Safety Features and Benefits of Two-Way Radios
Guest Post
Most people may look upon two way radios as something of a redundant technology in the world of mobile phones and all the gadgetry packed into them today. But while they aren’t useful for personal day to day use as a casual communication tool, their uses and benefits with regards to health and safety, may surprise you. Indeed, they tend to thrive where a mobile phone might fail.
There are plenty of workplace environments which benefit from the use of radios as a health and safety tool. The most obvious environments are those where instant communication is vital, such as the emergency services or crowd security services.
Police, fire and ambulance services all rely on radio communication to keep them up to date with the latest information as well as keeping them co-ordinated at key moments, all of which is crucial in keeping them safe.
A great safety tool for the police or security services is the ‘Man Down’ feature found on some radios. This sends out an emergency warning when a radio detects a lack of movement or an abnormal vertical tilt for a set amount of time. This will then sound a noise for the worker to respond to in order to show he is ok or by pressing the ‘OK’ button. If there is no response, the radio is able to be located and help can be sent. This is also great for those working with heavy machinery, such as agricultural and factory workers.
Along a similar line is the panic button that comes fitted on some radios. This will allow the user to send a distress signal to colleagues for back up. Once again this could be of great benefit to emergency and security services because of the nature of their work. This is also an invaluable feature for other sectors such agriculture, construction and hazardous environments.
Communication is key in this regard and the ability to call for instantaneous help could be vital. Equally the ‘lone worker’ feature which requires an individual to check on at regular intervals is really useful. If the worker does not check in at the expected time – an emergency procedure is set in motion. This helps the worker feel safe and ensures they are not left alone and in danger.
It’s not just those on the front line dealing with potentially volatile people who will feel the benefit of a two way radio in the work place when it comes to helping ensure their health and safety. Some radios come equipped with GPS technology which will send information such as coordinates so you can track vehicles or people if you own/work in a logistics company.
Large events require those in charge to be able to react to unfolding events immediately in order to ensure the safety of everyone in attendance. Football matches, concerts and large gatherings need proper policing and most people in the events industry will do just that by using radios.
A feature on most radios will allow a user to broadcast an emergency message on all channels so every worker gets the message that an action needs to be taken. For example, an area is over-crowded so admittance must be stopped, a message can be sent to everyone, the gates or turnstiles will be shut and a potentially hazardous situation can be avoided.
Equally, calls can be sent to individuals in a manner similar to a phone call to make sure every person gets the specific instructions they need to do their job correctly.
There are plenty of other safety features that can be found on radios that will be of great assistance to various other sectors; retail, hotels, ports, governments and construction all use radio communication for many different reasons. The chief of which being more often than not, they are a vital health and safety tool.
Contributed by Charlie Curtis-Jones from Brentwood Communications who can provide integrated radios solutions to help you meet your health and safety needs.
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