Road workers will be issued with armbands containing GPS technology which monitors their movements.

The armbands also contain a panic alarm if workers feel under threat and “vibrate continuously” if operatives do not move for three minutes.

The system has been developed by Lafarge Tarmac, in partnership with Reliance Protect, to provide real-time monitoring and tracking of workers that might be required to work alone on site – like plant delivery drivers and equipment fitters.

Operatives log into the system when they arrive on site and if their armband does not detect movement for more than 180 seconds, the device will vibrate continuously and if not acknowledged by the operative, it will send an alert to a central monitoring centre to activate emergency support.

If a threatened worker hits the panic alarm the device listens and captures everything that takes place during an incident.

Paul Fleetham, Managing Director for Lafarge Tarmac National Contracting said: “By equipping our lone workers with this new innovative device, we can access real-time information from site, helping us to further improve the safety of our employees.

“This technology sets a new benchmark for lone worker safety and through a central control centre ensures that we are in constant communication with our employees and can immediately deploy support if necessary.”