Ministry unveils Future Inspections Vehicle

Dubai: With a dashboard decked with an Android system, a drone in the trunk and a camera on the roof, the Ministry of Labour’s Future Inspections Vehicle (FIV) may become an essential tool for inspection officers in the coming years.

The future inspections vehicle, modified by one of the ministry’s own employees, was revealed by the Ministry of Labour on Monday to mark Innovation Week.

Making ministry records of establishments and employees available at a swipe of a finger, the FIV will streamline investigation processes, Khalid Al Saeedi, Head of the Infrastructure Department at the ministry, said. Though the vehicle is almost in its final form, it must be approved by the ministry before being used in inspections.

Al Saeedi said it took him about two weeks to modify the inspections vehicle. He said he began working on it when he realised that inspection teams needed a more efficient way to go about their duties. “Although still a prototype, the FIV will expedite inspection processes,” he said, “Ministry records of all establishments, employees and employers are accessible through the Android computer in the car.”

Al Saeedi said he removed unnecessary gadgets, such as the CD player, from the vehicle to fit in the system. “This is the first vehicle of its kind in the country. Its system is directly integrated into the car. It isn’t an attachment such as a tablet pad, rather it is directly mounted on the car’s dashboard,” Al Saeedi said.

In the vehicle’s trunk, a six-winged drone, designed in cooperation with students from the Higher Institute of Technology, will help officers assess labour camps and construction sites without alighting from the vehicle.

Although the vehicle is almost in its final form, Al Saeedi said he is thinking of additions that may help in the inspection process, such as a camera.

“The vehicle depends on many operational mechanisms of integrated and interconnected intelligent systems,” he said. “The car is also decked with a vinyl design to reflect the ministry’s corporate identity.”

He said that the future car operates according to three systems — the smart inspections system, the smart Inspector system and a central command room.

Speaking om the intelligent aspects, Al Saeedi pointed out that the system sends messages to inspectors in the vehicle with inquiries about new duties on the smart display panel installed inside the vehicle with special maps to assess the users at specified labour locations.

He pointed out that the smart inspector system helps labour inspectors organise daily duties by connecting to the central command room which can connect them directly to their supervisors and report results on the spot.

The smart inspector system also allows inspection officers to update records immediately after the transition from one inspectional stage to the next. The central command room, Al Saeedi explained, “follows up inspectional tasks carried out by the specialised teams since their deployment until the job ends, as the command officer is in charge of appointing the inspectors using the smart vehicles, sending them to locations on the smart display screen and following up on their duties”.

He explained that the central command room is in direct contact with the inspectors at all times, as well as full control over the smartly installed monitor and internal cameras.

The future inspections vehicle is subject to a testing and revision phase to ensure the effectiveness of its performance before officially launching it. The car is also equipped with the Smart Drone which can be deployed by the inspectors to monitor and record any labour activities on site.

The future inspections vehicle is showcased at the Ministry of Labour headquarters in Dubai throughout Innovation Week.

During Monday’s unveiling, Noura Mohammad Al Marzouqi, director of Strategic Planning and Performance Management Department, said: “We witness today the ministry’s encouragement of innovation and creativity among its employees to develop and launch innovative ideas and support and embrace all the innovative initiatives that will contribute to efforts that shift the labour market to a knowledge-based economy.”