What began as a casual conversation has sparked a major safety initiative at Great River Energy, where dozens of employees now rely on wearable technology to enhance safety while working alone.
The idea formed when Great River Energy’s Melissa Phillips, manager of field services, spoke with a technician who expressed concern about what might happen if he fell while working by himself. That conversation stayed with her. Soon after she started in her manager role, a series of real-life incidents — including a man found injured at a substation — proved how real the danger was.
“I just knew we had to do something,” Phillips said.
Phillips reached out to Pam Bagley, manager of safety and human performance, and they began researching solutions. Among the options considered were time-based check-in apps and wearable devices.
A cross-department team of lone workers was formed in March 2024 to vet the idea. This included members of the Great River Energy team who work alone in the field performing tasks such as site inspections, equipment troubleshooting, testing and maintenance.
The team preferred a wearable device in case they left their cellphone in their vehicle and ultimately selected the Apple Watch. Phillips said its fall detection features were the main selling point. When the individual wearing the watch has a hard fall without movement for a period of time, it alerts emergency services. Other safety benefits include a walkie-talkie feature, emergency SOS capabilities and a built-in siren.
According to Phillips, the watches offer safety features that go beyond what a smartphone could provide. The lone worker team piloted the watches with support of IT over several months in the field to troubleshoot issues before rolling out watches to all lone workers.
During the pilot, a member of the lone worker team experienced a fall when walking down a ditch to look at a pole location and the device worked as intended. Another received an alert due to a loud noise, demonstrating the device’s wide range of protective features.
“The watch implementation has increased lone worker safety,” Phillips said. “It’s really nice to know we’ve taken a step that has the potential to be lifesaving.”
The lone worker program is voluntary but has been well received. Watches were made available and distributed in February with 70-80% of eligible employees opting in. Now, 127 employees wear a Great River Energy Apple Watch during their workday, including employees from the transmission, power supply, and corporate and member services divisions.
Safety is a core value at Great River Energy and the lone worker program now provides extra peace of mind for those working alone in the field.
" data-object-fit="cover">