Workforce Management

Hub for remote workers

by Mark Rowe

The mobile and broadband network provider Ericsson in the UK has over 500 lone workers who carry out maintenance services across the country. Working around the clock and in remote locations, lone working engineers use a lone worker protection product, to check-in with their supervisors while they work.

Ericsson has its own in house response team but sought a more reliable way for their employees to alert them in an emergency. The StaySafe product monitors the location and safety status of lone working staff whenever they begin a timed session via the app. Missed check-in and session expiry alerts automatically alert the employer even when the employee is unable to. A panic button can be pressed to request emergency assistance. Beginning a session or triggering an alert, allows an external monitor at Ericsson to view a location of the employee through the StaySafe Hub.

Ericsson employees were up and running with StaySafe in just two weeks. Training was rolled out to the team of lone workers online; through videos and digital user guides. StaySafe says that it continued to support Ericsson after initial roll out.

StaySafe worked with Ericsson to set up a ‘hub’ structure that allowed line managers to be responsible for their own engineers but also allow dispatch to have access to alarms, ensuring that someone is always available to respond. Ericsson has some 27 hubs which vary in size and structure and can be modified by the business.

Engineers often work on remote sites where nearby cell towers are switched off. To stay connected there, Ericsson utilize StaySafe’s Low Signal Mode. That allows the StaySafe app to continue to communicate with the hub via a basic 2G connection. In that mode, session functions and alerts continue to be sent to the Ericsson Hub even when a data connection cannot be made.

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