Without colleagues around to help in case of an emergency, protecting lone workers' while on the job is crucial for their safety.
Lone workers, as the name implies, work alone away from other colleagues. These types of workers can be found in every workplace, from hospitals to power plants, correctional facilities to oil fields. Without colleagues around, it is important that employers are able to keep track of their lone workers not only for the safety and security of the workers, but the safety and security of the company.
Different countries, states, and cities have laws regulating the minimum requirements for monitoring lone workers. However, depending on the location, these laws can often be vague and may not cover all types of environments or conditions that lone workers might be subject to work in. As such, keeping lone workers safe can be difficult.
Lone workers often work in remote places
where it can be difficult to contact people in
case of an emergency situation.
While lone workers in a factory can be monitored via video surveillance systems placed in the facilities and tracked with an ID card or access control system, workers in outdoor, remote environments are not so easy to track. This can put the worker in dangerous, life-threatening situations. For example, if the worker were to be injured, without a colleague around, it might be difficult to call for help or contact their employer. Even in an indoor, controlled environment, if something were to happen, lone workers need a fast, easy way to call for help.
Many companies have come up with solutions to ensure lone-worker safety, in the form of wearable devices. These devices can be easily worn by workers and have built in functions such as status check, man down detection, GPS functionality, emergency button/alarm, etc., to ensure that the can be easily tracked and located, as well as quickly call for help if the need arises.
The immediate availability of some of these features could help prevent on-site incidents from becoming critical at a facility; save a workers life if they were to fall and become unconscious or be injured; or call for help and have their location immediately known in the case of an attack.
Devices such as the Identicom Lone Worker Device from Solo Protect is designed as an ID card holder, making it discreet and easy to wear. The device contains GSM technology, which enables it to be linked 24/7 so an alarm receiving center in the event a worker needs any kind of assistance. The device can be easily activated with the push of a button the device connects to the alarm center and records audio of the incident. In the event additional help is needed, the receiver can call emergency services and send them to the workers location.
Other devices such as Guardian24's MicroGuard can also be worn around the neck attached to an ID badge holder, worn around the belt in a belt holster, or attached to a key ring. The MicroGuard combines GPS, GPRS, and fall alarm technologies, and is also BS 8484 certified in the U.K., which enables the highest level of police response. Connected to the company's 24/7 UK-based alarm receiving center, any press of the device's SOS button is received by the alarm center, where controllers listen-in and appropriately respond to the call.
Companies have also created mobile apps that can be downloaded and executed from a worker's personal phone. With similar benefits of a lone worker device, these apps can also help track workers via GPS and connect workers to alarm centers in case of an emergency with a simple call.
No matter the method or brand, it is clear that the use of these devices can mean the difference between life and death, while also ensuring that lone workers are never truly alone.