Lone worker monitoring alarms: the latest developments

Lone worker monitoring and alarm technology has advanced radically over the past decade, leading to significant improvements in how vulnerable lone employees can call for help in an emergency and their location be identified by those receiving the alarm. So what are some of the significant changes in technology, what options are currently available and what further advances might we see in the future?

Notable technology advancements over the past decade

Communications technology
The essential requirement for any technology designed to help ensure the safety of lone, remote and vulnerable workers is that it can summon assistance in an emergency. This means the protection solution must have connectivity of some type to communicate the call for assistance. There has been significant change in telecommunications technology in the past decade, and of particular significance to lone worker and employee protection are cellular networks and Wi-Fi.

The first commercial digital cellular (i.e. mobile) network was launched in 1991 with the 2G network. This was followed by 3G and 4G, and in the UK we are currently in the initial phases
of the roll-out of 5G. The widescale roll-out of 5G will mean the UK will see increased bandwidth. This will result in wider network coverage, reduce blackspots and provide faster connections; all of which will result in better protection for lone workers.

Recently, we have seen some changes in the business model of mobile network operators, who are increasingly divesting themselves of their cellular masts by selling the masts to separate companies, who will operate and maintain them. It is anticipated we will start to see more sharing of masts among the network operators, which is aimed at providing better mobile coverage across the UK.

Wi-Fi has also become increasingly available. There are numerous public Wi-Fi hotspots across the UK and many of the cell phone providers also offer access to hotspots as part of the packages they offer customers.

If you are located in an urban environment, there is likely to be a large availability of Wi-Fi coverage and a number of open source Wi-Fi services that can be accessed for free, providing a connection.

It is predicted the availability of Wi-Fi, including free-to-use open source Wi-Fi, will continue to grow at pace, reaching further geographical areas of the UK.

Rebecca Pick is Founder and CEO of Pick Protection.

Smartphones
As well as the ever-improving communications infrastructure there have been advancements in the devices used to communicate on these networks. Mobile phones have made considerable progress in a multitude of areas; from reduction in size, to improvement in modems, sensors and the operating systems used by the handsets. These handsets can take advantage of the roll-out of new phone networks, such as 4G and 5G, and automatically swap to Wi-Fi if required to enhance overall connectivity.

The Cloud
Over recent years we’ve seen Cloud-based technology evolve significantly and being adopted by companies worldwide across every business area. For employee protection solutions (such as lone worker monitoring technology and personal alarm devices and apps), this has allowed companies to easily self-monitor their lone working solutions in-house, rather than outsourcing monitoring to an external alarm receiving centre (ARC).

Before the Cloud, an organisation would need to install physical hardware servers and software, as well as complex telecom systems and connect all these together, if they wished to monitor their lone worker devices, systems and alerts in-house, rather than paying an ARC for the service. Now an organisation only requires a browser with an internet connection and user authentication details to enable lone worker monitoring.

This can provide financial and efficiency savings, as there is no need to pay for physical hardware servers and software, and no need to pay an ARC to monitor the lone working system and alerts. Instead, the employer can monitor their lone worker systems themselves via the web, using the Cloud to monitor and check workers’ locations and respond to emergency alerts from lone and vulnerable staff, sending help when necessary.

Lone worker monitoring technology – the current options
There are three main types of employee protection communication device: smartphones, dedicated GPS devices and satellite devices. The latter two are standalone, dedicated communication, monitoring and personal alarm devices carried by the lone or vulnerable worker.

Satellite
Satellite devices should be used in areas where there is no mobile network coverage and no Wi-Fi connectivity. These devices use satellite to communicate so only require line of sight to a satellite to enable communication in the most rural and remote locations.

However, most lone workers in urban and semi-rural areas (where there should be sufficient mobile network coverage and Wi-Fi connectivity), will instead be provided with either a smartphone-based solution or a GPS-based dedicated device.

Dedicated GPS devices
Historically the most common form of lone worker protection, these are fitted with a modem which allows the device to connect to the cellular communications network. The user simply presses the device’s SOS button, and this runs a programme that starts a call to a pre-programmed number (typically an ARC). The call is placed, or made, through a cellular network.

Most standalone hardware devices tend to have slightly older modems than most of the latest smartphones. Therefore, many of the available GPS devices have 3G or 2G modems which means they may not always offer the best connectivity to the mobile network. They may therefore be slower to connect and send an alarm than the faster and more reliable 4G or 5G networks.

However, to enable these devices to offer a more robust service, they can be fitted with Roaming SIM cards.

This allows the device to select the strongest cellular signal in that area. Therefore, if one provider has lower signal strength and another provider has higher signal strength, the device will automatically migrate to that higher strength cellular provider.

Smartphone applications
Employee protection smartphone applications are fast replacing dedicated GPS devices. Modern smartphones work across the widely available 3G, 4G and soon to be 5G network. They also enable connectivity through Wi-Fi.

Smartphone applications also tend to launch SOS calls over IP rather than an analogue voice call, which provides greater flexibility and allows solutions to be tailored specifically to individual requirements.

Ultimately this a call that goes through a network, or the cellular provider, and goes into the ARC. There are added capabilities available – for example, some applications enable the call to be re-routed to multiple places at the same time, raising the alarm or alert with multiple contacts.

In addition, the software on the smartphone provides enhanced reliability in terms of employee protection. This is because the application sends the user’s location through an SMS and a data packet, and adopting both methods therefore provides a belt and braces approach. This ensures if one method fails (most likely the

SMS message if the signal is not strong enough or leads to a delay in sending the message), then the fallback of the data packet ensures the information is communicated as this message requires minimal bandwidth to send.

One notable thing with smartphone applications is that the speed of the data services is incredibly fast compared to something like an SMS, which can take several seconds to travel. The data service is now literally down to milliseconds to get from the point where it’s pressed to the receiving end. This means SOS alarms are transmitted almost instantly.

Finally, smartphones also enable the lone worker application on the phone to take advantage of Bluetooth capabilities. This means a wireless ‘trigger’ device can be connected to the smartphone, allowing for even easier activation of the SOS alarm.

These Bluetooth-enabled trigger devices leverage the capabilities of the smartphone, are just a fraction of the size of dedicated devices and don’t require regular charging as the built-in battery lasts for a long time. They provide an incredibly discreet device (like a keyfob), that is always available and ready to be instantly activated in an emergency.

Another benefit is the evolution of low energy Bluetooth. This means the impact on the phone’s battery life from connecting to the separate ‘trigger’ alarm device is negligible.

Organisations in high hazard industries such as oil and gas will also have a requirement for their employee protection solutions to be ‘intrinsically safe’. This means there is no risk the devices will trigger combustion or explosion; from igniting flammable gases such as hydrogen or propane, to other less obvious combustibles such as dust.

Traditionally, dedicated (i.e. standalone) intrinsically safe devices were the most common approach to employee safety in these environments.

However, a more modern approach is now available where an intrinsically safe phone case can be purchased for popular handsets (including iPhones and Samsung models), and used in conjunction with lone worker applications on the phone.

Dedicated devices versus smartphone technology
Looking at the latest smartphones, whether that’s the Apple smartphones with the iOS operating system or Samsung smartphones running the Android operating system, the underlying technology in these phones is leading-edge. And this leading-edge technology means they are more advanced than dedicated lone worker devices on a number of levels – for example, in terms of modems, Wi-Fi capability and GPS location accuracy.

With millions of smartphones being sold in the world every year, manufacturers are continually competing to improve the phones’ features and functionality – such as chipsets, battery life and sensor technology.

Employee protection applications that run on smartphones are therefore continuously benefiting from these technological improvements.

In contrast, the lone worker market for dedicated devices is much smaller, so there’s not quite as much innovation and not quite as much push to drive the innovation forward. Also, there’s not as much volume of sales and device production to drive down the prices. Generally, the technology in the dedicated devices is several generations behind, so from a technology perspective smartphones definitely have the advantage.

How future technology changes may impact employee protection
Technology has never evolved so quickly as it has over the past decade. Looking ahead it is predicted the pace of change will continue to accelerate and we will see far-reaching developments in many areas. It is also anticipated that smartphone technology and communications networks will contribute the biggest and most far-reaching improvements to the employee protection landscape.

It is also expected that the physical form of smartphone-type devices will continue to evolve, and we will see an increase in wearables such as smart watches and other sensors for employee protection. This is an area where we are likely to see a huge expansion in terms of technology.

For instance, sensor information from smart watches – such as heart monitoring data – could be routed through smartphones or routed directly from the smart watch itself, providing invaluable information – such as warning that an employee is suffering a heart attack or is developing heart problems. It is likely that sensor data will become a rich field for employee protection in the years ahead.

Hardware devices have a fixed, single or multiple button press function, so there is a limited feature set. In contrast, a smartphone has the ability to provide a much richer and more intelligent solution in many areas.

It is predicted the features and capabilities that smartphones provide will continue to evolve.

As technology evolves employee protection providers will continue to look at improving how SOS calls can be made even more reliable. For example, if the SOS call drops, intelligence could be built in to re-establish that call from the receiving end rather than from the user end.

Communications networks are expected to continue to advance, resulting in better coverage across the UK and a much more reliable service. With lower bandwidth networks such as Lora and Sigfox (part of the Internet of Things (IoT) roll-out across areas of the UK), and technological advancement in other areas, such as the Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data to name a few, there’s a world of exciting potential for the future of employee protection.

Conclusion
There’s never been a wider range of solutions available, and smartphone technology is changing the way employees are protected.

It is expected over the next few years we will see a steady decline of dedicated devices as organisations move to adopt smarter technology-based solutions. As technology evolves, we are seeing smartphones becoming increasingly affordable, particularly in Android handsets, and this is also a trend we expect to continue going forwards.

With technology advancements, simple, affordable protection solutions are available for all employees, whatever their risk profile might be.

Rebecca Pick is Founder and CEO of Pick Protection. For more information go to:
https://www.pickprotection.com/