Marvin Onumonuspacebands has secured £1.1m funding to help tackle preventable hearing loss and vibration injuries in UK workplaces.
The company designs wrist-worn devices that monitor exposure to hazards like noise and hand-arm vibration, alerting workers in real time and providing data for health and safety teams.
The funding will be used to improve the wearables and develop the online analytics platform, aiming to help employers spot harmful exposure earlier and intervene before injuries become permanent.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show around 12,000 workers each year suffer hearing loss caused or made worse by work, while millions are exposed to hazardous noise levels.
Conditions such as noise-induced hearing loss and hand-arm vibration syndrome build up gradually, often going unnoticed until workers face lifelong impairment or time off work.
spacebands devices are designed to address this gap by monitoring personal exposure in real time and alerting workers as risk builds.
This allows organisations to act early by rotating tasks, adjusting tooling, or changing processes before exposure reaches dangerous levels.
The technology is already being used by large organisations including Network Rail, M Group Highways, Kier Group and Balfour Beatty, where managing long-term exposure risk is a legal requirement.
Ronan Finnegan, co-founder of spacebands, said: “Too many workers only discover the impact of noise or vibration exposure years after the damage is done. By then, it’s too late.
“This funding allows us to keep building tools that help employers see risk as it develops, not after the harm has already occurred.
“Prevention has to happen in real time, on the person, not retrospectively in a report.”
The funding will also support a new device developed through direct engagement with health and safety professionals.
Finnegan added: “spacebands was founded on the belief that better data leads to better decisions and safer outcomes.
“By giving employers visibility of exposure that has historically gone unmeasured, the company aims to reduce avoidable harm, protect workers’ long-term health, and help organisations demonstrate effective control of risk.”
