Wearable safety device triggers emergency response after fiery collision in remote Mexico

On Friday, May 24th, Blackline Safety's in-house Safety Operations Center (SOC) received two simultaneous SOS alerts from a G7 safety wearable in Mexico to report a vehicle collision and explosion. The incident took place when a tanker truck was run off the road by another vehicle on Highway 57 near Monterey, in northeastern Mexico. Following behind the incident was a vehicle carrying two sales managers from Enjoy Safety, a Blackline Safety distribution partner.

"We were in the middle of nowhere when we saw the explosion, and the nearest city was 30 miles away," said Martin Guillen, Sales Manager at Enjoy Safety, "Abel and I immediately got out of the car and ran off the road, away from the flames." He added "We feared following cars behind might not see us due to rain and smoke."

Once safely off to the side of the road, both gentlemen pulled the SOS latch on their G7 devices. Within 35 seconds, one of Blackline's bilingual SOC agents was on the phone with Jose Luis Santillan, Director of Operations at Enjoy, confirming that two team members had triggered alerts. Armed with critical situational insight about the incident as it was unfolding, the agent dispatched emergency responders to the remote location. Within 20 minutes, fire and ambulance services had arrived on the scene.

G7 is a comprehensive safety monitoring system that connects users to Blackline's in-house, 24/7 live monitoring team in the event of an emergency. Through Blackline's live monitoring portal, agents are able to determine the exact location of a worker and dispatch help according to the client's customized emergency response protocol.

"The speed of response was incredible, and the agent was very professional when responding to the call for help," said Mr. Santillan. "The best thing was they knew where, when and who was involved in the accident and could send help to their exact location within minutes." He added, "Martin and Abel were given peace of mind that they knew help was contacted, which allowed them to focus on helping the people around them." Fortunately, no serious injuries occurred during the incident.

"Blackline's G7 is an incredible system, and this shows how important it is to have this type of monitor," added Mr. Guillen. "Nobody expects to be in the middle of an accident like this until it happens to you, and it demonstrates how critical it is to be prepared when it does." He added, "Now we truly understand the meaning of 'we've got your back.'"