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Lone Worker Safety Solution with Bluetooth

This article will illustrate how Simon is modular and capable of delivering end-to-end solutions for a diverse range of use cases, including lone worker safety.

Safety in the workplace. An important topic because workers across industries are exposed to risks in varying degrees each day. In our recent article on safety in healthcare, hospital and care staff routinely encounter verbal and physical danger while at work. Industries like manufacturing, construction, and various lone worker trade jobs are also at high risk for injury while on the job.

One of the founding principles at Kontakt.io is that Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology should be simple to use and effective at helping people. Five years later, we are continuing with our mission to make IoT simple by delivering end-to-end BLE solutions based on our open, modular IoT location platform.

Whether you have a workforce of 100 or 10,000, your employees safety should be a top concern, so check out the best lone worker safety solutions.


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Simon is creating safer work environments powered by BLE technology.


Why The Lone Worker Safety Systems are so important?

From the moment we wake up in the morning, risk follows us around everywhere we go. But we accept a degree of risk to cross the street or drive a car. For certain types of work, heightened risks are just part of the job.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics in the US conducted a survey in 2016 and found that fatal injuries in the workplace rose for the third consecutive year. One of the most common dangers associated with this rise is “falls, trips and slips.” In the case of an employee falling, a key to mitigating harm as much as possible is the reaction time. The sooner someone can be notified and react to a fall or emergency the better.

That’s where data and lone worker safety devices comes in. Gathering data about location and movement, recognizing patterns in that data, and developing predictive models based on it allows companies to make better decisions for the safety of their workforce.

BLE real-time location systems (RTLS) is a technological step in the right direction.

Improving Lone Workers Safety with BLE technology

Aligning with some of the most reputable technology companies in the industry, we are bringing together hardware and software to provide an end-to-end solution.
One application of this is to improve safety in the workplace. Location, movement, and other data streams like humidity, acceleration, temperature, and ambient light are captured to analyzed to enable this.

  1. Hardware is the first component in this solution. Depending on the type of workplace environment, we may use BLE devices (like the Card Beacon or the Bluetooth Tag), a compatible smartphone, or a combination of both. It’s common to use both tags and smartphones as each have unique characteristics suited for various use cases.
  2. Software enables the data gathered from the hardware. This can include the location of the beacon, telemetry data like how quickly it’s accelerating, temperature, or whether it’s been used to call for help.

All of this data is presented through a dedicated dashboard that allows users to analyze the data, create alerts, adjust parameters, and maintain the hardware. Easy to deploy. Easy to use. The future of safety in the workplace.

The Safety and Security Module

As mentioned in a previous post, Kontakt.io’s end-to-end solutions are built using a modular approach. This means that we group features into building blocks based on functionality and in turn deliver a solution that best fits our customers’ needs.
The Safety and Security module facilitates a personal alarming, or Bluetooth Panic Button, solution. The Panic Button is designed to keep workers safe by immediately notifying supervisors when and where help is needed by means of a personal button they carry with them.

Access to historical data, graphs and models of emergency events are provided on an intuitive dashboard or via smartphone application. The ability of an organization to record and react to staff emergencies allows them to take decisive action to improve the safety standards of their facilities and processes for the future.

As greater compliance and safety standards are introduced, businesses will be expected to keep up. One of the ways this will be accomplished is by implementing technologies that provide more transparency (and data). These elements are at the core of Simon

The Asset Tracking Module

The Asset Tracking Module is another module optimized for use with any beacon or tag for the purpose of tracking location. Whether it’s a person or object, if it’s equipped with a Bluetooth LE beacon, tag or a smartphone using the Kontakt.io SDK, our platform can provide it’s location in real-time.

Use Case – Warehouse tracking

A large distribution warehouse picks orders to be packaged and shipped to customers. Management recently equipped all pickers with the Bluetooth Tag S18-3 and through their BLE-scanning access points gathers the location and telemetry data from the tags as the pickers move about the warehouse. This data is captured by the access points and relayed to the on-site server via WiFi.

Kontakt.io’s modular approach allowed the distribution company to easily integrate both the Safety and Security and Asset Tracking Modules into the end-solution. Allowing them to deploy a state-of-the-art tracking solution with an integrated Panic Button.

Now the company can analyze the pickers routes, know how fast they’re going, how long they stay in a particular area or another, and where accidents may be most common. This information should lead to a safer environment for employees and improved efficiencies across the board.

Conclusion About Lone Workers Protection Devices

With each day, demand grows for connectivity and transparency in the workplace. One of the principle ways this is being achieved is through BLE RTLS technology and lone workers protection devices.

If you’d like to learn more about how we’re solving organizational challenges with BLE, then contact our team and we can map out your next project from start to finish.