Perth & Kinross Council trust Trackplot
Perth & Kinross Council trusts Trackplot’s lone worker protection system to monitor and safeguard the Council’s Structures & Flooding Team, comprising specialists charged with inspecting all the region’s bridges for structural soundness and security, and to mitigate flooding.
Trackplot has been supporting the Council since 2010 when the Council’s Health & Safety Team recognised the need to provide reliable communications and emergency support technology for its lone working staff. The Council had considered alternative worker safety solutions, and conducted pilot tests, including a trial deployment of a solution based on GSM mobile network technology. It soon became evident that the reach of mobile networks was insufficient and unreliable. To get the always-on, ubiquitous connectivity needed to stay in touch with workers operating across far-flung regions of the Council’s territory, only satellite technology could deliver. Trackplot recently moved to the latest generation of SPOT Gen4 GPS device which offers improved water resistance and an enhanced user interface.
“As a regulated public authority, the Council takes the welfare and security of staff very seriously: Thanks to the lone worker safety solution provided by Trackplot, alongside Globalstar’s SPOT satellite technology, we can carry out our operations with the peace of mind that support is always on hand in case of an emergency.”
At 5,286 square km (2,041 square miles), remote and mountainous Perth & Kinross is the fifth most expansive administrative region in Scotland. It is sparsely populated but busy with substantial rural through-traffic between central Scotland and the Highlands. The region’s bridges are vital conduits. Additionally, flooding is always a risk – caused by extreme weather and overflowing watercourses – and so regular monitoring of critical transport infrastructure and waterways is essential. Emergency inspections need to be carried out at any time of day or night, often in hazardous conditions and rugged environments, frequently by lone workers.