Grace Industries is pleased to introduce a new line of Lone Worker fall suspension alert-notification products for people who work at heights.
Fall protection remains in the top 10 OSHA violations. Fall protection is widely used in fall prevention; but what happens after a fall from heights leaving a working hanging in their body harness?
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; commonly defined as the loss of consciousness when hanging with limited movement; a danger which 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 and facilitating a “prompt rescue.”
Grace advanced fall detection and lone worker safety monitoring solutions go beyond traditional concepts of self-rescue. Additionally, a worker also 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® is used by anyone working at heights or working alone. Common applications include utilities, construction, arborist, scaffold workers and windfarms.
Fall suspension emergency alerting is just one of the features of WorkForce®, in addition to advanced fall detection; WorkForce® protects all who work alone. Grace Lone Worker products are found wherever people are working alone. For employers, serious consideration must be given to protecting their employees who are working alone and to satisfy OSHA’s General Duty Clause.
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, out-door 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 USA, has no monthly fees or annual subscriptions and uses its own autonomous high performance unlicensed radio system.
Since 1974, with close to a million fire and industrial personal alert safety system alarms sold in over thirty countries, Grace Industries continues to be known as a pioneer in “Solutions for Life Safety” in the development and manufacture of products designed to monitor the personal safety of individuals within the fire service, manufacturing, bio-medical, energy, construction, mining and transportation sectors.
