Protecting frontline lone workers

Leading electricity, water and natural gas provider Liberty Utilities has announced that it has selected global connected safety technology leader Blackline Safety Corp. (TSX: BLN) to help protect its frontline workers in North America, Bermuda and Chile.

Due to the need for faster emergency response for frontline workers and the rising occurrences of security events - including verbal abuse and physical aggression against staff by customers - Liberty turned to Blackline for a reliable, connected lone worker safety solution that could scale across their gas, water and electric divisions and record interactions.

The company has deployed its first 300 Blackline wearable devices, including both Blackline’s leading G7c (cellular) and G7x (satellite) models.

“The world has changed, people have changed. If we don’t change with it, if we don’t outfit our folks with whatever we can to succeed or to fail safely, then you know we haven’t done our job, especially as a health and safety team,” said Kevin Spottiswood, Director, EHS (East Region) of Liberty Utilities.

Prior to using Blackline’s wearable technology, the company documented security events only manually in an ad hoc way. Now, Liberty’s frontline worker interactions are monitored and recorded by Blackline’s Safety Operations Centers (SOC) agents, with the wearables providing extensive protection through features such as:

The system offers connectivity anytime, anywhere, providing both cellular and optional satellite connectivity to ensure a failsafe way of staying in touch with workers, even in the most remote locations. It enables real-time awareness by giving access to worker location and instant, geo-stamped notifications when a worker is in distress, supporting a quick response. Communication options are diverse, allowing employees to be reached through two-way voice, text, or push-to-talk. For lone worker protection, it includes manual (emergency SOS), automatic (falls, no-motion), and time-based (missed check-in) alerts. With 24/7 live monitoring, it ensures that alerts are responded to around the clock. Additionally, it features automated reporting that provides actionable information and a hassle-free way to understand compliance and record incidents.

After trailing multiple options, Spottiswood said Liberty chose Blackline’s connected safety platform as it offered instant visibility of their workers’ safety status, location, and a reliable way to reach them.

“To support the technology, Liberty developed a new lone worker policy with a clearer and more prescriptive definition of a lone worker, and a mandate that employees wear their Blackline device, regardless of division or region,” said Sean Stinson, President of Blackline Safety. “It’s a shift that has led to a change at Liberty, fostering a deeper culture of safety excellence, and peace of mind for frontline workers and the company.”