Grace Industries has introduced a new line of lone worker fall suspension alert-notification products for people who work at heights.
After a fall, the response time is critical for a worker hanging for a prolonged period of time placing them at serious risk of suspension trauma. Suspension trauma, also known as orthostatic intolerance or harness hang syndrome, is commonly defined as the loss of consciousness when hanging with limited movement, a danger that is life threatening when response is beyond a critical time-window of several minutes.
OSHA Fall Protection standard 1926.502 (d) (20) calls for the “prompt rescue” of employees in the event of a fall. What is often overlooked is the threat of suspension trauma when a “prompt rescue” relies only on a by-chance discovery of the worker hanging in a harness and unable to self-rescue. After a fall, the worker may be injured, unconscious and unable to summon assistance on their own.
The new Grace WorkForce uses an advanced gyro/accelerometer to detect a worker’s fall from heights and automatically transmits an emergency alert without any action required by the worker. WorkForce automatically transmits an emergency signal received by others to facilitate a “prompt rescue.” Additionally, a worker has the option of immediately activating an emergency alert by pressing the WorkForce panic button. WorkForce has a third means of emergency alerting by automatic activation when using its self-contained motion sensing timer.
WorkForce products are configured in several packages for many types of applications including:
- WorkForce Buddy Package: comprised of two WorkForce worker-worn devices used to monitor one another.
- WorkForce Supervisor Full Feature Package: provides the ability to monitor multiple workers adding the option to locate a worker in distress when used with an optional GPS feature or the fixed-location indoor Grace Locator Beacon.
- WorkForce Portable Worksite Alarm Package: used on jobsites to provide a very loud audible siren and strobe-light alerting to other on-site personnel.
Advanced fixed facility monitoring system packages are available to provide on-site indoor location, outdoor GPS mapping and advanced intelligent inputs and outputs for sending alerts via email and text-message, or by use of an automatic telephone voice dialer. These systems are also capable of integrating with satellite modems or existing fire, security or SCADA monitoring systems. Workforce is compatible with all Grace Lone Worker advanced monitoring systems. WorkForce is made in the United States, has no monthly fees or annual subscriptions and uses its own autonomous high performance unlicensed radio system.
News item from Grace
Filed Under: News, Safety, Services
