Lone Worker device latest in electronic protection

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This article was published 15/11/2010 (5683 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IF you spend large parts of your workday alone — as a cab driver, a realtor, a contractor, a meter reader or even a beer delivery guy — chances are high your friends and family worry about your on-the-job safety.

The latest device from Rogers Communications, called the Lone Worker, is designed to give them (and you) some peace of mind. About the same size as a cellphone, it comes equipped with a global positioning system and a panic button and clips on the worker’s belt.

In case of danger, holding down the panic button for three seconds will send an immediate message to the employer’s emergency responder (it’s all done on the same cellular network that transmits phone calls and texts), who will notify police or paramedics.

It all happens in a matter of seconds, said Laura Kwiatkowski, general manager of Rogers’ midwest region.

“It’s a machine-to-machine solution. The sole purpose is to make you feel safer,” she said.

Andrew Kopecki, B.C.-based support manager for Nero Global Tracking, said the GPS provides a latitude and longitude position so emergency personnel don’t have to waste time finding an exact location. The system can also be programmed to set off a car alarm or a flashing beacon on the back of a vehicle to help the search.

“The text message will say the user has hit the panic button and is headed in a certain direction at a certain speed,” Kwiatkowski said, adding the device can also be used by hikers or adventure racers.

The Lone Worker technology is already being used by some taxis in Toronto. Jim Bell, director of the Canadian Taxicab Association, said various applications have been in use for the past 20 years and they get quicker all the time.

He said in addition to contacting police or emergency responders, the system alerts other cabbies in the area.

“We’ve had other taxicabs at a scene faster than the police. An assailant will be in a taxi and all of a sudden he has six other cabs driving right at him. The main thing is, let’s get some help to the driver immediately,” he said.

The technology also works in potentially dangerous situations that don’t involve an assault, such as an electrician working alone in a house or on a job site. If they accidentally receive a serious shock and are incapacitated, the Lone Worker’s motion detector will cause it to vibrate after a certain period of inactivity. If the vibration isn’t shut off immediately, a “man down” message will be immediately sent to the emergency responder and the closest worker.

Roberta Weiss, a realtor with Century 21 Bachman, is considering getting the Lone Worker. She has had a couple of dicey work situations, plus she’s well aware that a Vancouver Island realtor was killed nearly three years ago while showing a home in a remote area and a Winnipeg realtor met the same fate in Tyndall Park in 1979.

“Female realtors especially have been in situations that were a little scary and unnerving. I think the more we can do to protect ourselves, the easier it is to carry on our business,” she said.

Weiss said whenever she has to meet a client she doesn’t know, she takes certain precautions, such as letting others know where she’s going and who she’s meeting. If a house is vacant or isolated, she’ll have her phone pre-dialled to 911. She said she likes the idea of the Lone Worker when doing open houses.

“You have people coming, but you don’t know them. You’re opening the doors for them to come through. I think anything is possible at any time,” she said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca