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H2sENSE
H2Sense
H2Sense Castle Steel

Supporting Local Entrepreneurship

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In a very competitive student entrepreneurship challenge final in Maynooth University last Friday , Shane Mulligan emerged the winner and took home the 5000 Euro first prize.  Shane's idea could literally save lives.  From a farming background, Shane has spent a lot of time looking into workplace fatalities on farms. Specifically, he found that 30% of deaths on farms are due to the inhalation of the deadly gases that occur when farmers mix or agitate slurry.  Even one breath taken when the levels of hydrogen sulphate are dangerously high can be fatal. He says "Growing up and living on a farm, I wanted to stop these needless fatalities occurring as it could very well happen to a member of my family or to myself for that matter.'  His idea is a traffic light warning beacon which has a sensor (like a smoke detector but this time calibrated to detect the deadly hydrogen sulphate) and it has a large circular light at the top which changes colour as the level of the gas gets beyond the normal, tolerable range.  Shane has worked with farmers and farming organisations to develop this idea.  Patent Attorney, Nikki Dwyer, on the judging panel could clearly see the potential for this product: 'You've found a serious problem that affects millions of people around the world and you've managed to come up with a creative, workable and very clever solution - this is a wonderful idea' she said.

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We would like to congratulate Shane on winning this prestigious award and wish him all the best for the future.

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