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In the workplace, there are many things that can be done to help keep employees safe. One of these is having a system to alert employees of emergency situations. Lone workers are at increased risk of being a victim of crime, attacked or seriously hurt because they don’t have the benefit of a colleague to alert or call for help. Lone worker alarms give employees who work alone a way to signal for assistance quickly and efficiently via an easy-to-use panic button on a device or smartphone. Every employer has a legal duty to ensure the safety of their lone working staff, and equipping them with lone worker devices and an emergency response plan is essential to this. When triggered, the device sends a text message, email or phone call with GPS location to a designated monitor (often the business owner). The ARC can then follow the company’s escalation procedures to locate the worker and send help. Devices with an integrated satellite connection are also available for lone workers in remote areas without mobile coverage. Many lone worker alarms provide additional functionality for greater protection, such as fall detection and automated check-ins. This can be important for people with certain medical conditions, those who face a high level of risk from violence or are working in an environment where falling is a danger. They also offer the option of an incapacitation alarm if it’s triggered by a lack of movement, tilt or acceleration. These features are often combined with other communication capabilities to create a comprehensive all-in-one connected safety solution, like Safepoint’s G7 Lone Worker, which can be worn on the wrist or lanyard or mounted in the workplace. Panic alarms are devices that allow employees to call for help in situations where it would be unsafe or uncomfortable to do so using other means. https://www.loneworkeralarms.co.nz/personal-alarm/ They can be useful for security workers or other field personnel who may face physical violence from hostile patients, community healthcare staff facing verbal abuse or staff at building reception desks in the event of a belligerent visitor. Many organizations that don’t have dedicated security teams will form a response team of non-security employees who can be alerted when a panic alarm has been activated. These teams can be notified by overhead paging systems or by devices that send voice, text or email messages directly to smartphone apps. Employees who wear these devices should receive special training in the use of panic buttons and should practice activating them regularly, especially if they are to be used for duress situations. Any company should put the safety of their staff high on their agenda ? after all, it’s a legal duty. Having effective panic button alarm systems in place can give workers peace of mind that they can quickly summon assistance in the event of an emergency and also can reduce their stress levels. For example, a hospital in Missouri has added panic buttons to the badges of 400 staff members after assaults on hospital workers tripled as a result of coronavirus visitors becoming frustrated with visitation restrictions and long wait times. With Lynx’s supervised duress alarms, it is simple for system administrators to see all the alarms online and functioning, and the application logs when an alarm was activated, who was notified, when they checked back in and more.
Often these alarms are sent directly to the user’s trusted contacts, or to a dedicated Alarm Receiving Centre. ARCs are purpose built to receive and process these kinds of alerts, and can work with the emergency services if necessary. Some devices will have a pre-alarm that starts when they detect a tilt of more than 60 degrees. This alert can be triggered manually, or automatically by an accelerometer built into the device. If the device comes back to a vertical position within ten seconds, the pre-alarm will be cancelled. This is an excellent feature for anyone who might be at risk of falling or losing consciousness, such as those with heart problems or epilepsy. This is particularly helpful for people who work alone in high-risk environments, such as construction or mining, or for those who travel regularly between sites. The system will notify a monitoring team if an alert is activated and follow their escalation procedure. This could save a life, so it’s worth considering for your at-risk workers. Using motion detection technology, break-in alarms monitor for sudden changes in body heat energy. These sensors can be installed at doors and windows to warn you if someone attempts to enter the workplace after office hours. When the detector senses an intruder, it sets off the alarm and can even send a live video feed to your security provider for faster response. More advanced systems feature passive infrared (PIR) motion sensors that are designed to detect the sharp increase in body heat energy and only sound the alarm when a human intruder enters the sensor’s field of vision. However, some researchers believe that burglars adapt to preventive measures and eventually find ways around them or overcome them (Ekblom, 1997). These types of alarm systems can be easily modified to allow for the entry of a code at a keypad or for deactivation by cutting the connected wires. As such, they aren’t as effective as a dedicated alarm unit or police presence. For this reason, they should be combined with other security measures to ensure a quick and effective response. |
