DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SAFETY COMPROMISE DETECTION SYSTEM

The persistent non-compliance with mandatory life jacket usage is a leading cause of preventable fatalities in Nigeria's inland waterway transport. Traditional reliance on manual safety checks by boat crews is often ineffective due to human error, negligence, and operational pressures. This project addresses this critical safety gap by designing and implementing a prototype for an automated Safety Compromise Detection System. The proposed system enforces pre-departure safety protocols by preventing a boat's engine from starting until all passengers are verified to be both seated and wearing their life jackets. The system architecture integrates sensor networks with a central control unit. Specifically, RFID tags are embedded into life jackets, and pressure sensors are installed in passenger seats. A microcontroller, such as an Arduino, is programmed to function as a safety interlock. It processes inputs from these sensors and only enables the engine ignition when two conditions are simultaneously met: a passenger is detected in a seat (via the pressure sensor), and the corresponding life jacket is detected as present (via the RFID reader). This project developed a functional laboratory-scale prototype to validate the core concept. The results demonstrate that the system can effectively and reliably enforce compliance, creating a "safety-locked" environment that eliminates the possibility of departure without adherence to life-saving protocols. The study concludes that the integration of such affordable sensor-based interlocks presents a viable technological solution to a longstanding problem. It is recommended for adoption by boat operators and regulatory bodies like the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to significantly enhance passenger safety, reduce human error, and prevent avoidable loss of life on Nigerian waterways.