Lone Worker Alarms

Employees that work alone face specific risks like being targeted by a criminal or getting trapped in an emergency situation. They are legally required to have a risk assessment procedure in place.

Lone worker alarms transform employees' smartphones into reliable safety monitoring devices. They can easily request help by hitting the alarm button or completing a task countdown timer. Continuous live location tracking sends the exact position of staff to their responders - even when battery or signal is lost.

What is a Lone Worker?

A lone worker is someone who works alone either within their workplace or away from it. This may include security guards, construction workers, delivery drivers and home care workers.

Working alone makes these employees more vulnerable to situations that may require assistance as they are not in the presence of co-workers. Many lone workers are also likely to be operating in potentially dangerous environments and need the assurance that help is only a button-press away.

As technology improves it is becoming easier for people to work alone, particularly in professions like retail and construction. However, with a growing number of people employed in lone working roles it is important to ensure that the right safety solutions are put in place to prevent any potential incidents from occurring.

Using dedicated lone worker alarm devices and apps can help to ensure that employees are properly protected. The devices use GPS, motion sensors and a variety of other features to monitor an employee’s movements and location. They can also be equipped with a panic alarm that can be activated by pressing a discreet power button or shaking the device. Some devices can even be configured with a duress PIN that allows the user to appear as though they have triggered an alert when being threatened.

safety alarm Alternatively, some lone worker safety devices allow the employer to monitor a device’s status via a secure online portal. This means that they can easily check that a device has checked in at the appropriate intervals and can review any serious events to gain further insights into how best to protect their employees.

Lone Worker Alarms

Lone worker alarms are personal duress devices designed to alert others when the user is in a dangerous situation. These are typically worn as a pendant or wristwatch and can be triggered at the push of a button. Alternatively, the wearer can pre-programme the device to say things like ‘Working alone check in’ or ‘Working alone get help’ which sends out an SMS message including the users location as determined by GPS.





A lone worker alarm can be particularly useful for people working in remote locations, on the go or in the field. personal alarm with gps tracking Some examples include security guards, engineers, tradesmen and even home healthcare nurses who may have little control over the occupants they meet at homes during a visit. In these situations, the occupant could become violent or aggressive and a quick response would be vital in order to de-escalate the situation and allow the nurse to safely exit the property.

Workers in offices may also benefit from a lone worker alarm if they have medical conditions such as epilepsy or an existing condition that could lead to a fall or seizure. Our lone worker alarms from Blackline Safety, Twig and StaySafe all feature different options including GPS, fall detection, silent emergency latch and more to offer an all-in-one connected solution to keep your employees safe.

Lone Worker Policy

A Lone Worker Policy is a document that sets out the rules and procedures that must be followed by any employees who regularly work alone. It must include the risks posed by working in isolation, how these can be managed, and how an employee can raise an alert if they need to be rescued.

An effective lone worker policy should be tailored to the specific requirements of your business and based on the results of a risk assessment. It should also consider any employees who might not be considered lone workers in the strictest sense of the word, such as office-based staff who occasionally go out to meet customers, or those who work on projects remotely.

It is recommended that a lone worker alarm is monitored by a specialist Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). An ARC will be on-call, ready to respond in a predetermined time frame if a device user raises an alert through the app or if they are incapacitated due to no movement, tilt, acceleration or impact.

It is also important to set out a check in procedure so that the lone worker can contact their OWL Portal with information about their location and their circumstances, such as what they are doing, where they are going and for how long. The ARC can then use this information to ensure that the appropriate response path is followed, such as calling the emergency services.

Lone Worker Monitoring

Lone Workers can be exposed to a wide range of risks, whether they are travelling between locations, working at heights or in high risk environments. They need to be aware of these dangers and have procedures in place to mitigate them, such as a lone worker alarm.

These are designed to alert colleagues and/or emergency services if a user is in an incident, accident or crisis. Unlike mobile phones which require users to launch an app, press a button or enter a code to send an emergency signal, a lone worker device automatically sends the alert within seconds of an incident occurring.

In addition to the panic alarm a lone worker device can also trigger a man down alarm (sometimes called a work down alarm). When this is activated the device will detect no movement over a set period of time. This could be caused by an accident, medical condition or even a physical attack and the device will raise a 1-way call to the SoloProtect Monitoring Centre where an operator will talk to the user to establish the severity of the situation and contact emergency services or escalation contacts (e.g. a colleague or manager).

Employers must meet their duty of care to protect employees and lone workers who are at a higher risk of crime, injury or illness than other staff members. A lone worker system can be deployed to ensure that all employees are safe when they are working alone and can easily be turned off when they have finished their shift or activity.