Edina Ltd has chosen a SoloProtect lone worker solution to help mobile workers, and to assist with job completion reporting. SoloProtect supplies the fully-managed, BS 8484:2016 approved product, featuring Identicom, the lone worker device, as now used by engineers at Edina.
Edina is a supplier, installer and maintenance provider for natural gas and biogas combined heat and power (CHP) products. As distributor for MWM manufactured gas engines in the UK and Ireland, Edina provides support services so clients ensure security of power supply, reduce energy costs and carbon emissions, and develop new business through CHP application.
With offices across the UK, Ireland and Australia, and over 200 personnel, Edina has a number of lone working engineers that provide on-site installation, support, maintenance, diagnostic and repair services to CHP plants within the NHS trust, universities, industrial and commercial, public and private sectors, agricultural, farming, sewage waste water treatment, and food processing sectors.
Identicom is a discreet, ID badge-styled device for lone workers. It’s commonly worn on a lanyard, or belt-clip – depending on a worker’s clothing. This allows the device to form part of a lone worker’s PPE, be within reach should it be needed, and is not an obvious piece of technology for anyone to be unduly conscious of. Delivering 24/7 alarm monitoring should a lone worker require emergency assistance, Edina’s Identicoms are supported by SoloProtect’s in-house, Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) which was completed in 2015. The SoloProtect ARC is also accredited to EN 50518, the European standard for Alarm Receiving Centres, and supports all SoloProtect customer accounts.
The SoloProtect solution chosen by Edina is also linked to Mobile Workforce Management – a community-based, online management tool. It allows managers to improve communication between lone workers, offer flexibility across field-staff and their deployment, and to help improve efficiencies. Edina utilise the platform to deploy lone workers, share job information across the workforce, and to demonstrate job completion to their customers. This enables Edina to use a range of operational benefits, but whilst primarily being concerned with the safety of their lone workers.
Many lone workers use Identicom to reduce social risk – primarily because of verbal abuse, and aggression. Typically, Edina
personnel are more likely to face an environmental risk due to working alone, on-site at a fixed or potentially remote location – this type of activity is more readily associated with a risk of incapacitation (sometimes referred to as ‘Man Down’). In the event that an engineer suffers a trip, fall, or an unknown health issue, Identicom’s automatic incapacitation alarm will contact the SoloProtect Alarm Receiving Centre on the lone worker’s behalf if they are unable to manually raise the alarm, themselves.
In the event of any Red Alert being handled by the SoloProtect Alarm Receiving Centre, a trained ARC Operator will monitor the call throughout its entirety. The operator will assess and record the situation, whilst escalating it appropriately to get the best possible response for the lone worker.
What they say
Stephen Nullis, Group Chief Engineer at Edina said: “Since adopting a SoloProtect lone worker solution, we’ve been pleased with the support we’ve received from the company, and how easily the solution has been adopted by our workforce, and the positive impact it’s had on our operations.” And Craig Swallow, Managing Director at SoloProtect UK said: “We’re delighted Edina’s lone workers are using SoloProtect to assist operations, as part of meeting their duty of care to staff. It’s a really positive message from an organisation to its workforce.”
