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Compliant solutions for mobile and lone workers in potentially explosive ATEX environments.

We provide communication solutions for employees and lone workers working in explosive environments, who are mobile across a large site or working in remote regions. Our solutions enable them to carry out day to day operations and respond to major incidents quickly, so they remain contactable and safe at all times.

Our team of specialists can advise you on the right communication solution specifically for explosive environments.

Keeping workers connected and safe in ATEX areas

Employees working in industries such as Petrochemical, Manufacturing and Chemicals, need to remain connected even in explosive atmospheres to perform daily activities and respond to events around the plant. Furthermore, employees across every industry have the right to work under safe conditions, but there are certain workers that are at increased risk due to the environments that they operate in, such as those working in potentially explosive atmospheres.

ATEX Handsets

We offer solutions for organisations that have highly flammable gas and dust areas on their site. We provide a range of handsets that are certified by ATEX and are safe to use in specific zones that contain explosive atmospheres. This allows staff to safely continue to use their ATEX communication handsets throughout the plant.

 

Lone Worker ATEX Handsets

We can also provide ATEX handsets with lone worker functionality, that have panic buttons and tilt sensors fitted on them. This enables staff to raise alerts should they have an accident and need to make colleagues aware. Upon activation, alarms are distributed so colleagues can help and support the lone worker quickly and without delay. All alarms must be acknowledged, to prevent further escalation ensuring that help always arrives promptly for the person in need.

When communication technology is combined with lone worker functions that can distribute lone worker alert messages, employees are fully equipped to keep in contact with colleagues and be confident in the knowledge that mechanisms are in place to keep them safe at all times, even in a potentially explosive environment. 

 

Integrated Communications

In addition to alarming ATEX devices, workers can also benefit significantly from an integrated communications solution, so they can communicate with the rest of the team when required and ultimately increase productivity levels. Our mobility systems can fully integrate with an organisation’s existing communication infrastructure and building or process management systems. This means that suppliers, customers and back-office staff can talk with engineers directly. It also allows engineers to receive up-to-date building and process alarm information wherever they are on site.

 

Choosing the right solution

When it comes to solutions, there is a range of ATEX handsets on the market, however, assessing which device and platform is suitable for your users, environment and infrastructure can be challenging, which is where our specialist team of advisers can help.  Our independent advice can help you take the guess work out of finding the right solution for your business.  Get in touch today for further information.  

 

 

ATEX Mobile Communication Handsets

Atlas BX5-loneWorker adj 3

BX5 EX

  • Rugged Smartphone (IP67)
  • 5” Touch Screen Display
  • Android 7.0
  • 4000mAh Battery / USB Charging
  • 8MP Autofocus rear camera
  • Dedicated physical SOS button
  • GPS positioning
  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g & Bluetooth 4.0
  • 2D Barcode Scanner
  • ATEX Zone 1/21

 

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ATEX Website page HP795 EX

D83 EX

  • Rugged IP DECT Phone (IP65)
  • Dedicated physical SOS button
  • Man-down detection
  • Alerts via IP DECT
  • Indoor positioning via RBS or Beacon
  • Simple and easy to use
  • Voice and messaging capabilities
  • ATEX Zone 1

 

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funktel FC4R_Ex_HS frontal EN noFX -Office adj 2

FC4 EX

  • Rugged DECT Phone (IP65)
  • Dedicated physical SOS button
  • Alerts via IP DECT
  • Indoor positioning via RBS or Beacon
  • Simply and easy to use
  • Voice and messaging capabilities
  • ATEX Zones 1 and 2

 

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Smart-Ex_02_360_001 adj 2

Atlas Smart-EX 02

  • Rugged Smartphone (IP 68)
  • 5” Touch Screen Display
  • Android 9.0
  • 12MP Rear Camera, 5MP Front Camera
  • Replaceable Battery 4400mAh
  • Dedicated SOS button
  • GPS positioning
  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/e/k/r/h
  • Bluetooth 4.2 incl BLE
  • Zone (1/21)

 

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ATEX Radios

HP795 EX v3

HP795 EX

  • Lone Worker Features (SOS button)
  • Man Down detection
  • GPS positioning
  • Superior Audio Quality
  • Longer Lasting Battery
  • Extended Radio Range
  • 2.4” Screen
  • IP 68, Zone 1/21


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PD795IS adj 2

PD795IS

  • Digital & Analogue Operating modes
  • Dedicated SOS button
  • Man Down detection
  • GPS positioning
  • Data services (Text messages, group text messages, control via API)
  • 1.8” Screen
  • IP 67 (Dust tight, and submerged in 1m water for 30min)
  • Zone 0/20 and Mining

 

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PD715Ex- Hytera_PD715Ex_01_Fr Adj 2

PD715 EX

  • Digital & Analogue modes
  • Dedicated SOS button
  • Man Down detection
  • GPS positioning
  • IP 67 (Dust tight, and submerged in 1m water for 30Min)
  • Zone 1/21 and Mining

 

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PD715IS adj

PD715IS

  • Digital & Analogue modes
  • Dedicated SOS button
  • Man Down detection
  • GPS positioning
  • IP 67 (Dust tight, and submerged in 1m water for 30Min)
  • Zone 0/20

Download Brochure

dp4401ex_right_anglr_394x394_web_image adj

DP4401 EX

  • Digital and Analogue Operating modes
  • Dedicated SOS button
  • Man Down detection
  • GPS positioning
  • IP 67 (Dust tight, and submerged in 1m water for 30min
  • Zone 1/21 and Mining (M2)

 

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DP4801EX adj

DP4801 EX

  • Digital and Analogue Operating modes
  • Dedicated SOS button
  • Man Down detection
  • GPS positioning
  • 5 line display
  • IP 67 (Dust tight, and submerged in 1m water for 30min)
  • Zone 1/21 and Mining (M2)

 

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Features and functionality of ATEX Handsets

Lone Worker Features for Protecting Staff

Panic Button

All handsets and radios have a dedicated panic or SOS button that when pressed can generate an emergency alarm, alerting colleagues to the incident.  

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Indoor Location

In an emergency, lone workers can be found far more easily and faster if the response team know which room, floor or building the lone worker activated the alarm from. 

GPS doesn’t really work indoors and usually details a location from a last tracked position, normally outside the last building that was entered. To detail a more accurate position, additional technology is required such as Beacons or WiFi access points. 

When a user wanders passed an ‘Beacon’ or ‘WiFI access point’ their location details are updated on their handset. In the event of an incident, their last known location is included within the alarm message. 

If the Beacons and WiFi Access are correctly positioned it’s possible to narrow the search to a small area within a building i.e. a room or a floor of a building. The greater number of Beacons or WiFi access points the greater the location accuracy. 

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Outdoor (GPS) Location

All ATEX handsets are fitted with GPS technology and will transmit a GPS location within the alarm message. 

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Check in Timers

Check-in Timers are a good way to make sure lone workers are fit and well. A timer counts down and prior to reaching zero the user is notified to confirm their ‘OK’, which either extends or cancels the timer. 

Should the user fail to confirm their status, after repeated requests, an alarm is triggered. Check-in Timers are configurable; therefore, it could be set up for every 30 mins or once throughout the working day. 

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Man Down

In certain emergency situations, users don’t always have enough time to press their panic button to raise an alarm. This can happen when the lone worker is unexpectedly attacked, slips or falls, or become critically ill.

In these situations, the handset recognises that the user is rendered unconscious based on sensory technology and initiates an alarm automatically. The most widely adopted sensor is tilt, however, there are others including no-motion and fall detection.

Once the handset sensor is activated i.e. is tilted beyond a certain angle for a set period (usually 30 seconds) an alarm is triggered.  To prevent false alarms, a pre-alarm is usually activated to warn the user giving them time to cancel the automated alarm. 

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Proximity Sensor

Based on the user’s location it might be helpful to warn staff of additional risks posed by entering a high-risk area of the plant. 

This could be achieved by sending warning alerts either directly to the user’s handset or to staff within the vicinity. The message could be a reminder to check-in when entering a basement area or ATEX Zone that automatically activates the man-down sensor on their handset. 

Perhaps the user has entered a warehouse and an alert is triggered to warn forklift truck drivers to look out for other staff members.

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Other supporting features or solutions

Rapid Response

In an emergency, speed of response is critical. Any delays informing the response team can have serious ramifications to the outcome, which is why our solution can deliver alarms directly to response team on their PC or mobile all within seconds of the incident taking place. 

Included in the alarm message are details of who triggered the alert, their telephone number, location and live audio streaming of the incident.

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Geo Fencing

By configuring a virtual boundary around or within a specific location, it is possible to trigger an alert as and when a handset device either moves into or exits the Geo Fenced area.

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Alarm Mapping

As well as providing co-ordinates or details of a user’s location within an alarm message, it is far easier to interpret where they are if the information is displayed on a site map or street map.

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Guard Tour Monitoring

To protect your premises and security team, check points using Beacons are set up around the building where security personnel need to monitor during their shift.  The security personnel handset will guide the user on a random route, going from one check point to another until the tour is complete. When one check point has been reached details of the next checkpoint is displayed on the security guard’s handset along with a designated time to reach it.  If the guard fails to reach the checkpoint in the designated time and doesn’t extend the time allowance, an alarm is triggered.   When specific areas are reached it is also possible to detail tasks the users must complete before reaching the next checkpoint. 

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Critical Alarm Management

As well as managing lone worker alarms, it is also possible to adopt a similar process to manage other critical alarms triggered from systems such as building management, fire, SCADA, PLC, Effluent etc.

By integrating such systems to our critical alarm management platform (Automated Incident Manager), critical alarms such as ‘faulty pump’ could be distributed directly to a specific team, qualified to deal with the incident as well as operators within a control room. This can help save precious time as it means operators that are already dealing with other issues, don’t need to manually analyse the alarm, before taking on a what can be time consuming task of finding someone to manage the incident as this been done for them, automatically.

Furthermore, once a member of the response team accepts the critical alarm, the rest of the respond team including the control room operators are all updated.    

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Task Distribution and Management

ANT’s Automated Incident Manager system can help teams to efficiently manage daily tasks generated throughout the day in a busy production facility.

Tasks can be easily added onto the secure messaging platform using a simple to use desktop application and distributed to the whole team or specific groups. 

To take on the task, a member of the team simply accepts the job, directly on their mobile handset, which automatically updates the group.

Once the task is complete it is ‘closed’ on the handset, which again informs the rest of the team.     

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Get in Touch 

Contact us to discuss your requirements and we will recommend the right solution for you. Alternatively, we can set up a demonstration or trial to demonstrate how a solution would work for your business.