This article was originally published on Safety Solutions and is republished here with permission.

‍Source: Safety Solutions – Staying alive: how technology can minimise the risks of distracted driving

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Having drivers on your team who don’t keep their full attention on the road is dangerous on multiple fronts. GEORGE HOLT, Compliance Manager at Zetifi, set out how technology may be able to help.

Twiddling with the sound system, sipping on a hot or cold drink, surreptitiously scrolling or messaging on a phone… There’s a plethora of ways drivers can have their attention taken away from the road, manually, visually and mentally.

And when that happens, the chances of a road accident or incident increase significantly. So much so that distracted driving is the main contributing factor in about 16% of serious casualty road crashes, according to the Australian Automobile Association.

In recent years, mobile phones have emerged as one of the chief causes of driver distraction, here in Australia and around the world.

Taking responsibility for workers’ behaviour on the road

If one of your employees is involved in an incident or accident while they’re on the job and driving a company vehicle, it’s not only a problem for them and the individuals they’ve endangered or injured; it’s a serious risk for your business.

Damage to company vehicles can disrupt operations and push up your insurance premiums; putting a dent in your profitability and bottom line.

Your brand and business reputation may take a hit too, if driver distraction has led to a worker causing serious harm, or worse, to other road users or pedestrians, as well as themselves.

And in today’s times, the legal responsibility for that harm may not fall on the perpetrator alone.

Your organisation could be deemed responsible, as could the individuals who lead it. There’s an onus on directors to mitigate known risks and that means those who don’t take steps to address the danger posed by distracted drivers could potentially find themselves held personally liable for any adverse outcomes that ensue.

Turning to technology to tackle driver distraction

Responsible businesses will already have policies in place to keep their employees safe. Typically, these will preclude eating, drinking, vaping and using devices while driving.

Policies should also mandate regular breaks when workers are travelling long distances. But setting strict rules is one thing; enforcing them can be quite another matter.

That’s where technology has an important role to play. It can help ensure that when workers are behind the wheel they’re not zoning out or turning their attention to text messages and social media feeds on their phone when they should be keeping their eyes on the road.

Devices today can sense worker environments, deliver precise location awareness and create intelligent connections between devices, systems and people, via connectivity, telematics and applications, including vehicle-mounted camera arrays.

The signals they detect and transmit can be swiftly and seamlessly interpreted and forwarded to key personnel responsible for instigating an immediate and appropriate response.

Smart antennas seamlessly integrated with third party applications, such as telematics, can be a game changer. There are several compelling use cases, from context aware tracking to enhance lone worker safety via the use of a smart antenna, to detecting mobile phone usage with a dash camera integrated with edge AI.

The latter can provide accurate, up-to-the-second intelligence on how employees are conducting themselves behind the wheel, along with the ability to correct aberrant behaviour immediately, via alerts, nudges and messages that remind distracted drivers to focus on the road.

Implemented across your company fleet, this technology can be an effective means of reducing the risk of an accident in the moment, and the catalyst for positive changes to your organisation’s driving and workplace culture over the longer term.

Taking smart steps to protect the public and your business

Whatever the nature of your business, ensuring your employees act in a safe and responsible manner when they’re on the job and on the road is critical.

Implementing platforms and processes that demonstrate you’re serious about doing so can help you protect the public, your organisation’s assets and its reputation and bottom line. Having access to technology that allows you to monitor and manage worker safety and on-road behaviour means you can be secure in the knowledge you’re doing all you can to mitigate the risk posed by driver distraction when your workers are behind the wheel.

If having a mobile workforce that’s an asset not a liability is important to your business, it’s an investment that makes excellent sense.

The missing link in driver safety, Connected Fleet Safety integrates telematics, agentic AI and Microsoft 365 to manage WHS business risk and bolster safer, smarter fleet management across Australia

Wagga Wagga, 24 March 2026 – Zetifi, an Australian wireless company that designs and manufactures smart antennas for cellular and radio devices with market-leading design, quality, and performance, has launched a new proprietary platform which helps organisations with distributed and mobile workforces manage driver safety and WHS risk by turning safety signals into action, records, and evidence.

Zetifi’s new Connected Fleet Safety platform is built on Geotab GO9 telematics, Geotab GO Focus Plus AI-powered video and Microsoft 365 workflows and integrates with Zetifi policy mapping, workflow design, agentic AI, and tuning.  It helps organisations move beyond tracking and alerts to deliver policy-driven safety action, follow-up and evidence.  It works through Microsoft-native workflows connecting vehicle, driver and field signals to alerts, actions, reporting and evidence within the systems teams already in use.

As a result, a risk event such as an employee using a mobile phone while driving, for example, is detected and automatically triggers the right alert, assigns follow-up actions and creates a record of response within Microsoft-native agentic workflows.  Key features include AI-powered cameras and telematics and near real-time alerts that prompt action, clear reporting that shows trends, behaviours and emerging risk as well as structured evidence that support compliance and governance.

Ideal for industries with elevated vehicle and remote-worker risk, including agriculture, mining, utilities, construction, transport, and local government, key solution features which help put safety policy into practice with minimal additional manual effort include:

Connected fleet safety 

Positioned as an operational safety layer, Connected Fleet Safety helps organisations turn risk signals into response, follow-up and evidence, not just detection.  Specifically, the platform turns signals into:

• Alerts when action is required
• Tasks and follow-up workflows
• Reports for review
• Records and evidence for compliance

Policy-driven safety, applied in real operations

Organisations can apply their existing WHS safety policies consistently without adding manual effort.  Policy is embedded into agentic workflows, guiding what happens next, capturing required actions and creating a clear record of response.

Built to work inside Microsoft environments

The platform integrates directly with Microsoft 365, allowing teams to manage alerts, actions and records within familiar tools. This reduces friction and avoids the need for additional standalone systems.

Built from connected safety signals

Connected Fleet Safety is powered by inputs from telematics, AI-powered cameras, smart antennas and two-way radios.  Zetifi’s partnerships with Geotab and Icom, alongside its own hardware, APIs and integrations, bring safety signals into a single operational workflow model.  While telematics remains an important data source, the value is in how that data is used to drive action and evidence.

Expanding differentiation: policy-driven agentic AI and Microsoft-native workflows

Zetifi is evolving towards policy-driven agentic AI and Microsoft-native workflows that help interpret events, apply policy, guide next steps and reduce manual review.  This improves consistency, reduces admin load and strengthens safety outcomes over time.

“Australian fleets don’t need more disconnected alerts, says Dan Winson, CEO, Zetifi.“ They need a practical way to turn vehicle and worker safety signals into action, follow-up and proof. As a result, we have developed Connected Fleet Safety for operationalising safety, not just monitoring it. The result is that we are helping organisations work where they already work, while improving safety outcomes.

“Ultimately, what makes Connected Fleet Safety different is that it does more than track vehicles or raise alarms. It helps organisations respond more consistently across fleet safety and lone worker safety, within the workflows they already use. Our goal is simple – fewer incidents, less disruption and more people home safe.”

Availability

The platform is live, with Connected Fleet Safety pilots already deployed in Australia and broader rollout underway.

Zetifi will showcase its Connected Fleet Safety Solution at the Workplace Health & Safety Show in Brisbane on 25-26 March at booth number G08.

About Zetifi

Zetifi is an Australian wireless technology company designing award-winning Smart Antennas and connected fleet safety solutions. Combining advanced antenna engineering, onboard electronics and cloud integration, Zetifi connects vehicle, radio and field safety signals to agentic workflows, alerts and evidence for connected fleet safety and lone worker safety.  For further information, please visit https://www.zetifi.com/ or https://www.zetifi.com/connected-fleet-safety

Source: Using technology to safeguard the mental health of mobile and field workers‍

Australia is a big country and travelling long distances on deserted roads is all in a day’s work for many mobile and field workers. So is toiling in isolated locations, miles and hours from towns and cities, as many agricultural and resources sector employees do.

While mobile phone coverage has improved in recent times, it’s still far from universal. Black spots remain plentiful in rural and remote locations.

Knowing you’re out of phone range is not a pleasant feeling. For lone workers travelling and working solo, it can mean being stranded by the side of the road for hours or even days, should they experience a breakdown or face other dangers such as human or animal aggression, an unfortunate medical event, or seasonal climate disaster.

And, in the event of a collision or industrial accident, they may well find themselves seriously injured and unable to raise the alarm that they need help urgently.

On the road and on your own

Fortunately, businesses are becoming alert to the fact that knowing they’re off the grid can be extremely stressful for workers. Over time, that stress can have a harmful effect on mental health and wellbeing.

Given mental health is the leading cause of absence and long-term incapacity in the workplace — it costs the Australian economy as much as $220 billion annually, by the Productivity Commission’s reckoning — there’s a clear imperative for businesses to take practical steps to promote worker safety and wellbeing wherever they can.

Doing so is both socially responsible and commercially smart. In recent years, states have strengthened regulatory frameworks around psycho-social hazards; putting the onus squarely on businesses to identify, mitigate and manage them. In fact, directors who fail to take sufficient steps to safeguard workers’ psycho-social wellbeing may find themselves held personally liable for adverse consequences that arise as a result.

Turning to technology to boost worker wellbeing

That’s where technology has an important role to play. It can ensure lone workers, however remote their location, are not left feeling like they’re out there on their own.

Devices today can sense worker environments, deliver precise location awareness and create intelligent connections between devices, systems and people, via connectivity, telematics and applications including lone worker duress and safety alarm tools.

The signals they detect and transmit can be swiftly and seamlessly interpreted and forwarded to key personnel responsible for instigating an immediate and appropriate response.

That’s not always possible when a lone worker is solely reliant on their mobile phone to summon aid. As a safeguarding system, it’s far too vulnerable to single point failure. Should the network drop out, for example, or the phone malfunction, there’s no Plan B for getting word back to base.

Instead, what’s needed are two things:

1. An improvement in reliability where possible, extending coverage, and better high-quality devices, but this only takes you so far.
2. Redundancy, which is infinitely more achievable because no matter how high the quality of a device or network, things can and do go wrong.

However, ultimately, you need a back-up plan, including the use of antennas able to provide back-up signalling methods and back-up connectivity, so if a worker’s phone isn’t working it can get critical information out. Seamless integration with third party applications, such as telematics, can also be a game changer. This can provide businesses with highly accurate collision data on sudden stops and vehicle impact, along with the ability for workers to check in regularly and send an SOS via cabin-mounted and portable duress buttons.

Efficient incident management

If the technology array that’s adopted integrates seamlessly with low-code tools and systems, monitoring and managing remote worker activity can be highly efficient and cost effective. Indeed, by drawing on existing organisational structures, citizen developers can create customised workflows that ensure the right people are alerted, based on the nature of the data received.

Emerging agentic AI capabilities today also enable users to build intelligent virtual agents that can make decisions and issue instructions autonomously, around the clock. In effect, that means someone’s in the office, all the time, looking out for lone workers who are on the road and in the field.

Taking care of the team physically and mentally

Irrespective of the industry, a healthy, high-performing workforce will always be any organisation’s greatest asset. Whether they’re in the office or out on the road alone, it’s vital that steps are taken to show the team the company has their back. Having access to intelligent antenna technology that allows them to share their location and signal for assistance means they can get on with the job, secure in the knowledge they’ll receive speedy support whenever it’s needed.

If providing a mobile workforce with greater peace of mind is a priority, it’s an investment that will stand any business in excellent stead.