Lone worker app or SOS button: which suits your people?

The short answer

A lone worker app turns a smartphone into a safety tool, and it works well where people carry a phone and have mobile coverage. A dedicated SOS button is the better choice where coverage is patchy or absent, where the phone may not be on the person, or where someone who is hurt needs to raise the alarm with a single press. Many organisations use both: an app for routine check-ins and a button for emergencies.

What a lone worker app does

Lone worker apps vary, but most offer some combination of:

• an SOS or panic function in the app;
• timed check-ins, where a missed check-in raises an alert;
• sharing the phone's location with the people who receive alerts;
• an online dashboard where supervisors see alerts and check-ins.

Some apps add fall or non-movement detection using the phone's sensors, or other ways to send an alert when signal is weak. Features differ between products, so check exactly how each one behaves when the phone has no signal.

Where a lone worker app works well

• People work within reliable mobile coverage, such as in towns, along major roads or at sites with good signal.
• Everyone already carries a work phone and keeps it on them.
• The main need is routine check-ins, journey tracking or visits to clients, rather than reaching help from a remote location.
• You want to start quickly across a large team without issuing new equipment.

Where a phone falls short

• No coverage, no alert. An app needs a network to send its alert. On a mine bench, in a gorge or along a rail corridor with no signal, a phone cannot reach anyone.
• The phone is not on the person. Phones get left in the ute, in a bag or on the dashboard, especially during physical work.
• Hard to use in an emergency. Unlocking a screen and finding an app is difficult for someone who is injured, in shock, wearing gloves or working in rain and dust.
• Battery and damage. A phone that is flat, cracked or wet cannot raise the alarm.
• Personal phones. Asking people to install a safety app on their own phone raises questions about privacy, consent and who pays for the phone.

What a dedicated SOS button does better

• One press. No screen, no unlocking, no app to find. The person presses the button and the alarm is sent.
• Worn, not carried. A button clipped to a vest or belt is there when it is needed.
• Built for the work. A rugged button suits dust, rain, mud and gloves better than a touchscreen.
• Not tied to mobile coverage. A button paired with a radio or satellite link can raise the alarm from places a phone cannot.

A button has limits too. A simple SOS button raises the alarm and nothing more: it is not a way to talk, and it cannot check in on its own. That is why most workplaces pair it with check-in arrangements and a clear plan for who receives alarms and how they respond.

App or button at a glance

How to choose

• Map where people work. List the actual locations and check mobile coverage at each, not just at the depot.
• Start from the risk assessment. Under the model WHS Regulations (regulation 48), communication with a remote or isolated worker has to be effective for the work and the place. Our guide to lone worker safety in Australia explains what that means.
• Decide who receives alerts. Whichever you choose, someone has to receive the alarm and act on it, at every hour people work alone.
• Plan for the missed check-in. If the person cannot raise the alarm themselves, check-in arrangements are what bring help.
• Trial it in the field. Test the option with the people who will use it, in the places they work.

For a closer look at alarm types, from fixed panic buttons to wearable devices, see what is a duress alarm.

Where Lone Worker SOS fits

Lone Worker SOS is built around a dedicated panic button for people who work beyond mobile coverage. Pressed, the button sends the alarm. A long-range radio gateway in the work vehicle hears it across the site and sends the alarm out over mobile where there is signal, or by satellite where there isn't. If every link drops, the alarm is held and forwarded the moment one returns. The control centre console shows who pressed, which button and where the alarm was received, so the operator can dispatch the best-placed responder.

If your people mostly work within good mobile coverage, a lone worker app may be all you need. Lone Worker SOS is for the places where a phone cannot reach anyone.

Sources

• Safe Work Australia, Model Work Health and Safety Regulations (consolidated 1 July 2024): regulation 48.
• Safe Work Australia, Remote and isolated work: managing risks.
• WorkSafe Queensland, Remote and isolated work (communication equipment and call-in systems).