Abstract
Abstract This article presents a selection method of existing innovations in patents that propose improvements in Temporary Edge Protection Systems (TEPS). The method was divided into three stages. In stage 1, records were collected related to TEPS from the patent filing databases of the Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (National Institute of Industrial Property, Brazil), the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office. In stage 2, patents were selected based on the TEPS evaluation protocol created by Peñaloza, Formoso and Saurin (2017), which examines safety, efficiency and flexibility criteria. In stage 3, four patents were selected among the 20 patents found related to guard rails and three related to protection nets. Based on the results, one invention stands out that uses hollow posts in protection barriers, which allows for modular movement with safety and flexibility. The framework proposed in this research is a useful resource for disseminating techniques included in TEPS patent databases.
Highlights
According to the International Labour Organization (ORGANIZAÇÃO..., 2013), a worker dies every 15 seconds and 160 fall victim to accidents in the world due to illnesses or accidents at work
The search was limited by the classification code E04G 21/32, returning a total of 559 patents with documents related to Temporary Edge Protection Systems (TEPS), considering results of all the databases
In the case of the INPI, the search performed with the classification code E04G 21/32 returned 38 documents, only 3 met the search requirements. 21 patents were found in the USPTO and 3 were collected after applying the filters
Summary
According to the International Labour Organization (ORGANIZAÇÃO..., 2013), a worker dies every 15 seconds and 160 fall victim to accidents in the world due to illnesses or accidents at work. Brazil is the fourth country with the highest number of fatal accidents. In Brazil, the construction industry accounts for the highest number of deaths and the number of recorded fatalities has been increasing each year. Falls from heights are some of the most common incidents due to the fact of not wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), not using collective protection equipment (CPE) and the lack of prevention (ORGANIZAÇÃO..., 2013). Temporary Edge Protection Systems (TEPS) are intended to protect workers against falls to a lower level and to retain certain materials using equipment as guard rails and nets. Various construction companies manufacture their own systems without complying with the necessary specifications, showing low rates of compliance with regulatory requirements and making their physical protections ineffective (COSTELLA; JUNGES; PILZ, 2014)
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