Lone Worker Protection – Devices, Alarms & Monitoring

Today, many users prefer using one single device during their shift. Often, organizations offer their employees a Wi-Fi-device, sometimes even only requiring the download of a lone worker safety app on their personal phone. While this seems efficient at first, it is not sufficient in an emergency. By solely using app-based technology, lone workers risk the coverage going down at the exact moment they need it most.

This is due to numerous possibilities like firewalls blocking the coverage or the network being currently overloaded. This happens often with multiple system suppliers involved in the alarm chain.

While applications can work well in certain cases, using this approach as a lone worker comes with other potential consequences. In a possible attack, the phone could be thrown across the room and break, it may be too late by the time the app is opened or simply, the device’s battery just died. Notifications from other apps may even distract from the more important alarms. As a lone worker, these are scenarios that simply are not allowed to occur at the wrong moment.

All COBS handsets are robust, and the red panic alarm button is positioned right where the thumb or index finger cognitively falls, ensuring that quick reflexes take the right action at the right time, no thinking needed.

The choice between COBS products, for example, CS37p or Stellar PS-Pager, is often based on whether the user already has other voice communication devices or not. For example, in high-security institutions, like prisons, the users may be required to have TETRA devices to be able to talk to other guards, police and the fire department. Stellar PS-Pager is then an excellent choice as it provides detailed room and zone-based locationing accuracy and alarms with integration into the PSIM system. In high-security institutions, where voice mobility is used for collaboration, intercoms, etc., then the CS37p with its feature-rich alarm capabilities may be the better option.

To avoid congestion and overloaded networks, COBS provides DECT-based devices as they are connected to a dedicated and interference-free frequency. This has its own protected system of strategically located base stations for guaranteed coverage throughout institutions and facilities.

The devices are connected to COBS CMS or COBS neXcore, which supports a wide range of portable, mobile, and fixed technologies and devices. Depending on the chosen technology and device, relevant data is delivered, such as type of event, priority, location, etc. This data includes colour coding, characteristic sound and other alerting features making it intuitive to the receiving user what is going on.

With Versity, COBS offers dedicated, Android-based and ruggedized lone worker devices that withstand falls onto hard flooring and where the battery can be changed whilst the device is still on and functioning, to avoid missing any important notifications. The COBS Mobile App and the COBS Lynx App utilize the proprietary integration to the physical panic alarm button making sure a lone worker alarm can be triggered intuitively in your pocket without having to unlock the screen.

For high-security institutions, the COBS Stellar system provides a large and reliable mesh network with distributed intelligence, precise locationing of events and rugged devices. The Stellar platform uses a dedicated UHF mesh network, where each device can relay messages through the network with redundancy built into it. This means that units continue to operate even when other components are removed from the mesh. The Stellar system provides a cost-efficient setup where person-independent device allocation through profiles can be deployed, reducing the risk of downtime, and enabling availability to devices.