In the year to October 2003, 15 % of the British National Health Service workers had to face violence at work.

UK is to test a technology that will tag some of the most vulnerable staff – such as district nurses -with electronic tracking devices.

Yorkshire-based company Connexion2 is providing the locator device, called Identicom.

If a staff member needs help, he has to press the panic button on the back of the device equipped with a dual or tri-band GSM module. A third party can then hear what is happening and record it. Radio signals from the device could also locate a worker.

See The Register.