SafetyLine and SPOT Satellite Messengers: Proactive Safety for Protecting Lone Workers
There are many industries that need to deploy lone workers to remote regions in support of field operations. These lone workers perform their activities in isolation, often without close or direct supervision. In many cases they work beyond the reach of cellular or terrestrial networks, and at significantly more risk in the event of an unexpected medical emergency, incident or accident.
Adding to this challenge, businesses are mandated, through legislation or corporate HR policies, to provide all employees (including lone and remote workers) with safe working conditions including a reliable means to check-in and communicate. Under
The Westray Law (or former
Bill C-45) for work alone regulations in Canada, the Criminal Code has been amended so that organizations, and even individuals, may be criminally liable for failure to take reasonable measures to protect employee safety.
The good news is that today there are advanced lone worker solutions that provide businesses with an affordable and simple way to provide proactive safety measures that protect employees’ safety and meet mandatory check-in and communications requirements.
Lone worker monitoring
SafetyLine Lone Worker was established in 1999 as an automated, cloud-based lone worker monitoring service that helps companies protect remote or isolated workers. The SafetyLine app for smartphones provides businesses with a vital line of safety features for lone and remote workers, such as automated check-in to confirm a team member’s safety, fall detection, and a panic button, GPS-enabled emergency notification technology as well as satellite tracking that allows managers to locate workers in near real time and send help right away.
Seasons Health Therapies Prioritizes Lone Worker Safety with SPOT and SafetyLine
“SPOT devices and SafetyLine give us and our workers peace of mind, knowing everyone is safe”
~ Dawn MacKenzie, Clinical Director at Seasons Health Therapies
Seasons Health Therapies in Kamloops, BC, has a passionate team of Occupational Therapists, Kinesiologists, Clinical Counsellors, Vocational Rehabilitation, and return to work specialists. Their Occupational Therapists work with clients to improve their quality of life, helping people live their lives to the fullest and healthiest. Workers often travel throughout the British Columbia interior to provide thorough rehabilitation services and care to clients in their homes. Daily, workers are exposed to the harsh realities of possible injuries and emotional and physical trauma. Given the unpredictable state and personalities of patients, the safety risk for these people is high – this is in addition to working in a remote and unfamiliar place. While traveling remotely, workers regularly face other hazards such as dangerous, wet, and icy, dark roads.
Since 2015, Seasons has used SafetyLine and Globalstar’s SPOT devices to protect their remote and lone employees working outside of cell range. Given that many Seasons clients live in very remote areas, SPOT satellite devices are advantageous for checking in when there is no cell service. Seasons says that while using SafetyLine, they can easily monitor the safety and location of their clinicians and follow safety protocols if the clinician does not check-in as expected. If an emergency was to occur, clinicians could activate the SafetyLine panic button that will immediately alert the local RCMP.
To build redundancy to cellular and more reliable connectivity into its solution, SafetyLine integrated its services with Globalstar satellite technology. Globalstar’s SPOT Satellite Messenger, which includes advanced GPS mapping services, enables SafetyLine customers to better manage the safety of lone and remote workers by ensuring uninterrupted location tracking and reliable two-way communications, independent of cellular or terrestrial networks. Workers can use SPOT to send and receive messages, navigate and map their routes, track and share their progress with co-workers and managers, and, if necessary, trigger an SOS to a 24/7 global emergency response coordination center.
The most significant benefit of its partnership with Globalstar, is that SafetyLine is able to offer a dependable and proven satellite communications solution to its customers in support of lone and remote worker safety. Key safety features of the SafetyLine lone worker solution include:
- Fully Automated, 24/7 support: The SafetyLine service is completely automated. It will protect the safety of lone and remote workers 24/7, every day of the year without the requirement of any manual procedures. This offloads monitoring of check-ins and non-compliance from the shoulders of the client ensuring a dedicated team for around the clock support without the heavy lifting on the client side.
- Proactive Check-in Timers: This allows workers to check-in when they start their shift. If they don’t check out before the pre-set timer expires, an automated notice will be sent to SafetyLine. If the worker still does not check in at that time, an alarm will be raised until their safety can be confirmed. With SPOT X automated check-in messages will include GPS location coordinates and date/time the message was sent, enabling employers to optimize safety by automating check-in procedures for workers in lone and remote areas. If a check-in is missed, pre-established next step protocols can be triggered.
- Easy, Seamless Communication: If an alarm is raised, the lone worker can send a voice or text message, the latter through a SPOT X, communicating important information including their GPS location, details of their circumstances and any safety hazards. In an emergency situation, sharing this critical information can make the difference between life and death.
- Emergency Panic Button: An accessible panic button, when triggered, will immediately alert an emergency and automatically send an SOS and GPS location coordinates to emergency responders. All SPOT devices include SOS emergency notification technology using satellite providing safety beyond the reach of cellular networks. At the push of a button, a worker’s GPS location coordinates along with an SOS message are sent to SafetyLine 24/7. With SPOT X, users have direct 2-way message communication with emergency responders to help manage the emergency.