Worker safety alerts

Worker safety alerts from the same badge that records the shift.

Worker safety alerts for field crews come from the ZeroBadge badge each worker already wears for time tracking. Pressing the push-button alert or SOS raises an alert on the office dashboard in real time. The badge detects a fall and raises an alert automatically, a man down alert fires when a worker stops moving for a set time, and entering a restricted area raises a high-priority alert. Every alert sits on the worker's day timeline next to the shift record.

Safety alerts support your safety program. They do not replace supervision or training, ZeroBadge does not monitor alerts or contact 911, and in an emergency workers should call 911.

Get started Read the limits first

Push-button alert and SOS
Automatic fall detection
Man down when a worker stops moving
Restricted area entry alerts

ZeroBadgeWorkersMon Oct 5

Power on
6:51 AM
Power off
2:51 PM

Reporting

Priya S.

Journeyman pipefitter · Riverside crew

Powered on: 6:51 AM · clock-in
Location: Riverside
Powered off: 2:51 PM · clock-out
Recorded: 8h
Personal phone: Not used
PIN or kiosk: None

The gap on a lone shift

On a lone or remote shift, the hard part is the time between something going wrong and anyone knowing.

Most field companies already have a safety program. What they often lack is a signal that reaches the office without the worker making a phone call.

Nobody is in earshot
A pumper checking wells alone at 5:40 AM, or a cleaner on the 14th floor at midnight, has no crew beside them to notice a problem. Help starts when someone in the office finds out.
Check-ins depend on someone keeping time
A radio or phone check-in every hour works while the person running the schedule is at the desk. A missed call at 2 AM can go unnoticed until the morning.
Phones live in the truck
A lone-worker app only helps if the phone is on the worker and charged. On a rooftop or in a vault, it is often sitting on the dashboard of the pickup.
Safety records and time records never meet
When an incident is reviewed, the office pieces together where the worker was from the timesheet, the radio log and memory. The three rarely agree on the minute.

Every alert the badge can raise

Four safety alerts from the badge, plus the rules you configure in the office.

The first four are the safety alerts. The rest are configurable workforce rules that use the same alert list, so a supervisor sees everything in one place.

Four safety alerts from the badge, plus the rules you configure in the office.
Alert	What raises it	What closes it
Push-button alert	The worker presses the alert button on the badge. It appears on the office dashboard in real time with the badge's most recent location.	The matching release on the badge clears it, or a supervisor resolves it from the alerts page.
SOS	The worker presses the SOS button. It is marked high priority and the badge's status changes to alert until it is cleared.	The matching release on the badge clears it. The record stays on the timeline.
Fall detected	The badge's accelerometer detects a fall and raises a high-priority alert without the worker pressing anything.	A supervisor resolves it with a note once the worker is checked on. The record stays on the timeline.
Man down	The badge's accelerometer sees no movement for the set time. The rule is turned on and timed per badge.	The worker moving again clears it. A supervisor can also resolve it with a note.
Restricted area entry	The badge reports a location inside a restricted area you drew as a geofence. High priority, and the badge is marked in alert.	Leaving the area closes the entry alert and logs the exit. A repeat reading inside does not raise a second alert.
Stationary badge	The badge has not moved for the number of minutes you set, during a shift.	Movement resumes, or the badge powers off.
Stationary outside approved sites	During an open shift, the badge holds one spot outside every jobsite, office and supplier location for the minutes you set. A badge that keeps driving never triggers it.	Movement resumes, an approved site is entered, or the shift ends.
Low battery	The badge drops to the threshold you set (25% by default) while it is not charging.	The badge goes on charge or climbs back above the threshold.
Late start	A worker with set work hours has not powered on by start time plus the grace minutes you choose.	The worker powers on.
No-show	A worker scheduled for the day never powered on by the end of their scheduled hours.	A supervisor resolves it. It stays as a record of that day.

Push-button alert
What raises it
The worker presses the alert button on the badge. It appears on the office dashboard in real time with the badge's most recent location.
What closes it
The matching release on the badge clears it, or a supervisor resolves it from the alerts page.
SOS
What raises it
The worker presses the SOS button. It is marked high priority and the badge's status changes to alert until it is cleared.
What closes it
The matching release on the badge clears it. The record stays on the timeline.
Fall detected
What raises it
The badge's accelerometer detects a fall and raises a high-priority alert without the worker pressing anything.
What closes it
A supervisor resolves it with a note once the worker is checked on. The record stays on the timeline.
Man down
What raises it
The badge's accelerometer sees no movement for the set time. The rule is turned on and timed per badge.
What closes it
The worker moving again clears it. A supervisor can also resolve it with a note.
Restricted area entry
What raises it
The badge reports a location inside a restricted area you drew as a geofence. High priority, and the badge is marked in alert.
What closes it
Leaving the area closes the entry alert and logs the exit. A repeat reading inside does not raise a second alert.
Stationary badge
What raises it
The badge has not moved for the number of minutes you set, during a shift.
What closes it
Movement resumes, or the badge powers off.
Stationary outside approved sites
What raises it
During an open shift, the badge holds one spot outside every jobsite, office and supplier location for the minutes you set. A badge that keeps driving never triggers it.
What closes it
Movement resumes, an approved site is entered, or the shift ends.
Low battery
What raises it
The badge drops to the threshold you set (25% by default) while it is not charging.
What closes it
The badge goes on charge or climbs back above the threshold.
Late start
What raises it
A worker with set work hours has not powered on by start time plus the grace minutes you choose.
What closes it
The worker powers on.
No-show
What raises it
A worker scheduled for the day never powered on by the end of their scheduled hours.
What closes it
A supervisor resolves it. It stays as a record of that day.

Thresholds for stationary alerts and low battery are set for the company. Late start and no-show follow each worker's own schedule and work days. Man down is configured on each badge.

From button to closed alert

What happens after a worker presses the button.

ZeroBadge carries the signal to the office. What the office does next is your procedure, not ours.

01
Press
The worker presses the alert button or the SOS button on the badge clipped to their vest. No phone to find and no app to open.
Worker
02
Show
The alert appears on the office dashboard in real time, with the worker's name, the badge, the alert type and the last reported location.
Dashboard · real time
03
Act
Whoever is watching the dashboard follows your safety procedure: call the worker, send the foreman, call 911. ZeroBadge does not make those calls.
Your team
04
Close
The matching release on the badge clears the alert, or a supervisor resolves it with a note. The alert and its times stay on the worker's day timeline.
Badge or supervisor

Where an alert lives

Every alert sits on the worker's day timeline, next to the shift record.

An alert is not a separate log in a separate system. It is placed on the same timeline as the shift: power-on, the jobsite entries and exits, transit between sites, and power-off. When the office reviews an incident, the where and the when are already lined up.

Take a roofer's Tuesday as an example. Badge on at 6:04 AM at the shop, on the roof at Site A from 6:41. At 10:12 a man down alert fires after the badge sits still for the set time, and it clears at 10:15 when the worker moves again. The foreman's note reads "knelt to seal a curb flashing." The day still totals the same hours: an alert does not add or remove time. Jobsites are geofences you draw from an address (geofence time tracking).

ZeroBadgeTimesheetsTue Oct 6

6:30 AM3:50 PM

Lena · route

6:30 AMShop & OfficeClocked in at the shop, loaded fittingsOn site · 25m
6:55 AMTransit to RiversideDrive to Riverside Medical PavilionTransit · 40m
7:35 AMRiverside Medical PavilionCrew hand-over with Marcus T.On site · 45m
8:20 AMTransit to Cascade SupplyDrive to Cascade Supply Co.Transit · 25m
8:45 AMCascade Supply Co.Vendor stop: valve pickupVendor · 25m
9:10 AMTransit to Harbor YardDrive to Harbor YardTransit · 30m
9:40 AMHarbor Yard Distribution CenterOn site with the Harbor Yard crewOn site · 6h 10m

One shift from 6:30 AM to 3:50 PM.

Scenarios by role

Lone, remote and night work is where a worn alert button earns its place.

These are illustrations of how the alerts behave in common situations, not customer stories.

Lone, remote and night work is where a worn alert button earns its place.
Who and when	What the badge does	What the office sees
Lease operator on a wellsite, 5:40 AM, alone (oil and gas)	GPS places the badge at the pad. If the operator presses SOS, the alert goes out over the badge's own cellular connection.	A high-priority SOS at the named wellsite, with the time, while the rest of the field crew is still driving out.
Apprentice lineman at a substation, 10:14 AM (utilities and energy)	The fenced yard is drawn as a restricted area. Stepping inside raises an entry alert; walking out closes it.	Who entered, at what minute and for how long. A foreman can confirm the entry was authorized and note it.
Roofer on a commercial roof, early afternoon (roofing contractors)	Man down is set on that badge. If it sits still past the set time, an alert fires.	A man down alert on Site A at 1:22 PM, cleared at 1:25 when the worker moved.
Night cleaning crew in an office tower, 11:30 PM (commercial cleaning)	Wi-Fi positioning places the badge at the building. The cleaner can press the alert button from any floor with signal.	An alert at the named building. Location answers which building, not which floor or room.
Security officer on a solo patrol, 2:10 AM (security guard companies)	A stationary badge rule flags a badge that has not moved for the minutes you set.	A stationary alert on the post, so the supervisor on duty can call the officer.
Service technician between calls, 3:45 PM	The badge holds one spot outside every approved location for longer than the set time.	A neutral stationary outside approved sites alert with the time it started, so dispatch can check in.

Lease operator on a wellsite, 5:40 AM, alone (oil and gas)
What the badge does
GPS places the badge at the pad. If the operator presses SOS, the alert goes out over the badge's own cellular connection.
What the office sees
A high-priority SOS at the named wellsite, with the time, while the rest of the field crew is still driving out.
Apprentice lineman at a substation, 10:14 AM (utilities and energy)
What the badge does
The fenced yard is drawn as a restricted area. Stepping inside raises an entry alert; walking out closes it.
What the office sees
Who entered, at what minute and for how long. A foreman can confirm the entry was authorized and note it.
Roofer on a commercial roof, early afternoon (roofing contractors)
What the badge does
Man down is set on that badge. If it sits still past the set time, an alert fires.
What the office sees
A man down alert on Site A at 1:22 PM, cleared at 1:25 when the worker moved.
Night cleaning crew in an office tower, 11:30 PM (commercial cleaning)
What the badge does
Wi-Fi positioning places the badge at the building. The cleaner can press the alert button from any floor with signal.
What the office sees
An alert at the named building. Location answers which building, not which floor or room.
Security officer on a solo patrol, 2:10 AM (security guard companies)
What the badge does
A stationary badge rule flags a badge that has not moved for the minutes you set.
What the office sees
A stationary alert on the post, so the supervisor on duty can call the officer.
Service technician between calls, 3:45 PM
What the badge does
The badge holds one spot outside every approved location for longer than the set time.
What the office sees
A neutral stationary outside approved sites alert with the time it started, so dispatch can check in.

Every scenario above depends on the badge having cellular signal and charge, and on someone in the office watching the dashboard. See the limits below.

Options compared

A worn cellular badge compared with a phone app, a radio check-in routine and no system.

Each option has a place. The difference is what the worker has to do in a bad moment and where the record ends up.

Ways to raise a worker safety alert on a field crew
Compare	ZeroBadgeWorn cellular badge	Lone-worker phone appOn the worker's phone	Radio check-in routineScheduled calls	No systemWorker calls someone
What the worker does to raise an alert	Press a button on the badge they are wearing.	Reach the phone, open it, use the app. Some apps add a hardware button.	Key the radio and reach someone listening.	Find a phone and call someone.
If the worker cannot press anything	Man down fires after no movement for the set time, if turned on for that badge.	Some apps offer a no-motion timer, which works only if the phone is on the body.	A missed check-in, noticed when the next call is due.	Nothing raises an alarm.
Who receives it	Your office, on the dashboard. No staffed monitoring and no text messages.	Varies. Some plans include a staffed monitoring center.	Whoever is on the channel at that moment.	Whoever the worker reaches.
Restricted area entry	Alert on entry to any area you draw, closed on exit.	Some apps support geofence alerts.	Not covered.	Not covered.
Where the record lives	On the worker's day timeline, beside the shift and the hours.	In the app's own log, usually apart from timesheets.	A paper log, if someone keeps one.	Memory.
Coverage it needs	Cellular signal.	Cellular or Wi-Fi on the phone.	Radio range or a repeater. Works without cellular.	Whatever phone signal there is.
What you manage	A badge per worker to charge, assign and collect.	App rollout, permissions and phone battery on personal or company phones.	Radios, channels and a person on the schedule.	Nothing, until something happens.

Compare ZeroBadge with

Ways to raise a worker safety alert on a field crew: ZeroBadge compared with Phone app
ZeroBadge	Phone app
What the worker does to raise an alert
Press a button on the badge they are wearing.	Reach the phone, open it, use the app. Some apps add a hardware button.
If the worker cannot press anything
Man down fires after no movement for the set time, if turned on for that badge.	Some apps offer a no-motion timer, which works only if the phone is on the body.
Who receives it
Your office, on the dashboard. No staffed monitoring and no text messages.	Varies. Some plans include a staffed monitoring center.
Restricted area entry
Alert on entry to any area you draw, closed on exit.	Some apps support geofence alerts.
Where the record lives
On the worker's day timeline, beside the shift and the hours.	In the app's own log, usually apart from timesheets.
Coverage it needs
Cellular signal.	Cellular or Wi-Fi on the phone.
What you manage
A badge per worker to charge, assign and collect.	App rollout, permissions and phone battery on personal or company phones.

The tradeoff

When another option fits better: if your crews work beyond cellular coverage, radios with repeaters reach places a cellular badge cannot. If you need trained people answering alerts around the clock, choose a service that includes staffed monitoring, because ZeroBadge does not provide it. Many companies keep their radio routine and add the badge, so the alert button and the time record travel together.

One device, two jobs

The badge that raises the alert also records the shift.

The same cellular badge that looks out for a worker also captures the data that keeps your jobs on time and on budget.

Power on starts the shift and power off ends it, so the worker carries one device and does one routine. The safety alerts and the timesheet come from the same record, which means an alert at 10:12 is already sitting next to the jobsite the worker was at and the hours they were paid for. Read how the hours side works in automatic timesheets, and how the office sees crews by site in construction crew tracking.

Tracking runs only while the badge is powered on for a shift. Badges are company-issued and powered off between shifts. More on the hardware on the badge page.

ZeroBadgeTimesheetsWeek of Oct 5

Lena O.

Foreman

Badge-recorded

Day

In → Out

Locations

Recorded

Mon7:00 AM → 4:31 PM2 locations9h 31m
Tue6:30 AM → 3:50 PM4 locations9h 20m
On site7h 20mTransit1h 35mOther25m
Wed7:00 AM → 4:36 PM2 locations9h 36m
Thu7:00 AM → 4:16 PM2 locations9h 16m
Fri7:07 AM → 4:03 PM2 locations8h 56m

Week recorded

46.7 h

Overtime

6.7 h

Before you rely on it

Safety alerts support your safety program. They do not replace supervision or training, ZeroBadge does not monitor alerts or contact 911, and in an emergency workers should call 911.

ZeroBadge is not a life-safety system. Build it into your safety program as one more signal, alongside supervision, training, protective equipment and your own procedures.

Honest limits

What the safety alerts do not do.

Read these before you write the alerts into a safety procedure.

Alerts go to the dashboard
Alerts are delivered to the office dashboard and the alerts page. ZeroBadge does not send them as text messages or phone calls, so someone has to be watching the dashboard for an alert to be seen.
Nobody at ZeroBadge answers them
ZeroBadge does not monitor alerts, does not dispatch help and does not contact 911. Your team decides who watches the dashboard and what they do.
Alerts can be late or missed
An alert raised where there is no cellular signal cannot reach the office until the badge reconnects, and it may not arrive at all. A badge can also send a false alert.
Fall detection and man down can misfire
A dropped badge can look like a fall, and a worker who sits still for a long task can trigger man down. Fall detection can also miss a fall. Set the man down time per badge with the work in mind, and keep check-in routines for lone workers.
The badge reports on the badge
A badge left in a truck or on a charger cannot tell you anything about the worker. A dead badge sends nothing, which is why the low-battery alert exists.
Location answers which site
GPS outdoors and Wi-Fi positioning indoors place an alert at a jobsite or building, not a room or floor. Cellular-only readings are labelled low confidence.
It does not keep training records
ZeroBadge does not track certifications, training or protective equipment. It records alerts, locations and hours.

ZeroBadge AI

Ask ZeroBadge AI about this week's alerts.

ZeroBadge AI answers plain-English questions from your own alert, location and shift records. It is read-only, admins control who can use it, and every number links back to its records. Example answers from a sample week:

You ask
Which badges raised safety alerts this week?
Three badges raised four alerts, Saturday to Friday: two push-button alerts at Site A (closed after 4 and 6 minutes), one man down at the north yard (cleared after 3 minutes) and one restricted area entry at the substation. None are still open.
You ask
Who entered the restricted yard at the substation yesterday?
Two badges: the apprentice on Crew 3 at 10:14 AM for 6 minutes, and the foreman at 1:52 PM for 3 minutes. Both alerts closed when they walked out, and the foreman added a note to the first one.
You ask
Which sites had the most stationary outside approved sites alerts this month?
Site B had 7, then the shop yard with 3. Five of Site B's seven came from badges parked at the laydown area across the road between 11:30 and 12:15. That area is not drawn as a location, so drawing it would stop those alerts.

Answers come only from your company's own records. Every number links to the records behind it. Read-only; admins control access.

How ZeroBadge AI works

Questions

Questions about worker safety alerts.

What safety alerts does the ZeroBadge badge raise?

Five safety alerts: a push-button alert, SOS, automatic fall detection, man down (no movement for a set time) and restricted area entry. The office can also set workforce alert rules for stationary badges, stationary time outside approved sites, low battery, late starts and no-shows. All of them appear on the office dashboard and on the worker's day timeline.

Does the badge detect when a worker falls?

Yes. The badge's accelerometer detects a fall and raises an alert on the office dashboard automatically, with the time and the jobsite. Man down is a separate rule that fires when the badge stops moving for a set time. Like any sensor, fall detection can miss a fall or be set off by a dropped badge.

What should a worker do in an emergency?

Call 911. Safety alerts support your safety program. They do not replace supervision or training, ZeroBadge does not monitor alerts or contact 911, and in an emergency workers should call 911. The badge alert tells your office; it does not reach emergency services.

Who receives a safety alert, and how?

Your office, on the ZeroBadge dashboard and alerts page, in real time. ZeroBadge does not send alerts by text message or phone call and does not staff a monitoring center, so decide who watches the dashboard during each shift.

Can safety alerts be set differently for different workers?

Partly. Man down is turned on and timed per badge. Late start and no-show alerts follow each worker's own work hours and days. Stationary thresholds and the low-battery level are set for the company, and restricted areas apply to anyone who enters them.

Does the badge track workers after their shift?

No. The badge records only while it is powered on for a shift, and badges are powered off between shifts. Raw location history is deleted after 90 days; timesheets are kept.

Do safety alerts change a worker's hours?

No. An alert does not add or remove time. It sits on the day timeline beside the shift so the office can see where and when it happened, and the hours still go through the normal review and approval.

Go deeper

Related pages on crews, sites and industries.

Last updated October 29, 2026

Get started

Set up alerts around your own sites and shifts.

We'll walk through the alert buttons, fall detection, man down and restricted areas using your jobsites, then show where each alert lands on the day timeline.

Get started See the badge

What we will walk through

01The five safety alerts and how each one closes
02Drawing restricted areas and setting alert thresholds
03How alerts and hours share one record

Worker safety alerts from the same badge that records the shift.

On a lone or remote shift, the hard part is the time between something going wrong and anyone knowing.

Nobody is in earshot

Check-ins depend on someone keeping time

Phones live in the truck

Safety records and time records never meet

Four safety alerts from the badge, plus the rules you configure in the office.

What happens after a worker presses the button.

Press

Show

Act

Close

Every alert sits on the worker's day timeline, next to the shift record.

Lone, remote and night work is where a worn alert button earns its place.

A worn cellular badge compared with a phone app, a radio check-in routine and no system.

The badge that raises the alert also records the shift.

Safety alerts support your safety program. They do not replace supervision or training, ZeroBadge does not monitor alerts or contact 911, and in an emergency workers should call 911.

What the safety alerts do not do.

Ask ZeroBadge AI about this week's alerts.

Questions about worker safety alerts.

Related pages on crews, sites and industries.

Set up alerts around your own sites and shifts.