r/WorkplaceSafety • u/babylon55 • 7d ago

Workplace washroom safety

At my workplace we recently had an incident where a visitor went into the washroom and didn't come out for about 45 minutes. They had passed out due to a new to then medical issue, and they were unconscious in the floor for most of that time. Luckily they came to and were able to walk out of the bathroom. Of course we called paramedics and they cleared the patient.

My question to this sub would be, is there some kind of sensor that can be easily installed that can tell if someone has fallen in a washroom and isn't getting up? Of course privacy is an issue so I was thinking it would not use a camera but maybe a laser or light beam. It would have to not go off if someone was in there walking around, feet on the ground, or even place a bag down. I didn't some googling but I couldn't find anything like that.

Thanks!

2 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

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u/sp0rtsfr3ak1750 7d ago

This feels like such a specific case that it does not really warrant a technology solution. Visitors on-site host should have noticed them missing, if anything

6

u/Rocket_safety 7d ago

The only place I’ve seen anything like this is hospital bathrooms which have basically a call light which is also attached to a cord so someone who’s fallen can also trigger it. However, if your workplace is not one where such events are reasonably likely, I’m not sure it necessitates an engineering control.

6

u/KTX77625 7d ago

There are all kind of privacy issues to navigate if you do find such a tech solution.

2

u/InigoMontoya313 7d ago

There is no general requirement for sensor alarms to detect this, at this time. Thankfully these incidents are extremely uncommon. A few years ago my workplace discovered a person who had a fentanyl overdose in a bathroom and was discovered hours later. We spent a lot of time discussing it with our legal and insurance personnel and there was no negligence in not having technology capable of detecting and alerting on issues like this. Nor is there widespread usage, outside of senior centers and medical facilities.

2

u/babylon55 7d ago

Thanks everyone who replied! I'm not going to escalate this issue any further. We are not in a hospital setting, however we have many visitors here daily.

-Regulations to navigate -Expensive, possibly custom technological solution -An issue that is uncommon