Seamless Indoor and Outdoor Low-Power Positioning For Workforce Safety
Ensuring the safety of personnel in high-risk environments, such as hospitals, industrial sites, offshore, mines, and emergency response scenarios, is crucial. Traditional GPS-based tracking systems often fail in these settings due to limitations like poor indoor coverage and high power consumption. To effectively address these challenges, advanced positioning solutions that provide low power consumption, seamless indoor-outdoor tracking, and real-time emergency alerts are needed.
Industry Insights
Employees in high-risk workplaces, such as hospitals and correctional facilities, face significantly higher risks of injury and violence.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, falls, slips, and trips accounted for 27 percent (309,060 cases) of the total occupational injuries and illnesses in 2015.
Indirect costs comprise a significant portion of the total expenses related to workplace incidents. In fact, for every dollar spent on direct costs, approximately $2.2 is spent on indirect costs associated with workplace injuries (Huang et al, 2009)*. Preventing just one incident through precise personnel positioning can save $9,592 (Ariel et al., 2019)*.
Beyond cost savings, research shows that implementing positioning and alert systems in high-risk environments, such as hospitals, significantly reduces incidents of assault and workplace violence, improving overall safety (Jagim, 2022).
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Use Case Scenarios
Low-Power Tracking for Workers in Hazardous Environments
Mining, offshore, and construction employees often work in indoor and underground environments where traditional GPS signals can be unreliable. To address this issue, low-power tracking devices that use WiFi or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) can be utilized. These devices allow continuous monitoring without frequent battery replacements and provide real-time location data, enabling quick emergency response. For instance, Lifefinder offers workforce safety solutions explicitly designed to protect employees who work alone or in hazardous conditions through innovative applications and advanced devices.
Combain’s advanced AI-driven indoor positioning and Lifefinder’s automated alert system significantly reduces the time required to locate personnel in complex environments, from approximately 30 minutes down to just 5 to 10 minutes. This improvement accelerates emergency responses by up to 83%, enhancing safety and efficiency when every second counts.
Seamless Indoor-Outdoor Positioning in Large Facilities and at Campuses
Hospitals, mining sites, and industrial complexes require tracking systems that operate effectively in various environments. Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) utilizing BLE beacons or WiFi can complement GPS, 5G, and Cell ID to enable continuous tracking. This integration allows for monitoring personnel moving between indoor and outdoor areas, enhancing safety and operational efficiency during emergencies.
Combain provides indoor positioning solutions that function like an “indoor GPS,” enabling the precise location of people and assets within buildings.
Emergency Location Tracking for Healthcare Professionals and First Responders
Healthcare workers and first responders often encounter unpredictable situations requiring immediate assistance. Wearable devices with emergency alert features can transmit accurate location data to centralized systems, allowing for a rapid response. These systems can detect falls, prolonged inactivity, or entry into hazardous areas, automatically triggering alerts to supervisors or emergency services. For instance, Traxmate‘s real-time tracking services utilize Combain positioning to provide visibility into the positioning of assets and employees, ensuring prompt action during emergencies.
Private On-Premises Positioning Solutions for Hospitals and Restricted Sites
Sensitive environments like hospitals, airports, and restricted industrial sites like nuclear power plants demand secure and private positioning solutions. On-premises deployment of tracking systems ensures that all location data remains within the organization’s infrastructure, addressing privacy concerns.
Implementing Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) with on-site servers allows for compliance with stringent data protection regulations while maintaining accurate tracking capabilities. Traxmate‘s platform offers indoor hospital positioning and asset tracking, enhancing operational efficiency and patient satisfaction.
Alerts, Geofencing, and Mustering for Hazardous Environments
Establishing geofences—virtual boundaries within worksites—allows systems to alert supervisors when personnel enter dangerous or restricted areas automatically. This proactive safety measure helps prevent accidents and enhances situational awareness. Integrating environmental sensors, such as gas detectors and structural stress monitors, can also trigger immediate evacuation procedures.
An essential aspect of emergency preparedness is accounting for all personnel during an incident, known as mustering. Advanced positioning solutions provide real-time visibility into the number of workers within a hazardous zone, including those who have evacuated and any who remain unaccounted for. This capability supports faster and more organized emergency responses, with a 83% reduction in time until full employee accountability, especially in extensive facilities, underground environments, or during high-risk operations.
Requirements
Personnel operating in high-risk environments require:
- Accurate Indoor Positioning
Traditional GPS is inadequate indoors or underground, necessitating alternative technologies for precise location tracking. - Low Power Consumption
Devices must operate efficiently over extended periods without frequent recharging or battery replacements. - Immediate Emergency Alerts
Real-time notifications are essential for prompt responses to incidents like falls, health crises, or exposure to hazardous conditions. - Data Privacy
Protecting personal and organizational information requires ensuring location data is securely stored and managed on-premises, especially in sensitive areas.
Solution
Combain's AI-Enhanced Positioning implemented in Workforce Safety solutions
To overcome these challenges, implementing advanced positioning solutions is essential.
Key features include:
- Seamless Indoor and Outdoor Tracking:
Utilizing a combination of GNSS, WiFi, cellular, and BLE technologies to ensure continuous monitoring across various environments. - AI-Driven Positioning Algorithms:
Enhancing location accuracy and reliability by processing data from multiple sources. - Enhanced Coverage & Indoor Accuracy:
Combain Crowd Indoor allows devices to send training data, expanding coverage to more buildings and improving indoor accuracy through automated model retraining. - Low-Power Consumption:
Designing devices with energy-efficient positioning to extend battery life, reducing the frequency of recharges. - Geofencing and Real-Time Alerts:
Establish virtual boundaries and provide instant notifications when these boundaries are crossed, enabling prompt responses. Combain delivers the necessary technology for these types of features, but ready-made solutions are available through Combain partners like Traxmate. - Robust Privacy Protection:
Implementing secure, encrypted data storage and transmission protocols to safeguard location information.
Benefits
Ensuring the safety of personnel in high-risk environments, like hospitals and industrial sites, is essential. Traditional GPS-based tracking systems struggle in these scenarios due to poor indoor coverage and high power consumption. Combain provides AI-enhanced positioning solutions that offer low power usage, seamless tracking indoors and outdoors, and real-time emergency alerts.
Combain delivers comprehensive positioning solutions that enhance worker safety across various environments.
Key features include:
- Seamless Indoor and Outdoor Tracking
Combain employs a multi-source strategy that integrates 5G, AI-enhanced Cell ID, WiFi, and Bluetooth-based location services to deliver precise and continuous indoor and outdoor positioning. This approach ensures that personnel can be monitored regardless of their location within a facility. - AI-Driven Positioning Algorithms
Combain uses advanced AI-powered algorithms, utilizing an extensive crowdsourced database and radio environment fingerprinting for accurate, low-power tracking. This improves location accuracy and reliability, allowing for quick responses in emergencies. - Low-Power Wearable Devices
Combain’s positioning technology is tailored for low-power IoT devices, allowing for extended operation without frequent recharging or battery replacements. This is especially advantageous in situations where continuous monitoring is essential. - On-Premises Data Management
For sensitive or isolated environments like hospitals, restricted industrial sites, and ships at sea, Combain offers on-premise deployment of its positioning solutions. This ensures that all location data remains within the organization’s infrastructure, addressing privacy concerns and complying with stringent data protection regulations. - Geofencing, Mustering, and Automated Alerts
Combain’s solutions enable the creation of virtual boundaries (geofences) within worksites, allowing for automatic alerts when personnel enter dangerous or restricted areas. The system also aids in mustering during emergencies by providing real-time visibility into the number and location of individuals within hazardous zones, which supports efficient evacuation and accounting processes. Furthermore, integrating environmental sensors can enhance safety by triggering immediate responses to detected hazards.
By implementing Combain’s AI-enhanced positioning solutions, organizations can significantly enhance the safety and well-being of their workforce, ensuring real-time monitoring, efficient emergency response, and robust data privacy.
Why Choose Combain Positioning Solutions?
- Seamless Integration
Compatibility with existing safety and alert systems facilitates easy adoption and implementation. - Superior Indoor Positioning
By leveraging multiple technologies, Combain ensures accurate tracking in environments where traditional GNSS falls short. The system continuously improves over time by allowing training data submissions and enhancing precision and coverage with ongoing updates. - Expertise in Low-Power Tracking
Specialized in developing energy-efficient tracking systems tailored for IoT devices and trackers. - Comprehensive Coverage
Seamless indoor and outdoor positioning technology integration ensures uninterrupted monitoring. - Scalable and Adaptable
Solutions can be customized for various applications, from personal use to large-scale mustering systems. - Privacy Protection
Your location data is not shared with any third party. Advanced security measures ensure that sensitive location data remains confidential and protected from unauthorized access.
Implementing advanced positioning solutions addresses the critical safety needs of personnel in hazardous environments by providing reliable, real-time tracking and strong emergency response capabilities. Organizations can significantly enhance safety and security by focusing on low power consumption, data privacy, and seamless operation across various settings.
Next Steps
To get started, contact us to schedule a consultation. Learn how Seamless Indoor and Outdoor positioning can empower your safety solutions.
Featured case
Key Takeaways
What problem do workforce safety solutions solve?
They keep people safe in high-risk sites where GPS fails or drains batteries. You get continuous location across buildings, yards, tunnels, and offshore environments. Alerts reach the right team with building, floor, and room to speed response.
What proven impact on response time can you expect?
Up to 83 percent faster mustering and location during incidents. Real deployments report time reduced from over 30 minutes to about 5 to 10 minutes when using AI indoor positioning with automated alerts.
What business costs are at stake?
Workplace incidents carry enormous direct and indirect costs. Indirect costs average about 2.2 times the direct costs. Avoiding one assault saves about 9,592 USD on average, based on published studies cited on the page.
How frequent are injuries in high-risk work?
Falls, slips, and trips made up 27 percent of U.S. occupational injuries in 2015. Healthcare and corrections report elevated violence risk, which supports the case for duress alerts and precise indoor location.
How does the technology achieve seamless coverage with low power?
The system combines Cell ID data from outdoor locations with WiFi and Bluetooth signals from indoor areas. Devices use low-power methods first, escalating only when higher accuracy is needed. This preserves battery life for wearables and tags while keeping tracking live across sites.
What accuracy should enterprises plan for?
Typical indoor median accuracy is about 1 to 5 meters with AI Indoor. WiFi and BLE fingerprinting improve room and zone awareness where GPS is weak. Use cases include mustering, lone-worker alerts, and guided response to the right room.
What operational benefits do teams see day to day?
Faster incident confirmation. Shorter searches for people and tools. Fewer false alarms. Better audits after events due to precise timelines and location trails. These gains reduce delays and help meet safety KPIs.
Where should you start a rollout?
Begin with the highest-risk zones such as emergency departments, mines, or constrained industrial areas.
Reuse existing WiFi where possible, add BLE where needed, and onboard duress wearables for staff.
Expand after you validate accuracy and alert latency.
How do you integrate and deliver this to users?
Use the Combain Location API to serve a single endpoint for both indoor and outdoor locations. Pair with platforms like Traxmate for enhanced alerting, mapping, and reporting capabilities.
Cloud or on-prem deployment supports different data policies.
Precise positioning of devices in indoor and outdoor environments ensures total visibility and minimizes downtime.
Flexible and cost-effective solutions for positioning by using AI-enhanced WiFi, Bluetooth, and Cell ID-based positioning. This method significantly decreases the need for large infrastructure investments.
Combain provides cloud-based and on-premise solutions, enabling businesses to easily scale their positioning systems and integrate them with existing IoT and tracking systems.
Your location data is not shared with any third party. Advanced security measures ensure that sensitive location data remains confidential and protected from unauthorized access.
Emergency mustering
Mustering is the process of accounting for all personnel during an emergency situation. In hazardous environments such as industrial plants, offshore facilities, and mines, this is a especially critical safety procedure. Traditional mustering methods, like manual checklists or assembly-point headcounts, can be slow and unreliable, especially when visibility is low or access is restricted.
Advanced positioning technologies transform mustering into a real-time, automated process. By continuously tracking personnel via low-power wearable devices that use BLE, WiFi, and cellular positioning, safety systems can instantly identify which employees have evacuated and who remains in danger zones. This allows supervisors and emergency responders to make faster, more informed decisions.