As the number of people working alone grows, ANT Telecom managing director Klaus Allion outlines how businesses can manage the risks to health and safety and protect their lone workers.
One of ANT Telecom’s long-standing customers wanted to improve its health and safety procedures by introducing a system to protect employees working alone if an accident or incident occured.
Employees on its site conduct tasks including the repair and maintenance of complex machinery. Often the work undertaken is time-critical. It is important to keep machinery working since any downtime can result in orders not being fulfilled or not delivered on time. So it is imperative that the business has robust mobile communication systems so that staff can respond immediately to any events that occur and deal with them quickly and safely.
The system was put to the test when an engineer collapsed when working alone and out of sight of colleagues. He was diabetic, and without warning he fell unconscious and was in serious need of medical attention.
Because of the advanced health and safety procedures the business had adopted, the moment the engineer lost consciousness an alarm was triggered by his mobile handset, alerting colleagues. Under a well-drilled alarm procedure, staff were quickly mobilised and found their colleague in a walkway. He was taken to hospital and regained consciousness in the ambulance.
Technology can provide companies and their employees with the peace of mind to carry out their tasks knowing that if they have a work-related accident or fall unconscious for any reason, an alarm will be raised and colleagues alerted. In this case, ANT Telecom had provided its customer with a digital enhanced cordless telecommunications system with DECT lone worker handsets and an alarm messaging application. This enables staff to communicate across the site and also protects them if an incident occurs, especially when working alone. Handsets fitted with panic buttons and tilt sensors trigger and distribute alarms via the alarm messaging application to colleagues to acknowledge and respond. Alarms escalate if the team fails to respond an alarm.
Designing an effective rapid response process that alerts and mobilises nearby workers can be relatively straightforward. Implementation depends on companies rethinking their processes and procedures, and using technology that reflects their workers’ specific environments and fits in with employees’ day-to-day needs.
ANT Telecom has also completed work with Nottingham City Homes to introduce its lone worker system to protect field workers in remote locations, and provide staff with the safety and monitoring device UrSOSButton.
The UrSOSButton is an option that provides security and monitoring capabilities to help keep the user safe. It is simple to use. Pressing the button activates an app on the user’s smartphone that sends an alarm message back to Nottingham’s CCTV control room.
The message gives details of who raised the alert, with GPS coordinates to pinpoint their location. The app initiates a telephone call, opening the hands-free microphone on the smartphone and allowing control room staff to eavesdrop and pick up important information from the scene so they can assess the best course of action. Operators can use any CCTV they have in the area too. 300 workers are already using the UrSOSButton, with further 250 expected to be added by the time introduction is complete.
In an era where increasing regulatory scrutiny is matched by rapid innovation, and with more and more field workers and maintenance staff working alone, it is incumbent on companies to take advantage of the best available technology and plan for a safer future.
ANT Telecom is an automated communications specialist that enables organisations to protect their employees through integrated communication solutions for telephony, lone worker safety, monitoring and emergency alerts. Its offers a range of technologies including IP telephony and cloud, 3G, 4G/LTE, IP-DECT, Wi-Fi and digital radio (DMR). For over 30 years ANT Telecom has helped organisations with highly mobile workforces to communicate with their customers, suppliers and with each other more effectively.