Xwatch Safety Solutions recently announced a distribution partnership with ABTECH in Québec. This week Xwatch’s Dan Leaney and Fergus Fieldhouse visited the ABTECH headquarters in a very chilly Québec to install and conduct training on the very first XW5 Xwatch safety system to arrive in the Eastern province of Canada.
Dan and Fergus were made to feel very welcome at the ABTECH headquarters and even got to enjoy the Quebecian local delicacy, Poutine, which is a dish comprising French fries and cheese curds topped with brown gravy!
The Xwatch team installed an XW5 system on a PC200LC 20-tonne Komatsu. The XW5 offers a ‘total safe working envelope’ around the machine and the operator, and enables the control of the machine’s height, slew and rated capacity indication.
This machine is heading directly to the Centre national de conduite d’engins de chantier , which is the largest construction training school in Quebec.
The Centre national de conduite d’engins de chantier is the leader in Quebec in the development of construction equipment operators.
Around 1500 workers come to train each year in one of its three training sites: Lévis, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel, and also within companies.
The construction machinery operation course boasts more than 150 machines for training, which are a mixture of dozers, backhoe loaders, wheel loaders, graders and excavators. Xwatch will be providing more systems for the training school, which will be installed by ABTECH engineers.
ABTECH will also be rolling out Xwatch across the region to its customers – revolutionising safety in Canada. ABTECH understands the reality of a modern construction site which prompted the collaboration with Xwatch.
ABTECH distributes technological solutions in the construction industry across Eastern Canada and is also a distributor of Leica Geosystems. The company offers a range of reliable construction and surveying instruments designed to help its customers gain accuracy and efficiency during construction projects.
Dan Leaney Sales and Operations Director, Xwatch Safety Solutions commented on the partnership – he said “We were delighted to announce our partnership with ABTECH in providing key safety solutions, across Eastern Canada, the Leica connection sealed our alliance. We were also honoured to install the very first system and provide training. This machine is heading to the largest training school in Quebec and will be used to train the next generation of operators in Canada on the importance of safety – and knowing it’s the Xwatch system- makes us proud to be part of Global safety for machines and operators.”
Dan added, “Operators are at the coalface of every jobsite and their safety is our priority. Technology delivers productivity and a crucial part of productivity is to keep the operator and co-workers safe in the field. We are looking forward to revolutionising the safety market in Canada and working with our eastern Canadian partners and the new generation of operators.”
A partnership built to last
Philippe Girard, Construction Vice President at ABTECH, said the Xwatch partnership is ‘A perfect match’, he said “Every year, the construction industry suffers losses of colleagues and friends on construction sites – therefore managing the people plant interface is of vital importance. With the Xwatch Safety Solutions suite of safety systems and with the integration of Xwatch Leica Geosystems products, we are confident that the number of fatalities caused by heavy machinery activities will see a significant reduction.”
