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Working in the solid waste industry continues to be a very dangerous job, as the industry was involved in more than 120 fatal incidents in the United States and Canada last year. At its virtual Safety Summit in late February, the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) reported that 52 municipal solid waste industry workers were killed on-the-job in 2020, with nearly 70 percent occurring during collection.

When humans don't give their full attention to the task at hand, they miss deadlines, fail certifications, and collide with objects or other drivers. In an age of constant digital interruptions, it is no wonder we have trouble ignoring distractions. Paying attention to everything going on in the cab, the surrounding environment, and driving at the same time is hard enough. Filtering out the unnecessary distractions just makes it all harder; the brain must choose where to focus.

The trucking space looks attractive in 2021, given its stable economic position with more than 70 percent of goods consumed in the U.S. moving by truck, consistent job growth expectancy, and the promises made to boost infrastructure spending in the United States.

In recognition of innovation, dedication and best practices, we are now accepting nominations for the ninth annual Excellence in Safety Award. Recognizing the outstanding achievements of safety professionals each year, the Excellence in Safety Award honors those who educate, support, and take action to improve safety on and off the work site.

Even in today's highly-connected world, humans still play a vital role in work environments, and most present-day heavy-duty mobile equipment operate in proximity to humans. Functional Safety was born to ensure equipment systems can detect, diagnose, and safely mitigate incidents to prevent harm to humans and machines. By proving, testing, and documenting the system design process, functional safety is now a critical element to any/all systems installed within heavy-duty mobile equipment, factory options, and aftermarket machines.

Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) is used extensively in the cabs of heavy-duty OEM equipment both on and off-road, and allows a person to interact with a machine, like an instrument panel, the joystick, the steering wheel, the brakes, the knobs and buttons of the infotainment system, Etc.

The move toward full autonomy will see safety systems that combine their data for more accuracy.

As demands for machine safety and autonomous mobile equipment have increased, perception systems have become more critical than ever to accurately recognize the position and velocity of surrounding vehicles, Vulnerable Road Users (VRU), and other hazards and obstructions.

As of July 1, 2020, PRECO Electronics has been acquired by Sensata Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ST), announced in a recent Press Release. Sensata Ventures is the investment division of Sensata Technologies, a rapidly growing provider of sensor-rich solutions with operations and business centers in 11 countries worldwide.

As customers continue to demand driver awareness, assistance, and autonomous features to improve safety — regulatory and societal pressure trends point to the expansion of OEMs offering these solutions as optional and standard features. Today, this expansion points in the direction of Radar sensors as one of the key solution elements.

Simply put, a blind spot is wherever a vehicle operator cannot see around his/her vehicle because there is no coverage through a window or mirror. Typically a driver's blind spot will be towards the rear end of the automobile on both sides.