Why automatic detection exists

Every lone worker solution can raise an alarm when someone presses a button. The harder question is what happens in the incidents where nobody presses anything, and those are a large share of the serious ones. A fall from height, a collapse, exposure to a gas leak in a confined space, a blow to the head: in each case the worker is either unconscious or unable to reach a phone, and the manual alert that the whole system depends on never comes.

Automatic detection covers that case. It is the difference between a solution that documents an emergency and one that responds to it.

What can Gameo Pro detect automatically?

How does man-down detection work on a smartphone?

The app reads the phone’s motion sensors and identifies the signature of a fall or impact. Gameo Pro has been PTI/DATI compatible on iPhone and Android since 2012, we were the first lone worker solution compatible with both platforms, and the detection logic has been refined against real field use in the years since.

For roles where the phone may not be positioned to read a fall reliably, heavy protective equipment, work in awkward postures, phones carried in bags, an optional body sensor can be added to reinforce man-down detection. It is available as a connected device on the Advanced and Enterprise plans.

What about false alarms?

This is the question that decides whether automatic detection survives its first month. A system that fires on every dropped phone trains workers to disable it, and trains supervisors to ignore it, which leaves an organization worse off than before, because everyone now believes there is a safety net where there is not.

Gameo Pro is designed for ease of use without false alarms, and every automatic alert goes to a trained agent in one of our three emergency response centers rather than to a colleague’s phone. That matters more than it might appear. A human verification step means a genuine incident gets a real response, while a phone that slid off a desk is resolved in a short conversation instead of a site evacuation.

Pull quote: The measure of automatic detection is not how much it detects. It is whether workers still have it switched on in month six.

How do automatic and manual alerts work together?

They cover different failure modes, and a serious programme needs both.

Which roles need automatic detection most?

• Work at height, on structures, and anywhere a fall is the primary hazard.
• Confined spaces and plant rooms, where atmosphere is the risk and collapse gives no warning.
• Solitary night shifts, where the gap before anyone notices an absence is longest.
• Energy and utilities field work, where the worker may be hours from the nearest colleague.

Our clients in these sectors include RATP, EDF, SUEZ, Nestlé and Linde.

What happens after an automatic alert fires?

The same thing that happens after any Gameo Pro alert. It reaches a trained agent in one of our emergency response centers in Canada, France or Switzerland, together with the worker’s GPS and indoor position. The site is identified automatically and its emergency protocol applied, AI guides the agent through each stage, and the agent can be bridged directly to the nearest available colleague.