Lone Worker Devices And Data Protection

There doesn’t seem to be a day that goes by without news of yet another data breach and Tuesday 28th January is Data Privacy Day. With that in mind, we thought that this week we would tell you all about lone worker devices and data protection.

What Is Data Privacy Day?

Data Privacy Day actually started as Data Protection Day and was created to commemorate the signing of Convention 108 in 1981.

Convention 108 was the 1st international treaty that dealt with data protection and privacy.

So, every year on the 28th January, there is an International Data Privacy Day.

On Data Privacy Day, there is “an international effort to create awareness about the importance of respecting privacy, safeguarding data and enabling trust”.

General Data Protection Regulation

In May of 2018, the existing UK data protection laws were replaced with the EU wide General Data Protection Regulation.

The change was driven partially to give the public greater control and access to how their data is used.

The data protection laws were also changed so that there would be one, consistent set of rules and regulations for every country in the EU and to tighten up and modernise some of the existing data protection laws.

Up until that point, every country in the EU was responsible for the creation of their own data protection laws.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have some clear and easy to understand guidance on GDPR if you would like to find out more about it.

the image is a graphic illustrating how GDPR looks after personal data

How Lone Worker Devices Use Personal Data

At First2HelpYou, we work with our customers to understand their business and the type of lone workers that they employ.

This allows us to find the best lone worker security solution for them. We don’t have a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

We want to make sure that their lone workers are given the best possible protection.

We also want to ensure that starting to use lone worker devices causes as little disruption to the business as possible.

Which is why we collect the lone worker’s contact details, this way we can pre-load the devices so that the lone workers simply have to collect them and carry on with their work.

We also collect the details of any escalation contacts, so that lone workers and managers can just start using the devices without any data programming or having to fiddle around with various settings.

This data is also then used by the lone worker alarm receiving centre when the alarms are activated.

the image shows a person clicking on a screen with personal data protection on it

First2HelpYou Lone Worker Devices and Data Protection

To help to give you a clear picture of how we at First2HelpYou protect the data collected on our devices and connect portal, we thought we would ask our Head Of Product and Implementation, Dave Atkins, a few questions.

How do you protect data through the connect portal?

All data is stored in a secure ISO27001 audited data centres. ISO27001 is an information security management system standard code of practice.

As they say on their own website, the ISO27001 was created to “provide a model for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining and improving an information security management system.”

How do you collect data?

Customers can either directly update the connect portal or alternatively they can send a user profile form to be uploaded by us here at First2HelpYou.

What data do you collect and why?

First2HelpYou collects data which allows the operator at the monitoring station to contact and identify the user.

We only collect data that is necessary for this to be carried out at the monitoring station.

Is the lone worker device always listening?

You may have read or heard about people wondering if Facebook or Alexa is always listening to them even when they are not being used.

Well, the First2HelpYou Lone Worker devices will only be listened to by the operator at the monitoring station if the lone worker the device goes into a red or man down alert.

Is the lone worker device always tracking movements?

The lone worker devices do send regular GPS locations, enabling the monitoring station to locate the user following an alert.

As the devices can be activated at any time, day or night, it is important that staff at the monitoring station are able to trace the worker as quickly as possible.

Get In Touch

We hope that you have found the information about lone worker devices and data protection helpful.

If you do have any other questions you would like us to answer on this subject or would like some further information about all of our lone worker security solutions, then please do not hesitate to contact us.

There is also our First2HelpYou lone worker device buyer’s guide available here.

You can telephone us on 0333 7729401 email us at sales@First2HelpYou.co.uk or use our online contact form which is located here.