According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the market value for lone worker protection solutions and services in Europe and North America reached an estimated € 85 million and € 50 million respectively in 2020.
In Europe and North America, the market value is anticipated to grow to € 115 million and € 75 million respectively by 2025. Berg Insight estimates that the user base of lone worker safety solutions in Europe and North America was 1.1 million at the end of 2020. In Europe, the number of users is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 9.7 percent from 740,000 at the end of 2020 to reach 1.2 million at the end of 2025. The North American market is anticipated to grow even faster from 320,000 users at the end of 2020 to 605,000 users at the end of 2025.
The lone worker safety solution market in Europe and North America is served by various companies offering hardware devices, software solutions and alarm monitoring and response services. Only a few companies offer complete end-to-end solutions. The UK market is the largest and most mature lone worker market in Europe and North America, followed by the Canadian market. Legislation specifically addressing the safety of lone workers has fostered growth in these two countries. Many of the largest vendors of lone worker protection devices and services also originate from these regions. Leading players in the UK include PeopleSafe (Send for Help), Lone Worker Solutions (Totalmobile), Safe Apps, Reliance High-Tech, SoloProtect, Orbis Protect, Vismo and Safe Shores Monitoring. Leading vendors in Canada are Tsunami Solutions, Blackline Safety and Aware360. Additional vendors in Europe and North America include Crystal Code, Honeywell, AlertGPS, Neovigie and Beepiz.
The number of people working alone in hazardous and exposed environments keeps increasing. Stricter occupational safety regulations in many countries, increasing employee insurance costs and a greater focus on protecting brand reputation drive demand for lone worker safety solutions. Traditionally, the market for lone worker safety solutions have to a large extent been driven by the public sector. However, this is expected to change in the next few years. “The greatest opportunities for lone worker safety solution vendors going forward are in the private sector”, says Martin Backman, Senior Analyst at Berg Insight.
The sheer number of workers in the private sector is vastly larger than in the public sector and companies and organizations in the private sector are typically not as restricted in terms of budgets. Selling to private sector organizations requires a different set of capabilities and competencies which vendors need to be aware of and adapt to.
Mr. Backman concludes:
“Smaller companies and start-ups that are not weighed down by legacy organizational structures and practices might have an edge over incumbents if the market dynamics changes.”
