Man Down Alarm
to Protect your
Lone Workers
There are many cases of lone workers being injured or in a critical situation and not being able to sound the alarm and summon help. If a worker falls from height, is electrocuted, is pinned, trapped, or unconscious, how can they call the emergency services?
They can’t. They need to rely on the chance that someone will notice they are missing or happen upon them. But having a man down alarm will remove that element of chance and alert a supervisor if they have stopped moving.
Man Down Alarms Within Lone Worker Devices
Man down (worker down) systems are calibrated with detection algorithms to automatically detect movement, or a lack of movement. Using a worker’s own mobile phone technology (iPhone or Android) the integrated Man Down feature can be set to a period of time between 3 minutes – 1 hour by the worker. If there has been no movement within that time frame an alarm will sound. This alarm allows the worker to check in and verify they are fine (avoiding any false alarms.) If the worker does not respond to the alarm, then an alert is sent to their supervisor saying there has been no movement.
The best Man Down (worker down) systems provide real-time monitoring, so managers have access to information about incidents as they happen. As a result, managers can act immediately to ensure safety procedures are followed. The automatic detection element helps reduce workplace stress as it provides remote workers with confidence knowing their colleagues can respond quickly to their exact location if needed.
Which Industries have the Highest Rate of Workplace Fatalities?
The two industries that have the highest fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers are; Agriculture, forestry and fishing and Waste and recycling. Their rates remain remarkably higher than the average across all industries, with Agriculture, forestry and fishing around 20 times higher and Waste and recycling 17 times as high.
While lower than the previous industries, fatalities in Construction are around 4 times as high as the average rate and Manufacturing and the Transportation and storage sector have a fatal injury rate around 1.5 and 2 times the average rate across all industries respectively (1).
Deaths are not always the result of going into dangerous situations or environments though. The majority of deaths are caused by falls from height, however, over 42% of deaths were caused by being struck by a moving object, trapped by something collapsing/overturning or having contact with moving machinery (2). These are tasks frequently completed by people working alone and could quickly turn into an emergency situation.
Who needs a Man Down Alarm?
There are many industries where workers would benefit from a Man Down Alarm’s higher level of protection. Unlike having a check in button, having automatic detection where people can see your movements could be the difference between life and death in the following situations:
- Utility remote worker completing a tricky repair in the field
- Waste worker loading recycling into machinery
- Security guard on patrol during the night shift
- Maintenance engineer completing their rounds in a facility
- Construction worker completing jobs on hazardous sites
- Worker in a lab completing tests with hazardous chemicals
- Farm worker rounding up stock on an ATV
What are the benefits of a Man Down system?
A man down alarm can be a lifesaver in an emergency situation. One of the key advantages is the speed of the response it provides. With advanced detection software, the monitor team can be notified in as little as 3 minutes if an employee has not moved. The system then follows the employee’s escalation procedure (emergency contact info) to send help directly to their location. This quick response time can be crucial, especially if someone is trapped underneath heavy equipment or machinery. It could mean the difference between life and death.
Another benefit of having a man down alarm is the ability to set the time period for man down from between three minutes to one hour. This feature allows workers to adjust the countdown time to be more beneficial to the specific activity they are doing. For a higher risk activity, it would be set to a shorter time. This gives the worker more security and reassurance that help will come if they need it.
The man down feature of a lone worker safety solution will not be able to stop the chance and randomness of life-threatening incidents from occurring. However, the use of such an alarm would result in a more efficient response, in a faster reaction time, as other people would be notified to the workers lack of movement and be able to get help.
Want a quote for Ok Alone? Please email us at [email protected] and we will send you a quote for our lone worker solution.