Isolated Worker Geolocation: Which Solution to Choose?

Before choosing any solution to protect a lone worker, you need to identify his working environment and the risks he faces. Does he work indoors, outdoors, at height, underground? Does he need to travel off-site? Is the workstation easy to find? It's important to ask yourself all these questions in order to choose the right solution.

On a fairly large site, a logistics warehouse for example, it will be difficult to have a precise position in the event of an accident. GPS geolocation often stops at the doors of the premises. Your PTI solution must therefore be able to compensate for the absence of GPS signals.

In the event of an alarm, a lone worker's DATI is located using GPS signals emitted by satellites. These signals provide very good localization outdoors. Indoors, on the other hand, GPS signals are greatly impaired unless you are located near a window or opening.

Most PTI-DATI devices operate like cell phones. They therefore exchange in the same way thanks to a SIM card with relay antennas. The GSM network can effectively locate someone using the antennas in less than 5 seconds. However, this technology is ill-suited to geolocating lone workers, as its level of precision is insufficient for effective intervention in the event of an alert. Your DATI therefore also needs GPS geolocation to offer an accurate position.

Using your wifi terminals is an effective solution for locating indoors. In the event of an incident, you can use a compatible DATI to identify the nearest wifi terminal in order to locate the alert. This solution eliminates the need to install specific beacons dedicated to DATI geolocation.

If wifi isn't the right solution, you can opt to install geolocation beacons. Combined with your DATIs, they compensate for the lack of GPS reception or wifi signal. The alert device automatically registers nearby beacons (within a 10m radius). In the event of an alert, it then transmits the last 3 beacons in memory. This gives emergency personnel a precise position inside the building in the event of an alarm.

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An ITP equipped only with GPS geolocation can be effective in identifying the location where the alert was triggered. Some DATIs allow regular updating of their GPS position, and transmit the last known position with their alert. In the case of an alert occurring inside a building with no GPS reception, it is then possible to indicate a position close to the site's entry point, so that emergency services can be sent there. This solution is ideally suited to itinerant lone workers operating on many different sites, for maintenance work for example.