According to the latest statistics from OHS Canada, the workplace is getting more dangerous. In 2018, 1,027 workers died at work (not from natural causes), up 76 from 2017. After years of falling numbers, fatalities and injuries have taken a worrying uptick. In 2019 in Canada, 42 employees died in the extraction industries, including oil and gas. One trend that may be having an impact is the growth in lone working.
Between 2013 and 2017, 489 US oil and gas extraction workers were killed on the job, again according to official figures. The oil patch in Alberta is full of similar hazards — Vehicle Accidents, Struck-By/Caught-In/Caught-Between, Explosions and Fires, Falls, Confined Spaces and Chemical Exposures. Everything is made worse when the worker is alone.
According the the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019 there were a total of 5,333 lone worker deaths across all industries.
- Transportation incidents – 39.8%
- Falls, trips and slips – 16.5%
- Exposure to harmful substances or environments – 12.0%
- Fatalities due to fires and explosions – 1.9%
If a worker has an accident out in the field, GPS can be part of the solution. Typically, tagging the worker’s truck is the first step, so you will always know where it’s located. But — much more important — where is the worker? Geoforce Fleet & LoneWorker takes the safety net to the next level, using cellular and satellite connectivity combined.
The Geoforce Fleet & LoneWorker solution is the next best thing to having a buddy right there. By tapping into third-party technologies, Georforce can alert a central control to gas exposure. It can tell if a worker is not moving with a Man-Down notification. You can even interact with a worker by two-way text message. Even in the most remote locations, the Geoforce Fleet & LoneWorker solution is always on — switching seamlessly from cellular coverage to satellite.
Geoforce is a new kind of safety net that incorporates a range of lone worker features with full fleet management protection. Journey management and driver scorecards can identify risky behaviours, such as sudden braking or excessive speed, as well as predicting vehicle malfunctions that could lead to exposure in bad weather.
The nature of working in the oil patch means that there will always be unpredictable dangers around the corner. But Geoforce Fleet & LoneWorker offers an all-in-one package that stretches the safety net as far as it will go. Lone worker should never mean that anyone is actually alone.
For more information about how Geoforce can help your lone workers, contact rclarke@geoforce.com.