DHS S&T awards companies more than $730,000 for creative ways to improve workforce safety

In exchange for new solutions to identify and resolve issues, and to promote resilience and wellness among its workforce, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) awarded five companies more than $730,000 in total funding last week.

Awards stemmed from the Human Performance and Resiliency solicitation the Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) issued earlier this year. Ultimately, winners included SlateSafety ($200,000), Volt Athletics ($199,730), Kenzen, Inc. ($161,000), Sentinel Occupational Safety ($119,678) and Sana Health ($55,000). All were focused on ways that could de-escalate matters before a crisis arose, and to improve workforce needs overall, from the Customs and Border Protection Service up through the rest of the DHS chain.

“The DHS workforce is often placed in situations of extreme stress while carrying out their mission-critical responsibilities,” Melissa Oh, managing director of SVIP, said. “These health and wellness technologies will enhance DHS’s ability to support its employees as they work to secure the nation.”

SlateSafety, based in Georgia, will develop an advanced armband capable of passively capturing critical physiological data – think sleep quality, recovery and fatigue levels – so as to prevent injuries among military, industrial workers and emergency responders. Washington-based Volt, on the other hand, will use its funds to create an AI-powered phone app that utilizes the company’s own physical fitness and training programs to improve workers’ overall health and wellness.

In Missouri, Kenzen aims to create a heat illness prevention solution based on wearable devices, alerts and advanced analytics working in concert to track changes in core body temperature and other factors, to promote percentage measures and reduce serious illness risk. Sentinel, working out of Ohio, will work on a safety monitoring technology combo of wearable sensors and AI-monitored wireless communications to sense dangerous environmental hazards, as well as internal factors that could showcase stressors and trigger DHS responses.

Lastly, in keeping with the wearable trend, Colorado-based Sana Health will try to develop a technology that uses audio-visual stimulation to spur brain states that induce greater relaxation for users. According to DHS, this could in turn help sleep, rest, rehabilitation, energy levels, mood and the perception of pain among its employees.