Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 the term ‘working remotely’ or ‘lone worker’ has taken on a whole new meaning. Now, more than ever, organisations are having to implement business decisions that call for greater remote working capabilities.
The questions you might want to start asking based on these common factors are listed below
In our experience these typically fall into three main categories:
1. Being attacked by an aggressor.
More often than not this can be from one of your own clients such as mental health patients, troubled families or people who owe your organisation money. In other cases, it could be that your staff are in so called ‘bad neighbourhoods’ or in urban areas at a time of day when it’s dark and/or there are not many other people around. We have found that this is a primary concern for organisations involved in mental health, social working, homecare and finance (mobile lending, property management).
In this scenario you may want features of a duress alarm solution to include a discrete or silent alarm activation so as not to alert the aggressor. This could involve sending an automatic call to someone assigned as a ‘responder’ in silent mode.
Some sort of automatic geo-fence feature would also be useful in pre-identifying problematic locations in which a notification is sent out to others when a staff member enters and/or exits that area. This could also trigger some form of check-in check-out feature or “Are you ok?” prompt.
2. Falling over or from height.
This is a common consideration for organisations involved in maintenance or who have staff working in remote areas with not many other people around.
In this scenario you may want features of a duress alarm solution to include fall detection or some sort of ‘man down’ feature. Easy alarm activation is also key, given that the staff member may find it difficult to reach for something on their person or not be able to get to their bag or vehicle, etc. Again, check-in, check-out features or scheduled “Are you ok?” prompts could also be implemented.
3. Crashing a vehicle.
For many organisations, a large number of their staff are traveling off-site, usually by car, van or truck. Accidents happen and response time can be critical. For these staff members, you may want features of a duress alarm solution to include collision detection in the vehicle or certainly some sort of alert trigger device that the driver (or passenger) has easy access to.
In all 3 of these cases, providing location information periodically and at the time of an alert is a key consideration. Providing a location map allows a responder to see the last known location should the staff member not check-in as expected and is not contactable for example.
In some cases, the on-site premises may span multiple levels, for example a large factory, retirement village or mental health hospital. In these environments you may want to know the exact location (e.g. which floor) of a staff member if an alert is activated. Typical GPS and cellular duress alarm solutions will not provide the location accuracy usually required in these situations. In these cases, you may want to look for some sort of indoor beacon solution or a solution that has wall mounted duress alert buttons. These systems are usually configured to have each duress alert button specifically named such as ‘Unit 3 Bathroom Button’ for example.
Workers are more mobile than ever often travelling on urban and rural roads or perhaps flying domestically and/or internationally. We touched on in-vehicle solutions above but another key consideration here would be how often the device reports its location to the overall system.
If someone is traveling long distances at high speeds (relatively!) then you may want to have a very frequent ‘ping time’ in order to get accurate location mapping. This is particularly relevant if someone goes ‘offline’ or is not responding and you need to ascertain their last known location to narrow down a search.
Electronic devices have come a long way, but battery life is always a concern. Therefore, be mindful that the more frequently a device connects to a network, the more power that device is likely to use.
Data costs may also be a key consideration especially if that person is travelling internationally relying on a cellular roaming plan! There are a number of ‘low data’ or ‘IoT (Internet of Things)’ data plans out there so be sure to check with your duress alarm solution vendor how much data the device would typically use and how much would that cost. Failing that, you could also check with your own telco provider.
It might be that your staff only travel short distances, perhaps by foot or by public transport. In these cases, the duress alarm solution typically needs to be very portable and often times discrete. Mobile phone or connected wearable devices are quite often ideal here, in which case battery life will almost certainly be a key consideration. However, you may not need such frequent polling of the device as the distances covered are usually much less.
Staff operating in cellular coverage areas have many duress alarm options available to them. These are typically in the form of a consumer electronic device where portability, battery life and data costs, as mentioned above, will be key.
Many other features may be required such as fall detection or geo-fence alerts. Also the waterproofness and robustness of the device should be factored in as well as clear and reliable two-way voice communications.
These workers may from time to time work in areas of zero coverage (such as basements or carparks). Therefore, timed check-ins may be a requirement.
If your staff are regularly working in areas with cellular ‘blackspots’, then a satellite-based duress alarm may be a more appropriate solution. Satellite devices operate with their own set of limitations, mainly the requirement of line of sight to the sky.
Communication outside cellular reception is a distinct limitation for lone workers and the option for messages (text) to be sent via satellite devices at a higher cost is often an acceptable compromise.
These devices are typically more limited than cellular-based devices but some features, such as inactivity detection and condition checks, are still available. Also, satellite devices are usually more expensive both for the device and connectivity.
It is essential to consider how your duress alarm solution will be monitored.
Some organisations like to have full visibility of their staff locations for workforce management and they want to take full responsibility for the duress escalation process. However, this requires proper training and a reliable internal duress escalation process with resources.
Overall it’s important to work with a duress alarm vendor that can offer both and customise the duress escalation process in the system that best suits your needs.
Every organisation is different but one of the most common forms of resistance we see from staff is around privacy and the feeling of being tracked by ‘big brother’.
Our advice here would be to ensure that their concerns and views are taken seriously and that you include them in the purchasing decision early.
We have found, in general, staff are ok with the location mapping features once they understand that their safety is of primary concern to the organisation. Also, having the ability to switch location tracking on and off for ‘out of office hours’, will go a long way in getting staff buy-in.
The look feel and utility of the device will also play a big part in staff buy-in and usability. So often we hear things like “It’s too big”, “It’s too small”, “It’s too ugly”, “Does it come in black?”, “It’s too heavy”, in fact we’ve pretty much heard it all!
Our advice here would be to conduct a proper survey with your staff and perhaps even a controlled field trial before making a decision. Also, try to work with a duress alarm vendor that can provide some flexibility and customisations of their devices.
Finally, be sure that staff and management are all well trained on how the solution works as well as familiar with your internal processes.
Depending on your country and/or state you may have specific regulations you need to comply to. There may also be internal organisational policies to consider. Of course, every organisation is different but one common consideration is around the robustness of the duress alarm system, cyber-security and data privacy protection.
Be sure to ask your duress alarm vendor for their Business Continuity Plan, Data Privacy Policy, Cyber Security Measures and any relevant certifications you need in your area.
The answers to these questions are perhaps the most varied that we come across. However, the need to answer these questions remains constant. The size and structure of your organisation will determine the complexity and cost of the duress alarm solution to a large degree.
Aside from those mentioned already, other common considerations here would be:
Lastly, getting internal stakeholder buy-in is key. Often times, the task of sourcing duress alarm solutions falls to one person such as a project manager or procurement manager for example.
However, there are usually many people involved in the decision-making process. No doubt someone from finance will be involved as well as the IT department. You may have a Work, Health and Safety Officer or Quality Manager to get across. Your legal team will also likely be involved. We’ve already mentioned staff but you may also have their unions to consider and all of this may have to happen before presenting your proposal to an executive team or board of directors!
This can be a large undertaking but I’m sure we would all agree that it is worth it to ensure the safety and wellbeing of one of your most important resources, your staff.
We hope that this blog was useful and will enable you to make a more informed choice of duress alarm solution best suited to your needs.
Should you wish to discuss your requirements or learn more from one of our duress alarm experts please fill out the form below. We would love to help you find the right solution for your organisation.