In brief

Gloves with sensors
Gloves embedded with tiny sensors are being developed by Nottingham Trent University to help protect construction workers from exposure to vibration. Led by Professor Tilak Dias, of the School of Art & Design, the technology aims to alert wearers to when they experience vibrations likely to cause conditions such as vibration white finger and carpal tunnel syndrome. The e-gloves would appear like a normal pair of worker’s gloves to the naked eye and be washed and worn without any damage to the technology.

Eradicate slavery
Building Research Establishment (BRE), the British Standards Institution (BSI) Supply Chain Services and Solutions, and strategic communications partner Sustain Worldwide have announced the formation of a coalition of leading construction sector institutions and associations with the objective of raising awareness to eradicate modern slavery in the industry.

BRE has developed The Ethical Labour Standard (ELS) to support business to meet its human rights challenges improve efficiencies and demonstrate continuous improvement. Dr Shamir Ghumra, Director, Centre for Sustainable Products, BRE, said: “The Charter acts to coalesce the construction industry and provides a focal point for government and civil society to collaborate with the sector on business human rights issues.”

Methanol production
Aconex Limited, provider of global platform connecting teams on construction and engineering projects has announced its selection by Orascom Construction (OC) to manage project information and processes for a Greenfield, world-class methanol production complex being developed in Beaumont, Texas. OC is a leading global engineering and construction contractor.

The plant will produce up to 1.75 million metric tons of methanol per year, making it one of the world’s largest merchant methanol production facilities based on nameplate capacity.