BLACKLINE SAFETY EXPANDS EVACUATION TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES

LONER® SAFETY MONITORING TECHNOLOGY TO INCLUDE REAL-TIME EVACUATION MANAGEMENT OF COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES

“Launching in July, Blackline’s evacuation capability will operate completely independent of a site’s power and communications infrastructure — including indoor location technology,” says Gavin Boorman, Managing Director of Blackline Safety Europe. “Supporting our new employee-worn Loner M6 device, this evacuation system is the first of its kind to blend 3G communications, voice calling, two-way text messaging and real-time employee tracking throughout a facility.”

All customers can take advantage of this new evacuation management functionality — including those who self-monitor or are monitored by Blackline’s Safety Operation Center (SOC) and Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) partners.

“From natural disasters to security threats and process failures — emergency situations can happen anytime and affect anyone at any given location,” says Sean Stinson, VP Sales & Product Management of Blackline Safety. “In order to efficiently manage the situation, it’s crucial for an employer to quickly notify all affected personnel, initiate their evacuation and actively manage the process to ensure that everyone is accounted for at muster points or other safe locations.”

Creation of Blackline’s evacuation technology was inspired by customer requirements. The Canadian subsidiary of Cermaq Group AS deployed Blackline’s Loner Bridge System across their salmon farms on the West Coast of Canada. “We looked at several solutions that would let us instantly notify our workers about tsunamis and other potentially life-threatening situations, and allow them to quickly evacuate to a safe location,” says Dave Samson, Cermaq Canada’s occupational health and safety officer.

Blackline’s SOC and ARC partners initiate evacuations for clients and monitor employees’ progress in reaching muster points and designated safe areas. Employee-worn Loner M6 devices initiate a TeamAlert™ that includes an audible and visual alarm plus a voice recording that provides critical evacuation instructions. Similarly, employee-worn Loner 900 devices initiate a TeamAlert where a yellow indicator light instructs employees to return to their Loner Bridge device for important evacuation instructions via two-way text messaging.

Loner M6 and Loner 900 include GPS location technology for use outdoors and are compatible with Blackline’s indoor location beacon technology. Every employee’s location is updated in real-time on an interactive Google™ map within Blackline’s Live monitoring account. Custom floor and site plans can be imported into Blackline Live and provide valuable situational awareness — evacuation routes, muster points and safe areas can be highlighted on top of the Google Map. Blackline’s Live monitoring account pin-points employee locations every step of the way during the evacuation — including any personnel who may otherwise be left behind. With real-time situational knowledge, a rescue can be proactively managed, bringing everyone out to safe locations.

Blackline is demonstrating its safety monitoring solutions at the Safety & Health Expo, located at stand M1915 at the ExCeL London. Blackline’s broad portfolio of safety monitoring solutions empowers organisations in all industries and geographic locations with real-time incident awareness and management capability.

POSTED BY KELLY MEYERS | JUNE 22, 2016 

LONE WORKER SAFETY — THE PROFITABLE THING TO DO

INVESTING IN YOUR EMPLOYEES

Over the last few decades, developed countries have been part of a concrete legislative and social push toward improving lone worker safety standards for employees in the workplace. Employers are responsible for providing safe and secure workplaces for their personnel.

According to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) under the U.S. Department of Labor, “Establishing a safety and health program to prevent occupational injuries and illnesses is not only the right thing to do, it’s the profitable thing to do. Studies have shown a $4 to $6 return for every dollar invested in safety and health.”

OSHA also indicates “only about 30 percent of businesses have established safety and health programs. About half of the 95 million workers who would be covered under an OSHA safety and health program standard don’t have that protection today.”

Understanding that every dollar spent offers a return of up to six times the original cost supports the importance of investing in safety.

When safety becomes the top priority, traditional safety programs are maximised and safety monitoring technology is implemented, industry will have done the best it can to ensure that every employee returns home safely each day. Every organisation has the power to make that happen.

Find out how your organisation can reduce costs, save money and learn more about the ROI from investing in lone worker safety monitoring solutions. Download the infographic today.

POSTED BY KELLY MEYERS | JUNE 21, 2016 | BLACKLINE WORKPLACE SAFETY

FATALITIES IN THE WORKPLACE — WE CAN DO BETTER

MORE PEOPLE WORK ALONE THAN YOU THINK

Berg Insight reports there are a whopping 53 million lone workers in Canada, the United States and Europe combined. That’s about 15 percent of the overall workforce. Regarding global numbers, International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that approximately 1.3 billion people are mobile workers, many of which work alone continuously or at various times throughout their workday.

Lone workers face many risks every day—in fact, the International Labor Organisation (ILO) estimates 2.3 million work-related fatalities occur each year due to accidents, injuries and diseases.Some of your team members may work in remote areas of the world, be isolated outdoors or face hazardous conditions. Others may be driving alone or to remote locations.

You are responsible for your employee’s safety and wellbeing on the job. Are you doing everything possible to protect the safety of your organisation’s most valuable assets—your employees?

Find out how regions around the world rank for workplace fatalities and how lone worker monitoring technology can reduce those rates.

Download this infographic to share with your colleagues.

 POSTED BY KELLY MEYERS | JUNE 6, 2016 | WORKPLACE SAFETY

OUR LONE WORKER MONITORING SOLUTIONS EARN BS8484 CERTIFICATION

Today we announced that we’ve received British Standard 8484: 2011 (BS8484) accreditation for our lone worker monitoring solutions from the SSAIB (Security Systems & Alarms Inspection Board). BS8484 defines the industry-leading code of practice for lone worker equipment and monitoring services in the United Kingdom.

“With approximately 15 percent of employees working alone, our new BS8484 accreditation gives customers confidence that our Loner® solutions meet and exceed industry requirements,” says Gavin Boorman, Managing Director at Blackline Safety Europe. “Coupled with our Alarm Receiving Centre partner monitoring services, Blackline delivers the fastest possible emergency response for every industry, employee role, location and scenario.”

“BS8484 accreditation enables certified service suppliers to bring the highest level of police response—Level 1—not normally available through the 999 or 101 systems,” says Patrick Dealtry, Lone Worker Consultant at Lone Working Group Ltd. “Before the police commit themselves to this level of response they need to know that such a request has been verified as genuine, which means that it comes from an organisation that meets BS8484.”

Blackline Safety offers the industry’s largest portfolio of lone worker monitoring solutions to meet the diverse requirements of customers in every industry. Now shipping, Blackline’s new Loner M6 device features a blue LiveResponse™ light that confirms to the lone worker that help is on the way. It also incorporates an industry-leading speakerphone system that projects the monitoring agent’s voice loudly and clearly while capturing the employee’s voice through a sensitive microphone. All phone calls are automatically recorded within monitoring infrastructure and available as part of Blackline’s comprehensive reporting capability.

Loner M6 is compatible with Blackline’s indoor location beacon technology that accurately maps the location of employees working inside commercial and industrial buildings using an interactive Google™ map. Loner M6 uses GPS satellite signals to accurately map an employee’s location when working outdoors, however GPS signals alone are unreliable or not available when working indoors. For the fastest indoor emergency response, Loner M6 and Blackline’s location beacon technology support custom floor plans to display a lone worker’s position on in context of surroundings and evacuation routes.

 POSTED BY KELLY MEYERS | MAY 18, 2016 

HOW AUTOMATED EMPLOYEE CHECK-IN TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS LONE WORKERS & YOUR BOTTOM LINE

AUTOMATED EMPLOYEE CHECK-IN TECHNOLOGY

If one of your lone workers fails to check in, how long will it take to find your employee and deliver help—potentially hours after the incident occurred??

In our last few posts we have explored the benefits of three important lone worker monitoring features—Blackline’s True Fall Detection® technology, our man down / no-motion detection technology and SureSafe™ and LiveResponse™ technology.

Our suite of Loner® work-alone devices have an additional, automated feature: automated employee check-in capability. Many of our customers use check-in technology as an additional layer of automation to support fall detection and man-down alert capability in some work-alone scenarios.

But aren’t employee check-ins passé? The quick answer is yes and no. Read on to learn how a modern check-in product feature can differ from old-school processes and increase the value to your organization.

OLD-SCHOOL, MANUAL CHECK-INS ARE COSTLY

Traditional check-in processes require all lone workers to periodically cease their work and manage a check-in. Your businesses must balance the scheduled interruption with the need for productivity.

These check-ins require the employee to call a co-worker, colleague who is on call, supervisor and even a call center or automated phone system. Regardless of who performs the monitoring function, your business is losing valuable productivity during the time it takes for the employee to check in—both the lone worker and the other party receiving the call. Such manual processes are not acceptable in our Information Age where businesses are required to ‘do more with less.’

One of the more dangerous activities that your lone workers may face is pulling over on a busy road to check in.

MANUAL CHECK-INS ARE INEFFECTIVE

Compounding the situation, manual check-in systems are limited in their capability to efficiently detect an incident. A two-hour check-in respects your business’s bottom line with less frequent interruption but also leaves a large window for risk for lone workers.

An employee working alone—who needs help—may go unnoticed for up to two hours. Your employee could be virtually anywhere on your site or between sites during this two-hour period. How long then will it take to find the employee to deliver needed assistance? When the employee is found, it may only be a false alarm, but then even more productivity is lost.

MODERN CHECK-INS

Lone worker-worn technology eliminates the drain on value delivered by your lone workers and and supervisors while dramatically increasing capability for rapid incident detection, employee locating and response management.

Blackline’s lone worker monitoring devices and iOS / Android smartphone safety app provide a configurable check-in timer that confirms the employee’s well-being according to a regular schedule—and without degrading worker and supervisor productivity.

CHECKING IN

Blackline’s work-alone devices offer employees a couple of options to check in. The first is responding to a check-in request—the Loner device uses an audible, visual and tactile local alarm to call for the employee to check in. Checking in easy and quick—with the simple press inward of the red emergency latch—an action that can be performed confidently without looking.

The second option of checking in can be performed proactively, before a scheduled check-in request occurs. Some tasks require full attention. With an early check-in, the employee resets the check-in timer, providing the full amount of time to perform duties without the audible, visual and tactile request occurring until the next scheduled interval.

FAILING TO CHECK IN

A visual, audible and tactile local alarm requests the employee to check in. The default check-in request period provides 30 seconds for the employee to check in. This timer can be configured over-the-air through an update to the device configuration profile within the monitoring account.

If the lone worker is unable to check in before the end of the check-in request period, a missed check-in alert is communicated through wireless communications to the Blackline Safety Network. This alert is distributed to specified individuals within the organization according to the alert profile and the alert is managed by monitoring personnel through to resolution.

AVOIDING TIME-WASTING FALSE ALARMS

We have recently discussed our new Loner M6 Series’ two-way voice communications capability that enables monitoring personnel to communicate with the lone worker directly. This functionality eliminates the expense related to sending out the search team to find a lone worker who has failed to check in manually.

Similarly, our Loner Bridge System for remote lone worker monitoring features two-way text messaging that allows monitoring personnel to communicate directly with lone workers.

SERVER SYNCHRONIZED CHECK-INS

Blackline’s lone worker devices, the Loner M6 Series and Loner Bridge System, each incorporate server-synchronized check-ins. Awareness of the next scheduled check-in exists both within the lone worker device and within the Blackline Safety Network—our core safety monitoring infrastructure.

If an employee’s Loner device is damaged, the battery drains or the device moves beyond wireless coverage, safety monitoring personnel are notified when the employee fails to check in next.

MORE FREQUENT CHECK-INS ARE VIABLE

Some work alone scenarios feature increased risk and for these situations a more frequent check-in interval may be warranted. But more frequent manual checkins may result in too much of a productivity drain for the lone worker and supervisor.

Blackline’s lone worker devices provide the option of a more frequent check-in without impacting productivity. A check-in interval of 15 minutes is viable, requiring only a momentary button-press to check in.

AROUND-THE-CLOCK SAFETY MONITORING

Blackline’s in-house Safety Operations Centre, and our Alarm Receiving Centre partners in the United Kingdom and Pacific, delivers 24/7 live monitoring of lone workers Worldwide.

CONTACT US

Do you have the right program in place to deliver a real-time, location-based emergency response for your lone workers when a slip, trip or fall occurs?

Let’s talk about how we can help elevate your current safety monitoring program. Connect with us today to book your free demonstration.

 POSTED BY BRENDON COOK | APRIL 12, 2016 | BLACKLINE SAFETY

Blackline Safety brings last-mile lone worker safety monitoring to New Zealand

Blackline Safety brings last-mile lone worker safety monitoring to New Zealand

Auckland New Zealand - March 2, 2016 – Satellite connected Loner Bridge System now available in Australia and New Zealand

Blackline Safety Corp. (“Blackline”), a leading manufacturer of lone worker safety monitoring solutions has launched the Loner Bridge Solution for use anywhere throughout Australia and New Zealand. From the Australian Outback to Southern Lakes of New Zealand, employers can now easily and comprehensively monitor the safety of their personnel working alone—when out of cellular coverage under extreme conditions—and in remote locations.

Blackline Safety, world leaders in work alone solutions have appointed their local distributers, Direct Safety Ltd (www.directsafetygroup.com) to deliver lone worker solutions across all sectors of industries. The LŌNER® Product range includes the Loner Bridge in conjunction with the long range wireless handheld system, the standalone 3G cellular and intrinsically safe devices, Bluetooth DUO with its lone worker Apps for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.

“The Loner Bridge System has become Canada’s industry standard for monitoring personnel working alone, beyond cellular coverage in the remote upstream and midstream oil and gas segments,” said Sean Stinson, Blackline’s VP Sales & Product Management. “Blackline brings this innovation to every industry in Australia and New Zealand where employees work alone or in risky situations in remote locations, empowering the swiftest emergency response possible to every incident including injuries, health events and even assaults or animal attacks.”

Blackline’s Loner Bridge System is a two-part solution that was designed from the ground up to meet the most demanding customer requirements for monitoring the safety of their employees. The Loner Bridge portable satellite and cellular base station manages all communications to the Blackline Safety monitoring network. An industrial-quality radio link connects up to 10 Loner 900 person-worn safety monitoring devices, delivering a real-world range of two kilometers from the Loner Bridge base station. The radio link quality enables personnel to be monitored within complex facilities.

The Loner Bridge System helps work crews to self-rescue with a TeamAlert™ that triggers a muster alarm on teammate’s Loner 900 devices when an employee needs help. Loner 900 automatically detects falls, man- down situations and missed employee check-ins. The employee can call for help by pulling an emergency latch, much like a fire alarm lever. Unlike an SOS or panic button, the Loner 900 emergency latch can be triggered with confidence even if the worker’s vision is obscured.

Loner 900 makes use of GPS and is used for precise outdoor positioning while Blackline’s Loner Beacon product enables employees to be located throughout plants and buildings with precision.

Blackline’s comprehensive Loner safety monitoring portfolio empowers organizations in all industries and geographic locations with real-time safety incident awareness, delivering help within minutes instead of hours or potentially days later. To learn more about Blackline’s work alone devices, ManDown and lone worker app, visit www.directsafety.co.nz

About Blackline: Blackline Safety Corp is a wireless location leader that develops, manufactures and markets products and services for lone worker safety monitoring. Targeting every industry, employee role and location, our Loner® solutions are promoted through offices in Calgary and the United Kingdom and sold through a growing network of international distributors. Loner products alert monitoring personnel of a safety incident, locate the worker and empower the most efficient emergency response—Alert. Locate. Respond.™ Our vision is to become the leading supplier of wirelessly connected lone worker safety monitoring products in the world. For more information, visit www.BlacklineSafety.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

A YEAR OF PROGRESS & TOP LONE WORKER BLOG ARTICLES

This year, we pushed the envelope of what’s possible in safety monitoring in order to deliver the most valuable and effective lone worker protection devices. And our product developers continue to work tirelessly—we have a lot more in store for your organization in 2016.

As we close out 2015, we offer you a quick recap of our activities. From the launch of new solutions Loner Mobile, Loner Mobile with Loner Duo and Loner Complete, to changing our name from Blackline GPS to Blackline Safety, we’ve even won some awards!

Blackline ranked again on the PROFIT 500 and we were named a top 20 innovator by Alberta Venture magazine. Our Loner Bridge System was awarded OH&S New Product of the Year and we announced record revenue, more than double what we achieved in our previous four quarters.

As we prepare for 2016, we thought it was timely to share with you some of our most popular blog articles. If you haven’t had the chance, catch up on some insightful reading and check our top six most-read posts.

#1 Top 8 Elements for a Successful Employee Safety Monitoring Program

#2 Blackline Tracks UK Charity Bike Ride

#3 Contractor Safety: Are You Responsible When They Are On Site?

#4 Identifying Lone Workers: When Lone Doesn’t Mean Alone

#5 The Dangers Awaiting Your Lone Workers: 5 Reasons Not to Undervalue Safety in Engineering & Construction

#6 The True Cost of Not Investing in Safety Monitoring

#7 What is a Lone Worker?

#8 The risks & hazards of working alone

With a new year comes a time for reflection, improvement and resolutions. We encourage you to start thinking about your personal and professional resolutions. Especially when it comes to employee safety—what does your safety monitoring program look like for next year?

If you have not had the chance to do so already, subscribe to our blog to stay up-to-date on occupational safety and safety monitoring technology that makes a difference.

 POSTED BY KELLY MEYERS | DECEMBER 28, 2015 | BACKLINE SAFETY

THE TRUE COST OF NOT INVESTING IN SAFETY MONITORING

“What is a life worth? For many—it’s priceless. For some, it may be all about the bottom line”

If your organization does not yet have a process or safety monitoring solution for lone workers in place, you may think you are saving money. But if you are not monitoring lone workers’ safety, they are at constant risk—and your business is at risk for hefty fines and increased insurance payments. Not to mention the real-world topic of dealing with tragedy in the workplace and not having done everything to prevent it.

Here we explore the consequences of forfeiting safety monitoring programs for your employees.

CORPORATE MORALE

If your organization isn’t going to stand up for its employees, then why would your employees put their hearts and souls on the line? While company reputation is important and retaining competent, happy and devoted employees is vital—some organizations believe they have their employees’ best interest at heart, when really the underlying goal is all about fiscal responsibility.

Over the last few decades, developed countries have been part of a concrete legislative and social push towards improving the safety standards of employees in the workplace. Employers are responsible to provide safe and secure workplaces for employees. Yet, why are there consistent safety violations where—in many cases—the safety of employees working alone isn’t properly accounted for within many organizations?

Perhaps it is the result trying to optimize the bottom line or maybe for lack of awareness of a better methodology. Although society has made great strides in the area of worker safety through both legislative and societal demand, we still have a long way to go.

Is your organization willing to pay the ultimate price when a non-existent or failed safety monitoring solution is in play? Many organizations gamble with employees’ lives and end up paying severe consequences.

PAYING THE ULTIMATE PRICE

The reality is, workers are losing their lives on the job every day because their employers do not have the right safety policies, procedures and solutions in place to protect them.

From fatalities to fines, some organizations really do pay the ultimate price. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) there are 2.3 million workplace fatalities globally, each year. While many of these can be prevented, industries can be tempted to dust the issue under the rug, paying out hefty fines in the process.

Most recently an American tuna fishing corporation settled a workplace fatality incident with a $6,000,000 payout, the highest in a California workplace-violation death. In Ontario, Canada, a corporation was fined $750,000 for criminal negligence causing the death of four workers while another company was fined $120,000 after a young worker died on a high-rise project. These are just a couple of examples, but this accountability for negligence is happening around the world.

And it’s not just when fatalities occur. In Louisiana, United States, a trucking company was fined $156,000 recently for exposing their workers to a variety of health and safety hazards—without a fatality having yet occurred.

SETTING AN EXAMPLE

Are you putting the safety of your employees first? Every organization needs to make safety the No. 1 priority.

Safety should not, and does not have to be the least economical solution for an employer. In fact, information from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada regarding adoption of concrete and effective safety processes can pay for themselves through reduced insurance premiums. For example WorkSafeBC reports that when an organization develops and implements a health and safety program “the best way to reduce your insurance costs is to prevent injuries. A good first step is to develop a comprehensive workplace safety program.”

Cost-reduction and large-scale automation of safety monitoring processes have become feasible over the last few years. As a result, the costs of implementing strong monitoring systems can now be largely, if not completely, offset through improved employee productivity and the potential for the savings achieved through lower insurance premiums.

In 2014, Italy enacted legislation that allows organizations of all sizes to apply for reductions in national insurance for employees, based upon implemented health and safety programs.

It may take time to convince every employer around the world to adopt safety standards based on morals or regulations. As we have seen, even the world’s most developed nations fail to maintain 100 percent compliance with stringent safety laws.

When safety becomes the top priority, we will finally have a world in which everyone gets home safely. Each of us has the power to make that happen.

While there are many, many employers around the globe that have chosen to make the safety of their employees a top priority, there are still many organizations lacking either the foresight, the compassion or the economic incentive and continue with a non-safety-centric approach in order to keep costs down… and this may be the root of the problem.

KELLY MEYERS | AUGUST 12, 2015 | Blackline Safety

TOP 8 ELEMENTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL EMPLOYEE SAFETY MONITORING PROGRAM

Implementing a safety monitoring program is important—but can be overwhelming with all of the options available today.

To implement the best possible safety monitoring program for your organization, we invite you to consider these eight elements—while being mindful that demonstrating ROI is still critical.

#8 Commitment

From senior leadership to management to coordinators, all levels employed within the organization need to be committed to the creation and following of safety practices, policies and procedures.

When a safety monitoring program is introduced, it requires a multi-pronged approach that incorporates creating awareness, training, communications and emergency preparedness.

Designed to deliver a critical emergency response in the shortest possible time, the employee’s precise location, one of the most important factors in implementing a successful employee safety monitoring system is buy-in from all employees.

#7 Compliance

Work-alone legislation has been enacted in many regions. Some progressive regions already have work-alone legislation in place with the UK, France, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and most Canadian provinces leading the way.

Lone worker safety legislation is often worded around periodic, electronic or verbal confirmation of your employees’ health and wellbeing.Compliance with health and safety legislation gives your organization the potential to run a capable program that can make a difference when prevention efforts have failed to protect the employee.

#6 Priorities: People and Profitability

Making the safety of the employee a priority over  profitability can be a game-changer for the morale of your organization. Many organizations have made safety their number one priority, is it your organization’s?.

Your employees come first—they need to know that. Putting employees first is also profitable from a financial perspective. Building trust and giving your employees the power to make decisions can lead to confidence and improved productivity. Additionally, if your company makes use of manual check-ins, safety monitoring technology can enable you to recover valuable lost productivity.

#5 Internal Communications

Educating employees on new safety practices, policies and procedures is also an integral piece of the puzzle for introducing a safety monitoring program within your organization.

But getting all of your employees on the same page can be challenging. You need to create a concise plan that delivers clear messaging around the adoption of employee safety monitoring.

Distributing employee newsletters, project updates and acceptable usage policies provides transparency,  educates your employees and gives them confidence to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

#4 Formal Risk Assessment and Mitigation

Mitigating safety risks is key—everything from slips, trips and falls and injuries from moving heavy objects to vehicle collisions, explosions, fires and chemical exposures. Risk assessment and mitigation is one of the most important elements of a strong employee safety monitoring program, and you must examine the context, environment, concerned individuals and their activity.

Risks vary from industry to industry and conducting a thorough risk assessment and mitigation is vital for your employees, specifically your lone workers.

#3 Employee Training

Ensuring your employees are equipped with the tools they need to effectively do their jobs is essential. Training on machinery, safe use of tools and appropriate use of resources is the first step. Your workers need to be comfortable working in their environment and with their tools.

Employee awareness and other training resources including counseling, emergency response and preparedness are key ingredients to ensuring your employees are up-to-speed and aligned on the most recent training and development to successfully complete their work.

#2 Work-Alone Policy

Creating a work-alone policy is a safety measure that defines when your employees are considered to be working alone, even when they are on a site with other crew members but out of sight and sound.

This type of policy also encompasses the process for responding to safety alerts generated by safety monitoring equipment when an incident occurs. It also specifies the corresponding emergency response protocol that defines how incidents are managed. Laying out the expectations of all safety monitoring operations is important for every employee role involved.

#1 Technology that Makes a Difference

Adopting a safety monitoring program that incorporates active monitoring far outclasses any other solution on the market today. Adopting world-class technology greatly improves your organization’s ability to respond to safety incidents at any moment.

Automatic detection technology can also improve the outcome for an employee who has suffered a workplace injury, health event or physical assault and cannot call for help.

Delivering help to a downed employee in the shortest possible time is the goal. Real-time monitoring solutions couple communication and precise employee positioning technologies for every scenario—indoors, outdoors, remote and driving locations. Your employees can work anywhere with confidence.

Learn more about how technology makes a difference compared to other safety solutions and download the “Safety Monitoring Solutions Comparison Guide” today.

POSTED BY KELLY MEYERS BlacklineSafety

IDENTIFYING LONE WORKERS: WHEN LONE DOESN’T MEAN ALONE

Lone workers are not just prone to risks while driving or working in remote locations—indoor workspaces challenge the safety of your employees more often than you’d expect.

Many do not consider employees who work inside facilities as  “lone workers.” Just because workers are stationed within a specific structure with team members doesn’t mean they don’t work alone—tasks often pull crew members out of sight and sound of others. These employees immediately become isolated from their colleagues,risking their lives if an incident occurs.

To get the job done, your employees work against the clock—often in high-risk, high-stress environments that require long hours. Let’s explore some of the most dangerous indoor situations facing your employees and how you can ensure their safety.

Working Indoors—Location. Location. Location.

Warehouses and production plants are noisy and fast-paced, with many moving parts. Hospitals, research labs, psychiatric centers and correctional facilities host individuals who may display unpredictable behaviours.Manufacturing facilities, warehouses and indoor construction sites can be some of the most dangerous places to work in the world. And some, power plants, grain terminals, and wastewater treatment facilities can even take your employees underground.

You have safety policies in place for your teams, but are you accounting for all of the potential risks your employees face indoors?

Hazards Lone Workers Face Indoors

Regardless of where an employee is located indoors—workers in a variety of industries can be challenged by the equipment and materials used to complete their work.

From researchers to reclamation technicians, a laboratory can pose just as many risks as an outdoor site. Engineers, assemblers and compounders face the dangers of working with and near heavy-duty machinery, conveyor belts, combustible liquids and spray booths.