3 hours without dying
3. The image resolution must be a minimum of 480p i.e. 640 X 480
4. The camera system must have a minimum of one year warranty from whatever company it’s being purchased from
5. The camera’s storage must be able to capture a minimum of 3 hours footage when set at its minimum setting
6. The camera should have a particular low light setting that allows easy recording even where there is no light