A smart phone app that can alert workplaces when remote workers fail to check in has been launched by security monitoring provider Calamity, ahead of Safe Work Month in October.
The app is called Fearless and is particularly aimed at mobile staff or ‘lone workers’ such as those working in mining and construction or remote farms. The app uses the phone’s GPS to monitor staff locations and can alert both the user and the office in the event of an emergency, or can be set to send alerts if a worker fails to ‘check in’.
Activity on Fearless is monitored 24/7 by Calamity. In an emergency or failed check-in situation, Calamity can instantly access the user’s location as well as use their phone to access audio and camera functions. This allows Calamity to initiate the most suitable response to the situation. Calamity says that as the Fearless system is cloud-based, information can still be accessed if the phone has been stolen or destroyed.
In addition to monitoring worker locations the app also features a number of other modes. Journey mode allows employers to receive live updates. Meeting mode is a setting intended for potentially risky or dangerous meetings and raises an alert after a countdown timer reaches zero and isn’t reset by the worker. Man down mode is for use in situations where physical injury or immobilisation is a possibility, such as farms or remote construction sites. In this situation the app can alert employers of any sudden deceleration, non-movement or impact.
The app provides protection for staff as well as well as giving businesses a reasonably simple way to comply with many workplace health and safety laws.
“It [the app] has been carefully constructed to ensure employers can comply with work health and safety requirements and offers peace of mind to anyone who may feel unsafe in their personal or professional life,” Calamity CEO and designer of Fearless Daniel Lewkovitz says
“Users can switch it on before any potentially dangerous situation, such as travelling to a meeting, and it will let others know you arrived safely without anyone needing to remember to ‘text their boss’.”