On a 25-hectare site in France that never closes, the Toulouse Occitanie national wholesale market (MIN) protects its security officers, technicians and office staff with the VigieApp lone worker app. The teams explain the rollout, how the timed check-in covers areas with no signal, and how alerts are handled by the on-site security officer.
The Neovigie app fully meets what we expected in terms of lone worker protection, first for regulatory compliance, but not only that.
The MIN de Toulouse Occitanie is a 25-hectare wholesale market in the south of France: 233 resident businesses and more than 260 fruit, vegetable and flower growers. The site runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with most activity between 3 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Risks vary by department: night work and conflict management for the safety and regulation team, plant rooms and basement areas with no signal for technicians, and lone working at the desk for office staff, for example on Friday afternoons.
After an on-site demonstration and trials of several solutions in the high-risk areas, the market chose the VigieApp app and equipped 18 employees in the technical, security and administrative departments. The Neovigie team installed the app on their phones, trained the users, then came back a few months later for a refresher session.
Internal tests confirm how quickly security officers respond, including during a genuine false alarm when the officer reached the office within a minute. Users got to grips with the app in a few minutes, and Neovigie posters helped overcome early hesitation. The market rates the result as very satisfactory and recommends the solution.
Video in French. English translation of the transcript.
The MIN de Toulouse is a platform for wholesalers and growers from across the Occitanie region. It covers about 25 hectares. We host 233 resident businesses on the market as tenants, and more than 260 fruit, vegetable and flower growers come to the market four times a week. It runs around the clock, 7 days a week, but most of the activity happens between 3 a.m. and about 11 a.m.
We have several risks. For our safety and regulation department, it is night work and handling conflicts, because we are the ones who welcome market users in the morning. For our technical teams, it is more about high-risk rooms and the basement areas with no signal, so people working alone. For our office staff, it is being alone in their office. Some of our colleagues work on Friday afternoons and are alone in the building.
We were supported by the Neovigie team. They gave us a demonstration on site and lent us several solutions so we could test them in our premises, especially in our high-risk rooms, because we have a no-signal problem. The best solution was the Neovigie app. We decided to equip 18 employees in technical, security and administration roles to cover the risks we could face.
After that, the Neovigie team trained us and installed the app on our phones. A few months ago, I wanted a quick refresher for those who were struggling with the app, and once again they kindly came back and retrained all the teams, explaining how it works and what the VigieApp settings are.
The app is used every day by different employees, whether they are alone or not. I think our department uses it most, because of our very unusual hours: we work at night from 3:45 a.m. So we are working alone and we cover the whole 25 hectares.
We are at the Toulouse Occitanie wholesale market. It is 6 a.m., very early. Activity started a long time ago: I started at 3:45 this morning. We are at the growers' market, which is in full swing and will finish within an hour or an hour and a half. The main constraint in my job is night work. I am the first employee on site, I am on my own, and I may have to deal with fights between people, settle disputes, or be assaulted myself. Neovigie keeps me safe at all times during my shift on the site.
We run internal tests to check how quickly the officers respond, and it works very well. I once put my phone down a bit too hard on the desk, it triggered the alert and I didn't notice. The officer called us straight away and, when I didn't answer, came straight to my office. It was a false alarm, but it works very well.
Neovigie is very easy to use. It only took me a few minutes to get started. I am very satisfied with the Neovigie system. I would recommend it to anyone who works alone, or anyone alone in an office without supervision who is worried about their safety.
Neovigie users get a small reminder that we set up so they don't forget to switch on their protection at the start of their shift. They don't have to switch it on straight away, because they may not be alone or at risk at that moment. They get another notification at the end of their shift so they don't forget to switch it off.
We use fall detection. Falls happen from time to time, but rarely. What triggers most alarms is the no-motion detection, and also the areas with no signal. As we have many basements on our site, technicians often work in no-signal areas, and that triggers alarms. Our security team responds whenever there is an alarm.
When a technician works in an area with no signal, they can start a lifeline in the app. They activate it and enter roughly how long they will need. When the job is done, they can stop the lifeline. If they haven't finished and forget to extend it, an alarm is raised and the process starts again with our security officers.
Rolling out Neovigie and VigieApp on smartphones is extremely simple. We were very well supported by the Neovigie team, who explained how the app works. It is very smooth. Team uptake has been quite good. There was some hesitation at first, but thanks to the Neovigie posters in our premises we were able to raise awareness and get staff on board with the app.
There are still tensions linked to our job. We enforce the rules and sometimes issue penalties, so there is a risk of assault. We are often on our own, so we could also be taken ill. Those are the biggest risks we face. I work staggered hours, from Tuesday to Saturday, mostly at night, three weeks out of four, from 4:30 a.m. to noon. I am often alone, so I switch it on as soon as my colleagues leave. On Saturdays it is a priority, because I am on my own the whole time and I switch it on straight away. There is full protection and partial protection: when I am moving around it is on full protection, and partial protection when the phone is on the desk.
When we showed it to all the market's employees, we ran tests and it was very responsive. The security officer, who is on site 24 hours a day, receives the call, and receives it quickly. I am satisfied with the Neovigie system and I would recommend it.
When there is an alarm, we get the information directly on our own lone worker device. The Neovigie app is installed on the smartphone, it is our own means of protection as officers. When a Neovigie alarm goes off in an office for someone who has the app, we are contacted immediately through the app. We receive a text message with all the information the person has entered in the app, and we are immediately offered the option to call them. If the person answers the phone, everything is fine and we don't go out. If there is no immediate answer, we go straight to the location shown to make sure everything is fine and check on the person. Whether we are in the security control room or on patrol on the site, we always receive the Neovigie alarm.
The Neovigie app fully meets what we expected in terms of lone worker protection, first for regulatory compliance, but not only that. We had lone working constraints, especially at night and in high-risk rooms. Neovigie meets our expectations perfectly. It is very easy to use and smooth. We had very good support. The result is very satisfactory.
