Online personal tracking service for lone workers
VeriLocation (Over Mapping Ltd, Northants) and Dunoon-based Argyll are offering bespoke services for online personal tracking service for the lone worker.
23 November, 2007
The BlackBerry. pocket PC and mobile phone have enabled local government workers to operate more effectively while on the move can now help employers meet their duty of care, thanks to VeriLocation’s online Personal Tracking Solution. based on a bespoke web-based GPS tracking software which works with BlackBerry or Pocket PC devices with built-in GPS chip sets.
This enables individuals to be traced in real-time using the internet to an accuracy of 10 metres anywhere in the world with one single device.The company focuses on personal and fleet tracking.
Andrew Overton, MD VeriLocation says: “Many mobile or remote workers rely on a BlackBerry or Pocket PC to keep in touch. Our new solution provides additional benefits because the tracking software is running in the background. Employers have a duty of care to all their employees, and lone workers can be vulnerable in certain places or at different times of the day. In addition, the VeriLocation personal tracking solution can include a panic alarm which, when activated, transfers through to a manned 24 hour monitoring station.”
Individuals are traced in real-time using the VeriLocation website, which is currently accessed by over 6,000 customers in the UK, Europe and Middle East. Andrew Overton continues: “A new individual can be easily added to the system to access a range of services. These include unique street level mapping, aerial photography and finding out the speed and direction of travel - both inside and out of a vehicle. Geofence alerts can also be set up to notify colleagues when a worker has arrived at specific location. The software even works out journey times and distances so expense reports can be produced automatically.”
VeriLocation’s Personal Tracking solution differs from other available systems as it provides a complete and cost-effective package from one supplier. With just one direct debit payment each month, it is easy to administer and the employee has one handy device for all their communications. Many other personal tracking devices currently available on the market rely on SIM card tracking, whereas GPS is much more accurate. Customers report the device able to locate a position even inside buildings and in the boots of cars.
The northern approach
In Scotland, however, Dunoon-based Argyll Telecommunications claims to be the UK's largest service provider of wireless and mobile location based solutions. The company monitors in excess of 17,000 lone workers including NHS and Local Authority personnel - ranging from community midwives and ambulance rews to parking attendants and neighbourhood wardents- throughout the UK. It also offers a wide range of devices for specilist requirements.
With active time at risk monitoring, passive location monitoring and discreet duress facilities, implementation of Argyll's solutions aids compliance with current health and safety legislation and fully meets employers' Duty of Care.
The service protecting those exposed to daily health and/or safety risks from a 24/7/365 managed operations, communications and data centre with integrated legally compliant voice recording, Emergency Services and sustainable IT resilience.
Solutions are designed specifically to support the Duty of Care and current Health & Safety legislation and are available for the purposes of discreet location management; time based risk management and management of lone workers' personal risk exposure for general health, safety and wellbeing.
“Every lone worker’s requirements are different – therefore there can be no genuinely effective one-size-fits-all solution and this is the reason why Argyll uniquely offers a choice of services and devices, ” says MD
Tom Morton, who adds “The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act are steering the health & safety agenda of each and every organisation. Controlling the risks associated with lone working has never been more prominent and Argyll is committed to enabling clients to operate safe working practices using mobile technology to deliver a robust lone worker system.”