Truck drivers, constructions workers and technicians can all spend hours a day working alone. Yet the laws governing worker’s rights says that they are on the clock and your responsibility. For both moral and financial reasons, we want our employees to be happy and safe, even when they are working alone. Modern safety technology can save us heartache and money.

Remote Monitoring Systems

Knowing where your employees are is half the battle. Overlaying a safety protocol on their location will help keep them safe and give the team the ability to come to a person’s aid if the occasion calls for it. That is what the GeoPro system proposes to offer. GeoPro is a cloud-based integrated safety service that can monitor your remote staff, respond to emergencies, and let staff check-in on a regular basis. Monitoring can either use geofencing which lets you know if the employee has left a specific area or tracking that can be set to ping the person every 30 seconds or every day.

Telepresence

We have seen it on TV. The Ops team, whether a military operation or SWAT, is guided by its central office using a system of live cameras and earpieces. These telepresence platforms are now available to the public and relatively affordable. They offer safety and efficiency when a remote worker is collecting data but a second field worker would be a waste. Cisco offers a bonded, streaming telepresence system that uses a high range aircard to transmit real-time data. For field surveyors and researchers, the system can be used as a recording device as well as a safety net for situations where a stray animal or sudden illness can be tragic.

Virtual Training

One of the primary ways to keep workers safe is to teach them how to recognize and avoid potential threats. This comes with training but traditional paper-and-pencil training has mixed levels of success. Occupational safety researchers have devised a virtual training environment, called System for Augmented Virtuality Environment Safety (SAVES), which allows a trainee to navigate an avatar through various real-life obstacles. Much like a video game, SAVES trains the neuromuscular pathways to react to dangers on an autonomic level.

Safety Drones

Technically called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), drones have gotten a lot of mixed press recently. One place where all of the press is good is with their use for worker safety. Australian companies have begun to use drones as part of their safety monitoring and prevention systems. UAVs, which can be purchased for as little as $100, can survey land for danger areas as a remote employee sets out on foot, search potentially hazardous places like mines and caves before the worker enters, or simply act as a telepresence device to keep the worker company while at a remote site.

Wearable Technology

When Google released their Glasses, the wearable technology industry was born. Soon after, health and fitness devices sprung up. This same wearable technology has found a place in safety and emergency response as alerts in the case of unexpected life-threatening events. Devices like AliveCor’s Kardia can be worn like a watch and, using its connection to a smartphone, will alert authorities in the case of a heart attack or other cardiopulmonary events that peak on the device.