On a large manufacturing site, a lone worker i.e. someone working alone or without direct supervision is common place, for example with maintenance workers, engineers, project personnel, site security, some site visitors and contractors. They all however must have the same levels of personal safety and security as office and operational based personnel. So if you have on-site lone workers, what are some of the top considerations when purchasing lone worker devices and lone worker solutions?
Replacing missing supervision
Part of role of a lone worker device is to enable two way communication to replace missing supervision. Supervision could be on the same site or based remotely, so this functionality can be important in terms of:
- The remote worker asking for advice and support or even enquire about their next job or work task, call for parts or additional labour help to complete a task
- Management being able to find and locate lone workers to help prioritise and direct work, both indoors and outdoors
- Being able to communicate in areas that may not have strong GSM phone coverage or GPS signal for example
Options available for this type of functionality can include:
- Wireless tracking units
- GSM mobile phones or lone worker devices capable of using GSM networks
- GPS tracking devices
Raising the alarm
One key feature of any lone worker device is the ability to raise an alarm if the lone worker needs immediate assistance or is in danger. The lone worker must be able to:
- Raise different types and severity of alarm, quickly and accurately
- Have technology support so an alarm can be raised automatically
- Use different ways to communicate and keep in contact after the alarm is raised
- Know the raised alarm is being responded to
Similarly lone worker supervision must be able to:
- Receive alarm calls quickly
- Understand immediately the severity of the alarm
- Diagnose accurately whether the alarm is false or not
- Respond appropriately to the seriousness of the situation
- Have on-going communication with the lone worker after an alarm has been raised
- Let the lone worker know the alarm is being responded to
Examples of this type of functionality include:
- “Man-down” tilt or g-force accelerators, triggered by the device moving to a horizontal position or falls heavily, for example when the lone falls over or off a ladder or roof
- Personal locator where a supervisor checks the lone worker device’s location without the lone worker triggering anything, or where the lone worker device itself triggers an alarm for being inside or outside specific geographic boundaries, buildings or rooms, even specified by time of day
- Check-in timers where a lone worker solution alerts supervision if a lone worker has not responded after a preset time, for example where a lone worker has strayed outside network coverage and fails to make contact with their supervisor
- Measuring a lone worker’s heartbeat to understand whether it is normal or not
- Listening in to conversations the lone worker is having
- Having preset panic buttons that send out alerts to phones and email addresses, whilst triggering very frequent location tracking
Being more than just a mobile phone or walkie talkie
Where lone worker supervision is near to the lone worker, for example on a large manufacturing plant or site based construction project, there maybe several managers that can respond depending upon “who is nearest” to the lone worker, so having functionality that can help control this process, say using web based software or group communication capabilities is important. Whilst communication devices such as walkie talkies or mobile phones are useful they do not cover many of the scenarios already discussed in this blog. For example if the lone worker has fallen over and is severely hurt, been in a vehicle accident, held at knife point if they are a security guard or working late at night on a building storing valuable items, cannot reach their communication device or may have even damaged it during a fall. A lone worker device may need rugged protection and will need other features already mentioned.