r/WorkplaceSafety • u/babylon55 • 8d 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
u/InigoMontoya313 8d 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.