Minimize false alarms generated by Man Down

29th Mar 2011

All utility organizations need to take responsibility for ensuring worker safety, and investing in the Man Down feature is one step towards taking this seriously.

The Man Down option is a tilt-switch and an inactivity-sensing safety feature in your linesmen’s portable radios. This feature in portable radios sends an alert to a dispatcher if the radio is at a certain angle, or not moving for a given period of time. The dispatcher can then organize assistance for workers if their radio is automatically signaling “Man Down”.

Many organizations are experiencing a number of false alarms from their Man Down feature (in Tait and others’ portables). As stated above, the Man Down feature can protect your workers and ensure they have peace of mind. However, with any application, management and user training around the functionality is vital to ensure that you are responding to genuine cases rather than false alarms. Poorly managed Man Down can be worse than no Man Down at all. With staff well-trained in Man Down operation, and with appropriate procedures in place for your organization, you can avoid false Man Down alarms.

As with Lone Worker, personal location and other Tait safety features, the Tait network and portable solution is flexible and configurable. Download our guide to Optimizing your Man Down worker safety feature to ensure the Man Down application is used to keep your workers safe.

A common false-alarm scenario - one that can be avoided


1. A worker arrives at a job-site and activates the Man Down feature on their portable radio.	2. Upon completing the job, the worker places their radio inside the work vehicle - without deactivating Man Down - and then moves away from the area to take a break.

3. The Man Down feature automatically senses a lack of movement, and after a period emits a warning tone. Finally, an emergency signal is transmitted to the dispatch team.	4. The dispatch team receives the Man Down signal and alerts an emergency response unit, who rush to the scene only to discover the alarm is in fact false.