Lafarge Tarmac set new safety benchmark
Company improves safety of lone highways workers with real-time monitoring system
LAFARGE Tarmac’s Contracting division is rolling out innovative technology designed to provide greater protection for lone highways workers.
The system – which is a first for the highways industry – has been specially developed by Lafarge Tarmac in partnership with Reliance Protect. It works by providing real-time monitoring and tracking of workers who might be required to work alone on site, such as plant delivery drivers and equipment fitters.
Lone workers will be given an armband with built-in GPS technology that relays real-time information on their status and location to a control centre, which is manned around the clock.
When arriving on site, operatives will log into the system, advising the call centre of their exact location and the time they expect to be on site. If their armband does not detect movement for more than 180 seconds, the device will vibrate continuously and if not acknowledged by the operative, it will send an emergency alert to a central monitoring centre to activate emergency support.
The armband also features a panic alarm that can be activated if an operative feels threatened by a road user or intimidated by a member of the public. The device listens and records everything that takes place during an incident, so that trained monitoring staff can respond appropriately, depending on the severity of the situation (eg calling out emergency services, archiving recordings as evidence for any legal action etc).
Lafarge Tarmac’s launch of the new lone work system follows an extensive trial across Yorkshire and the West Midlands.
Paul Fleetham, managing director of Lafarge Tarmac Contracting, commented: ‘By equipping our lone workers with this new innovative device, we can access real-time information on site, helping us to further improve the safety of our employees.
‘This technology sets a new benchmark for lone-worker safety and, through a central control centre, ensures that we are in constant communication with our employees and can immediately deploy support if necessary.’
