Remote Worker GPS Tracking: Duress and Incident Alerts
A common challenge in GPS tracking is monitoring lone or remote workers.
Typically, lone worker tracking involves monitoring employees or assets in areas that do not have cellular coverage and often require some form of duress or “man-down” alerting.
Businesses may also have compliance mandates to ensure the safety of isolated employees. In some countries, this is known as Duty of Care, which requires management/executives of an organization to implement suitable safety measures or they may face prosecution and financial penalties.
In Australia for example, there are several OHS requirements for Lone or Remote Workers:
24/7 location of the vehicle even when out of mobile coverage
Accident / roll-over notifications
SOS button / pendant notification**
‘Schedule-in’ button (dash mounted)
Journey Management (alarm/siren if “sched-in” is missed)
Alerts via SMS or Email to multiple recipients
Lone Worker Tracking and Duress Alarms
Our range of vehicle tracking devices such as the Dart2, G62, and G120 all have digital inputs. These digital inputs allow the device to detect whether the voltage on the input is above or below a certain threshold. It will then set the input as ON or OFF, log the change, and can be configured to upload immediately on the change for an instant alert.
This means actions such as a light turning on, a button being pressed, or a pump being switched on can be tracked.
The digital inputs also allow for a wide variety of duress/man down pendants to be paired with the tracking device. Though we don’t manufacture these products ourselves, you are free to select the right one for your application and use it with our devices.
For example:
Simple, low-cost push button on the dashboard can be wired to the device as a duress button
Wireless duress pendants can be used, and the pendant receiver connected to the tracking device
More complex “Man Down” pendants can be utilized, and the receiver wired to the DM device. Such pendants are typically higher cost, but they can utilize in-built accelerometers to detect when the user has potentially fallen over and is unresponsive or not moving.
In addition to the hardware provision for duress, Telematics Guru can immediately send an email, SMS, and live in-browser alerts with sound to ensure any incidents are attended to in a timely manner.
Remote/Out of Coverage Areas
In remote areas, a communication method other than cellular is required.
The G120 can be used as a Cellular/Iridium Hybrid device. It can quickly and easily be connected to an Iridium Edge® module.
The G120 will use cellular data (far lower cost) when in mobile coverage, and when it leaves coverage it will fail over to Iridium, using the included modem and antenna fitted within the Edge. Iridium data utilizes a satellite constellation for its connection to the device, so coverage is available worldwide.
The G120 will provide coverage where you need it, at an affordable price point. As Iridium data is costly, the device will check in at a reduced rate to when in coverage, but all data will still be stored on the device, to be uploaded when returning to coverage.
Duress button presses and accident or rollover alerts can be configured to be sent immediately via Iridium – Learn more about Remote Asset Tracking with the Hybrid G120 Cellular / Iridium
Accident/Rollover Alerts
In addition to knowing where your assets and personnel are, our vehicle tracking devices feature built-in accelerometers to detect accidents, rollovers, and harsh driving events.
No special device orientation is required, as long as the device is secured. The device will intelligently work out its orientation using GPS and accelerometer data collected after about 15 minutes of normal driving.
The accident detection system does the following:
Accidents are detected using 2D (horizontal) changes in velocity over 120ms.
Rollovers are reported when the vehicle’s angle to the “normal” horizontal plane exceeds 60 degrees.
Drop detection detects velocity changes in the vertical dimension.
An immediate alert will be sent to the server when an accident is detected. Additionally, the device can be set to record second-by-second ‘black-box’ accident data; data from 60 seconds before and 10 seconds after the incident will be available on the server in the event of an accident.
When a device is out of coverage and operating over Iridium – an accident alert is prioritized and will also be sent immediately! Meaning early warning of incidents is given to allow for the appropriate response action to be put in place.
