Reflecting on the past 12 months, it’s safe to say that we as a team are immensely proud of what has been achieved at Tended. It has been a year marked by resilience, innovation, and unwavering dedication from every member of our team. From amazing awards and recognitions to some incredibly exciting partnerships, it’s certainly been a year of major milestones.
Receiving our most honourable accolade yet!
In October, we were absolutely over the moon to be named a TIME Best Invention of 2023; a list which features the most extraordinary innovations changing our lives, and Tended’s geofencing technology was selected due to its focus on putting an end to track worker fatalities. This accolade is a testament to our extraordinary team and we are so proud to have been selected alongside some of the most influential and visionary innovators in the world, including NASA, Apple, Sony, Mercedes and Amazon.
Beyond our TIME recognition, this year our technology also earned a place on the Digital Leaders 100 list for Geospatial Initiative of the Year, won in the Safety and Security Excellence category at the Rail Business Awards, and was acknowledged at the prestigious National Rail Awards for Innovation of the Year.
Expanding our growing customer base with some hugely influential companies
As the notion of geofencing as a cost-effective way to better protect track workers has progressed across the rail industry, we’ve acquired several leading Principal Contractors and Network Rail routes as customers. At the start of 2023, we were delighted to procure both Network Rail Wales and Borders and Network Rail North and East as part of a series of initiatives to improve track worker safety within the regions.
See how we helped improve safety during routine track inspections in Wrexham thanks to this onsite update from Tended's Head of Commercial Operations.
Since April, we’ve been working closely with Siemens to enhance the safety of its trackside teams across South East England, including as part of a Network Rail multi-million-pound programme to improve the signalling in Cornwall.
Take a look at our work with Siemens to help them protect track workers conducting essential upgrades at Truro station.
In the summer, we began working with KeolisAmey Docklands to provide geofencing for its trackside teams working on the DLR, and we also started integrating our technology with Story Contracting’s trackside teams up in Scotland.
Hear what Story Contracting had to say about using Tended’s technology to enhance safety during some Network Rail accessibility upgrades.
More recently, in October we embarked on a 6-month pilot with Network Rail’s Western Route, and just a couple of weeks ago, SPL Powerlines was the latest Principal Contractor to begin using Tended’s system, namely to keep teams within areas where electrical current has been isolated.
Partnering with RSS Infrastructure to provide an unrivalled managed service to the railway industry
This year, we were delighted to announce our partnership with RSS Infrastructure (RSSI) in providing geofencing technology to the rail sector through both short-term and dry-hire options. This game-changing collaboration will allow us to deliver greater flexibility and ease of deployment across projects.
We’re really excited about what this partnership will mean for our customers - we’ll be able to provide an unrivalled service and together with RSSI, help to remove any challenges with implementing new technologies onsite.
See what we got up to during the launch event with RSSI, which demonstrated how we’ll work together to seamlessly integrate geofencing into rail infrastructure projects.
Introducing some revolutionary new features for our customers
We’re constantly developing useful new features to ensure our system always meets our customer needs, and this year has marked the launch of a particularly exciting one!
Partnering with the European Space Agency, we secured a £1.5m project which is allowing us to develop our technology to revolutionise possession management and modernise worksite operations. Through this development, we’ll be helping organisations prevent safety incidents such as plant and assets operating in the wrong location and collisions with moving trains - all of which can result in near misses and fatalities.
Another exciting new feature we’ve launched this year is automatic geofencing; an integration within our Planning Dashboard where you can plan large worksites in seconds simply by inputting a few details from your safe work pack.
Learn more about our geofencing technology and see these new features in action in our latest product demo.
Making a lasting impression with our technology at events
During this year, we’ve taken our geofencing technology to over 25 events including roadshows, Network Rail Safety Days, industry exhibitions and of course Rail Safety Week. For this, we were proud to be an event partner, helping to raise the profile of safety across the UK’s rail industry.
As part of Rail Safety Week, Tended’s Head of Behavioural Science Jules Reed hosted a webinar uncovering the psychology behind safety in high-risk environments and explained how, using revolutionary technology, organisations can minimise the impact of human error to instil sustainable safety change onsite.
Watch Jules’ webinar to discover how you can bridge the gap between human vulnerability and worksite safety to help put an end to preventable accidents.
Growing the team and planning for a successful 2024
It’s been an exceptionally busy year for Tended which means we've had to grow accordingly. Over the past 12 months, we’ve filled 9 roles (and just advertised 2 more!) to keep up with our growing customer base, and we now have a team of over 30 amazing people.
Together, we’re eagerly anticipating what 2024 will bring. We look forward to continuing to raise safety standards for workers across our railways and help get everyone home safe, every day.
Take a look at our 2023 roundup to hear what some of our brilliant team are most proud of achieving this year, and what we’re looking forward to in 2024.
