New Evacuation Technology Expands Capabilities for Safety Instrument Manfacturers

On June 22nd, at the Safety & Health Expo hosted at the ExCeL London, Blackline Safety Corp. (Canada), announced the expansion of its Loner safety monitoring technology to include real-time evacuation management of commercial and industrial facilities.

“Launching in July, Blackline’s evacuation capability will operate completely independent of a site’s power and communications infrastructure — including indoor location technology,” says Gavin Boorman, Managing Director of Blackline Safety Europe. “Supporting our new employee-worn Loner M6 device, this evacuation system is the first of its kind to blend 3G communications, voice calling, two-way text messaging and real-time employee tracking throughout a facility.”

All customers can take advantage of this new evacuation management functionality — including those who self-monitor or are monitored by Blackline’s Safety Operation Center (SOC) and Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) partners.

“From natural disasters to security threats and process failures — emergency situations can happen anytime and affect anyone at any given location,” says Sean Stinson, VP Sales & Product Management of Blackline Safety. “In order to efficiently manage the situation, it’s crucial for an employer to quickly notify all affected personnel, initiate their evacuation and actively manage the process to ensure that everyone is accounted for at muster points or other safe locations.”

Creation of Blackline’s evacuation technology was inspired by customer requirements. The Canadian subsidiary of Cermaq Group AS deployed Blackline’s Loner Bridge System across their salmon farms on the West Coast of Canada. “We looked at several solutions that would let us instantly notify our workers about tsunamis and other potentially life-threatening situations, and allow them to quickly evacuate to a safe location,” says Dave Samson, Cermaq Canada’s occupational health and safety officer. 

Blackline’s SOC and ARC partners initiate evacuations for clients and monitor employees’ progress in reaching muster points and designated safe areas. Employee-worn Loner M6 devices initiate a TeamAlert that includes an audible and visual alarm plus a voice recording that provides critical evacuation instructions. Similarly, employee-worn Loner 900 devices initiate a TeamAlert where a yellow indicator light instructs employees to return to their Loner Bridge device for important evacuation instructions via two-way text messaging.

Loner M6 and Loner 900 include GPS location technology for use outdoors and are compatible with Blackline’s indoor location beacon technology. Every employee’s location is updated in real-time on an interactive Google map within Blackline’s Live monitoring account. Custom floor and site plans can be imported into Blackline Live and provide valuable situational awareness — evacuation routes, muster points and safe areas can be highlighted on top of the Google Map. Blackline’s Live monitoring account pin-points employee locations every step of the way during the evacuation — including any personnel who may otherwise be left behind. With real-time situational knowledge, a rescue can be proactively managed, bringing everyone out to safe locations.