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Which man down system really works best?
Today, people are increasingly working alone. Thanks to the continuous improvement of processes, both organisational and technical, it is less and less often necessary to carry out a task with several people. These innovations allow companies to excel by making more efficient use of their workforce. After all, the same number of employees can get more work done. However, this positive development also introduces a potential occupational risk, namely the increase in lone working. In this article we discuss the ins and outs of working alone and what you as an employer can do to handle this situation safely.
What is lone working?
Lone working occurs when an employee works outside the sight and/or hearing range of others. Working alone arises in more situations than you might initially think. It is important here to look at the potential risks to which the lone worker is exposed while carrying out their work. As an employer it is wise to include lone working in your Risk Inventory & Evaluation (RI&E). This makes it possible to look systematically at the risks and the corresponding measures.
A great deal of attention is certainly being paid to lone working, for example by the Dutch Labour Inspectorate (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment). They point out that employers are responsible for a safe and healthy workplace for staff in single-person positions.
Where does lone working take place?
There are countless situations in which people may be working alone. Here are just a few of them:
- Operators and engineers in production environments.
- Corporate security staff.
- Warehouse staff.
- Hospital staff.
- Employees who are alone on a construction site.
- (Labour) inspectors.
- Drinking water companies and water treatment plants.
- Employees at (tank) terminals where hazardous substances are stored.
- Telecom and antenna companies where work is carried out at height.
- The wind turbine industry.
Is a man down system mandatory?
Then the key question: is the use of a man down system mandatory? No, it is not. We always advise working in line with the occupational hygiene strategy, and that starts with tackling the source. It is important to go through all the options first before moving on to purchasing smart personal alarm equipment. In practice, however, we see that it is not always easy to free up a second employee for certain high-risk activities, or to eliminate the risk (hazardous substances, explosion hazard, electricity, high pressure, high temperature, risk of falling, etc.). This is one of the reasons why many companies do choose to invest in a properly working man down system. If your colleague uses the term man down protection, he or she is most likely talking about the same thing.
To use a man down app or not?
We are seeing software companies now turning their attention to the safety of lone workers as well. The growth in the number of apps available in the Android (Google) or iOS (Apple) app stores is impossible to keep up with. As a specialist in measuring instruments for occupational health and safety, the environment and safety, we are therefore regularly asked whether a man down app is suitable. Our answer: that depends entirely on the situation. We believe man down apps are very suitable for the less risky situations in which people work alone, for example.
For higher-risk situations there are several reasons not to use an app:
- A man down app that continuously uses GPS for positioning places a heavy load on a smartphone's battery, certainly if it is switched on all working day. And if the phone runs flat, what then?
- In situations where explosion-proof (ATEX) equipment is required. There are a few ATEX smartphones on the market, but they are very expensive and the point made above about battery life applies here too.
- A smartphone in use is usually fitted with a SIM card from a single provider such as Vodafone, T-Mobile or KPN. If a lot of lone working takes place outdoors in the field, coverage in a particular spot may be poor with one provider and better with another.
- Robustness. A smartphone is often not very robust and is therefore unsuitable for heavy work. What if the device is dropped?
- Water resistance. Most smartphones are not water resistant and are therefore unsuitable for applications where the user may come into contact with water. Only the most expensive (flagship) devices from Samsung and Apple are water resistant.
- Emergency button. In the event of an incident you want to be able to act quickly and raise the alarm yourself. A smartphone with a touchscreen is not exactly convenient then..
Today there are robust and reliable man down systems fitted with man down protection, mobile communication and positioning. Read more below!
(Smart) technology
Manufacturers of man down systems today have a wide range of technologies at their disposal that make a man down system reliable. An ATEX certification indicates that a product is intrinsically safe. The term ATEX covers all situations in which there is a risk of a gas or dust explosion. ATEX is an abbreviation of the French words ATmosphere EXplosible from the European directives on explosion safety.With an ATEX-certified man down system you can be sure that the personal alarm equipment used cannot be an ignition source for a gas or dust explosion. Always check that the certification (zones) is adequate for the situation.
A GPS/GNSS module determines the lone worker's location accurately. This is very useful in the event of an incident, so that those responding to the alarm can also locate the person in distress quickly and effectively. Note that positioning based on GPS/GNSS only works reliably when lone working takes place outdoors! For indoor applications there are so-called beacons. Beacons are indoor location markers that you can place anywhere throughout a building. Each beacon has its own identification and configured location, so that in the event of an incident the nearest beacon is reported along with the alarm via the man down system.
Multi-roaming SIM cards solve the drawback mentioned earlier of being dependent on a single telecom provider. The special SIM cards used in our man down systems are able to select the strongest mobile network anywhere in the world. This minimises situations with no or poor coverage.
The Blackline Safety G7c is the most complete man down system currently available on the market. It is an all-in-one personal monitor featuring smart personal alarms based on fall detection, motion detection, an emergency latch and more. The Blackline Safety G7c also has a multi-roaming SIM card that works all over the world. An ATEX zone 0 certification means the device can be used in any situation. An IP65 rating provides adequate splash-water resistance. Optional gas detection sensors make carrying several devices unnecessary. A gas detector, man down system and two-way radio in one. Because the G7c also features push-to-talk, a function that lets users communicate at the touch of a button (like a two-way radio).
The TWIG Neo is the most compact man down system from a renowned brand. TWIG is a Finnish manufacturer of smart personal alarm equipment and, with the TWIG Embody, has a solution for virtually every application involving lone working. The Embody is IP67 splash-proof and, like the G7c, offers several man down protection functions such as fall detection, motion detection and an emergency button. The TWIG Embody is so small that it can be worn in various ways, for example on the wrist like a watch, on a badge holder around the neck, on the trousers with a carabiner, or with a clip to attach it to a jacket or trouser pocket.
