Cold storage rooms: how could you improve lone worker safety?

Cold rooms are a high risk environment with unique challenges, so it is extremely important the safety of lone workers.

In this article we will look at the issues for lone workers in this sector and how we can improve their safety thanks to VerticalMan® app.

What you will read is based on our experience in several companies of this sector.

What is a cold room?

A cold room or storage room is a large, refrigerated room or building in which a specific temperature is artificially generated. The most common place you find a cold room is in the food industry, where they are designed for storing products in an environment below the external temperature.

Why could a cold room be dangerous for lone workers?

Freezing surfaces, ice build-up condensation, the unsafe use of refrigerants, the impacts of exposure to low temperatures on workers (about -20°C/ -25°C) and the reduced percentage of oxygen, can all increase the risk of accidents or sickness.

In most companies of this sectors, workers who have to manage both the handling of products and their storage in cold rooms, work without any close colleague, therefore are to be considered lone workers.

In addition, external workers, technicians involved in the refrigeration cell maintenance service cycle are lone workers.

How could you reduce risks for cold rooms’ lone worker?

Another issue a company has to face is that in these areas is not possible to have GSM signal coverage, due to the insulation and metal structures of the cold rooms.

To guarantee safety at these workers, a man down system that do not use GSM signal is the best solution.

In addition is important for the company to have a solution that could be integrated with the central alarm system already in use.

Are you asking why VerticalMan® is a perfect solution in this sector?

Basing on the above requests we helped several companies thanks to VerticalMan®.

One of the features of VerticalMan® is the possibility to send alarm through Wi-Fi connection. Thanks to this the company does not need any additional worker or technician because the WI-FI is managed by their IT manager. In addition, VerticalMan® can be easily integrated with their own central alarm system. No need of additional systems.

In case a company does not have a central system, we can also offer the integration with eCoRo Web service, a centralized alarms system from which you can also configure VerticalMan® from remote.

Because most of the time the lone worker has colleagues working in the area outside the cold rooms, in some cases we have also added a siren, connected with VerticalMan® and the central alarm system, in the nearby of the cold room’s entrance.  In case of man down, VerticalMan® send an alarm to the central alarm system and at the same time also the alarm of the siren is activated.

This is an important feature, especially for the HSE manager and for time management, because if there is a colleague in the nearby hearing the alarm, he can immediately intervene, allowing to speed rescue time.

Another important feature is the type of device needed. As we said before lone workers operate in low temperature environment, so they need to have a device that work at – 20/-25 °C. VerticalMan is certificated for rugged device too,  such us Ulefone, Athesi or Unihertz rugged devices, that works fine in these extreme environments. 

Conclusion

VerticalMan® man down app, with over 140 customizable parameters and its perfect integration in already existing central systems confirms itself as a perfect solution for cold rooms environments.

If you need a professional solution for your lone worker that fit the needs of your company send an email to info@aldea.it

Solution summary