A guide to two-way radio emergency features – Man-Down, GPS and Lone-Worker
If your employees work alone, in remote areas, or in a potentially dangerous environment, then you need emergency features on your two way radios. These are frequently called lone-worker or man-down systems, but you can also have radios fitted with GPS. These features are essential for health and safety, and you will often find them used on oil rigs, in warehouses, by security guards, engineers or health workers.
The simplicity lies in the way it works. An alarm is sent across the whole radio system by the device that has triggered the emergency, and that alarm can come through as a voice, text or tone alarm. The alarm can be filtered any way you want through the system, either directly to mobile phones or e-mails, or through a central unit.
The complexity lies in the specific programming for your organisation.
Radios can trigger an alarm, for instance, when:
- there is no response
- the radio is not moving at all (Man Down)
- the radio is moving too much
- the panic button has been pressed
- the radio has been inactive for too long
- the radio has gone out of a specific boundary
Man Down – Two Way Radio Feature
The Man Down option will let you know if the radio has been tilted at a certain angle. This may happen for instance if the radio user has fallen over or is unconscious or injured. At this angle, or if the phone is horizontal, the alarm will be triggered after a warning is issued to the user.
Lone Worker – Two Way Radio Feature
The Lone Worker feature has a timer in the radio which measures inactivity. If the timer goes over, a warning is issued, and if there is no response to that, the alarm is triggered.
Emergency button – Two Way Radio Feature
Radios come with an emergency button which is usually orange and placed at the top of the device. It can be programmed to raise an alarm to the base station or to other radios, and the identity of the person issuing the alarm is shown to devices with display.
GPS on Two Way Radios
With lone workers, a GPS signal can help locate the person who has issued the alarm or who is in a “man down” situation.
Take a look through some of the Hytera DMR radios to evaluate our extensive list of features.
22 April 2016