PRESS INFORMATION

Goteborg, Sweden
March 2009

Increased security at Maersk Tankers

Chief Engineers on board the Maersk Tankers’ ships often work alone in the engine room. If they get hurt for example at night they risk lying helpless until the next morning. With a wireless alarm system from Ascom they always has an alarm device at hand, which can be activated both manually and automatically. This gives a more secure and flexible work environment.

The Chief Engineers aboard the Maersk Tankers’ vessels are responsible for operation, maintenance and repair of the ships’ machinery. The work is not free from risk and the employee may need assistance if he for example falls, gets injured or suffers from nausea. In daytime colleagues will of course notice if someone is gone for longer than usual, but at night an injured employee can risk lying helpless until the next morning, before he is discovered. Therefore Maersk Tankers decided to install a wireless alarm system from Ascom at 34 of their tankers.

“All our other tankers have personal security in the form of a “dead-man” button, which the engineer activates at the entrance to the engine room. The button has a timer which has to be restarted manually every 20 minutes. If the Chief Engineer doesn’t restart the timer, the alarm is automatically activated and help will immediately be on its way. Instead of installing cables to the “dead-man” buttons, we now chose a wireless system from Ascom,” says Per Ole Larsen, Technical Operation Manager at Maersk Tankers.

Larsen continues:
“With the Ascom solution we avoid the risk that an injured employee is left all night, waiting for help. At the same time it gives much more flexibility than the “dead-man” button. If Maersk Tankers should have installed “dead-man” buttons on tankers without a personal security system it would have required bulky equipment and a lot of cabling. With a wireless solution from Ascom the installation requires only one position locator and system integration whereby the chief engineer always has an alarm transmitter device at hand when he enters the engine room. “

Handsets are supplied with a built-in “man-down” feature that auto¬matically activates an alarm if an engineer for instance is down or is inactive for more than five minutes. Before the alarm is activated, the handset sounds and vibrates so that the engineer can reach to press the OK-button and postpone the alarm for ten minutes if he is not hurt, but just is lying down working.

The alarm transmitters also have a manual alarm button, so the engineer can summon help immediately if he for example is stuck squeezed or unable to move. Furthermore, the alarm transmitters are ATEX approved which means they can be used in hazardous areas on board tankers.

Eventually Ascoms wireless solution can be expanded to receive paging from telephones and alarms from other warning systems on board. The system can integrate with external equipment via standard or special customized interfaces and be programmed to send for example machine or fire alarms directly to the appropriate personnel. The recipient can read details about the alarm on the alarm transmitter display and acknowledge or reject the alarm.

The solution is scalable and can be extended to provide personal security for other personnel on deck and bridge, who also could end up in dangerous situations. Thereby the wireless alarm transmitters constitutes of a solid foundation for all future personal security, paging and receiving alarms on board.

Facts about the solution
Maersk Tankers are using a personal security solution that is modular and may be extended to also handle paging and receiving alarms. The wireless alarm transmitters used are Ascom a71 ATEX (approved for use in environments with explosion risk) with the option of following functions:

• 2-way communication
• Manual alarm activation via button
• Automatic alarm, “man-down” and “no-movement”
• Information about the position of the person in distress (option)
• Possibility of specific alarm handling for example during charging

Facts about Maersk Tankers
Maersk Tankers own and operate a large fleet of crude oil carriers, product tankers, gas carriers and LNG carriers, all built and operated to A.P. Moller – Maersk Group’s high standards of quality and reliability. Maersk Tankers have established one of the largest, most modern and most diversified independent fleets in the world – all meeting the latest industry standards and demands with focus on safety, the environment and cost efficiency.

For further information please contact:
Maj-Britt Madsen, Ascom Wireless Solutions Denmark
Phone: +45 43 29 72 12
E-mail: majbritt.madsen@ascom.dk

SCOM WIRELESS SOLUTIONS PRESS BACKGROUNDER

The market leader in professional on-site wireless communications, Ascom Wireless Solutions, is one of two core business units within The Ascom Group. Founded in the 1950s and headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and with subsidiaries in 10 countries Ascom Wireless Solutions was traditionally a paging company, but today provides tailored wireless solutions to fulfil market-specific needs.

The company offers a broad range of customised solutions, which enables quicker response through smart integration with existing systems. The solutions are based on VoWiFi, IP-DECT, DECT, Nurse Call and paging technologies, smartly integrated into existing enterprise systems. More than 75,000 systems are installed at major companies all over the world, including the majority of university hospitals in Europe.

The company has an advanced R&D department and supply and logistics operations in Sweden, as well as sales organisations throughout Europe, the US and Asia-Pacific.

As a market leader itself, Ascom Wireless Solutions, counts market leaders in all sectors among its customer base. However, the company works with organisations of all sizes, from those with international operations to local companies.

Market sector breakdown

Healthcare
Ascom is the leader in on-site wireless communications technology and integration for the healthcare sector, with solutions installed in a third of healthcare establishments in Western Europe.

Ascom’s solutions combine cordless phone, alarm, pager and messaging systems to enable healthcare practitioners, laboratories, radiology departments and support staff to respond quicker and more effectively. Although hospitals in Europe and across the US are currently investing huge sums of money in information technology, they often cannot realise the benefits of these investments fully.

While processes within individual departments – such as radiology or wards – are improved, bottlenecks in the information flow between departments are often not addressed.

Ascom works closely with healthcare establishments to remove these bottlenecks, helping improve staff productivity so that more time can be devoted to the crucial issue of patient care. This means less waiting time for patients who then receive more attention from medical staff and can be treated more effectively.

Not only does this result in greater patient satisfaction, it also frees up beds for new patients more quickly, helping to reduce the ongoing problem of ever-increasing waiting lists.

A professional on-site communications infrastructure also contributes to effective risk management by ensuring quicker response to emergencies, better co-ordination of resources, and improved safety within the healthcare environment.

Elderly care
Ascom on-site wireless communications enables quicker response. This delivers numerous benefits for the staff, residents and managers of care homes, nursing homes and assisted living facilities. One of the most important benefits for people working within elderly care is the time saving. Accurate, timely information – such as resident calls – go direct to the right person and minimises unnecessary ‘running about’. Staff gains more time for care duties and meaningful interaction with residents. Providing even better care under less stressful conditions also increases job satisfaction. And residents will benefit from prompt attention from designated carers which helps to ensure residents’ physical and psychological wellbeing. The residents feel safer knowing quality care is always within easy reach.

The benefits of an Ascom wireless solution will become increasingly valuable over time. That’s because they help to meet many of the challenges facing elderly-care professionals-  challenges that will only intensify in the future.

Industry
Ascom has a customer base of more than 20,000 systems installed throughout the world. Wireless communications technology is now becoming an integral part of an organisation’s investment in systems for monitoring, control and production planning, helping increase efficiencies and return on investment. In turn, leading to greater organisational agility, quicker response to on-site emergencies, fewer disturbances (which inevitably lead to production downtime), and improved information flow.

Typically in process industries, manufacturing and utilities, operations are physically dispersed and key individuals are on-site but out of sight. So with health and safety and physical security paramount, getting the right information at the right time – regardless of location – and responding quickly to critical situations helps reduce risk and means the difference between life and death.

Ascom’s on-site wireless communications and integration technology for customers within manufacturing and process industries helps keep staff in touch, providing time-critical information directly to individuals’ pockets – via phone, pager, handset – as speech, text, alarms or data.

Retail
Customer satisfaction is the driving force behind successful retailing and many retail groups use an Ascom solution as part of their service strategy. The thinking behind is the ability to provide rapid, secure and unambiguous communication to give quicker response to customer needs. Adopting a truly mobile platform also significantly improves store efficiency and helps empower employees in their day-to-day responsibilities.

Shops and shop assistants are today – unfortunately more than ever before – exposed to a number of security risks in their daily work. This trend makes many working situations unsafe and reveals the obvious need for reliable security.

Ascom´s security solutions for shops and shopping centres ensure that staff can get on with their daily tasks safely and effectively. In the event of an alarm, for example when a shoplifter has been detected, security staff can always be reached and the time from reaction to appropriate action is minimized. The right problems are solved at the right time and unnecessary and expensive evacuations can be avoided.

Hospitality
While each hotel is unique, there are still many similarities. Guests demand efficient service; those working in reception areas want to feel personally safe around the clock and technical staff want to know quickly when and where any fault has occurred.

Ascom’s dedicated hotel communication solutions are complete. They are compatible with other existing systems such as booking, management, lift and fire alarms and telephony platform – transforming the hotel’s existing fixed system into mobile systems enabling the level of service, security flexibility and efficiency desired by every hotel.

Summary of key market-driven issues

• Greater efficiencies – wireless communications can lead to improved patient care, security and comfort and reduced waiting times in hospitals, as well as improved monitoring, production and control operations in manufacturing and process industries.

• Future proofing – whether WiFi, IP-DECT, DECT or on-site paging, key decision-makers can ensure their chosen technology is right for improving communications and information flow.

• Litigation – is one of the biggest threats faced by the healthcare sector, so optimising interdepartmental communications can be a major step towards avoiding court cases.

• Production downtime – wireless communications enable production staff to respond quicker to disturbances that lead to production delays or cause defective products or services.

• The agile organisation – why wireless communications can lead to improvements like faster adjustment of scheduling and responding more quickly to customers’ demands.

• Increased security – in all workplaces where staff safety has top priority, the Ascom wireless communication solution for personal security is a must.