Lone worker alarms are designed to protect employees who work by themselves or in situations where immediate assistance may not be readily available. In manufacturing environments, this might include maintenance engineers working in plant rooms, operators covering night shifts, staff working in isolated areas of a site, or contractors carrying out specialist tasks. When something goes wrong, a lone worker alarm ensures that help can be requested quickly and that the alert reaches the right people.
Historically, lone worker protection has often relied on simple visual and audible alerts such as lights and sounders, or on external monitoring through an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). While these approaches can play a role, they also have important limitations that are worth understanding before deciding whether they are sufficient for your site.
Lights and Sounders: A Familiar Starting Point
In manufacturing, it is common to already have lights and sounders in place for machinery faults, fire alarms, or process alerts. As a result, when lone working is discussed, a natural response is to consider using a similar approach. A triggered alarm could activate a flashing beacon or audible siren to indicate that someone needs assistance.
At first glance, this seems straightforward and reassuring. The alert is immediate, it is visible, and it does not rely on complex systems or additional devices. For smaller sites with constant occupancy, this approach can appear to offer a simple solution.
The Limitations of Lights and Sounders
The challenge with relying solely on lights and sounders is that they assume someone is nearby, available, and able to respond. In many manufacturing environments this simply is not the case. Sites can be large, noisy, and spread over multiple buildings. A sounder may not be heard above machinery, and a flashing light may go unnoticed if no one is in direct line of sight.
There is also the issue of context. A light or sounder does not tell responders who triggered the alarm, where they are, or what kind of help is needed. In a busy environment, alarms can blend into the background, increasing the risk of alarm fatigue where alerts are missed or not treated with the urgency they deserve.
Finally, once an alarm is triggered, managing it can be difficult. There is often no clear acknowledgement, no easy way to track response times, and no record to review afterwards. This makes it harder to demonstrate compliance, identify patterns, or improve procedures over time.
The Role of an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC)
Another option often raised is the use of an Alarm Receiving Centre. In this model, an alarm is routed to a third-party monitoring service that operates around the clock. The ARC can follow predefined procedures, such as calling nominated contacts or emergency services if required.
While this adds a layer of oversight, it can still introduce delays. The ARC operator is removed from the site and may not fully understand the environment, the risks involved, or the most appropriate on-site response. Communication is typically sequential, with calls made one after another, rather than alerts being delivered simultaneously to multiple responders.
A Smarter Approach: Alarms Delivered to People
A more effective way to manage lone worker alarms is to send them directly to responders on PC and mobile devices. Instead of relying on someone noticing a light or hearing a sounder, the alarm reaches named individuals wherever they are, whether they are on the shop floor, in an office, or off-site.
When an alarm is triggered, responders can see who raised it, when it happened, and where assistance is needed. This additional information allows for faster, more confident decision-making. Alarms can be acknowledged, escalated if there is no response, and automatically logged for review and reporting.
Crucially, this approach fits far better with the way manufacturing teams work today. Supervisors and managers are rarely tied to a single location, but they are not the only people who can respond. In many manufacturing environments, maintenance teams and engineers regularly work alone and understand the risks better than anyone. Delivering alarms to the devices they already use allows alerts to be shared across the team, so colleagues can support each other quickly and effectively. This peer-to-peer response works particularly well in practice, because team members are motivated to act, knowing that the same protection applies to them when they are working alone. As a result, lone worker protection becomes more practical, more reliable, and easier to manage.
Improving Safety and Control
Moving from lights and sounders to digitally delivered alarms is not about removing existing safety measures, but about enhancing them. Visual and audible alerts can still have a role on site, but they should not be the only line of defence for lone workers.
By ensuring alarms are delivered directly to people, manufacturing businesses gain greater visibility, improved response times, and better control over how incidents are handled. Most importantly, lone workers gain confidence that if they need help, their alarm will be seen, understood, and acted upon quickly.
Choosing the Right Solution
Every manufacturing site is different, and lone worker protection should reflect the realities of how your business operates. The key is to look beyond what is familiar and consider how alarms are actually managed in practice. If a man-down alarm goes off, who will see it, who will respond, and how quickly?
Answering those questions honestly often highlights why relying solely on lights, sounders, or remote monitoring is not enough. Delivering alarms to PCs and mobile devices provides a clearer, more resilient way to protect lone workers and to demonstrate that their safety is being taken seriously.
If you are assessing how best to protect your lone workers, get in touch with ANT Telecom for free advice and support. We’d love the opportunity to share ideas and demonstrate (with no obligation to buy) some of the technology we have within our portfolio. You’ll find all our contact information by clicking the “contact us” tab at the top right of the screen.
