UBS debuts hoist-monitoring app

Universal Builders Supply has implemented a wireless technology in its hoist cars known as Smart Call. Smart Call is a mobile application that remotely monitors the location of hoist cars in real time. The technology is currently being used across jobsites in Manhattan.

The Smart Call technology is connected to hardware in the hoist cars and includes sensors that track location and time spent on each floor, plus cameras that offer video footage of the interior of the car, all of which can be viewed from the mobile app. There are waterproof displays in each hoist car that show call requests from floors, and they are connected to a base station on the ground floor that transmits over-the-air updates and reports via a cellular provider. There are also emergency boxes on every floor with a button to press in the event of a crisis. The button signals alarms on the displays in each hoist car and in the construction site offices. When the alarm sounds, the display signals where the emergency is located. A text message alert, which includes an interactive map and emergency phone numbers, is sent via a cellular provider to a pre-determined list of emergency responders.