Training & Development Lone Working
Minimising the risks...
This image was entered into our January ‘Reflections’ photo competition and is used by kind permission of Dean Ward, Assistant Greenkeeper at Wakefield Golf Club
Regular readers will be aware that, in recent months, there have been two events linked to the risks of lone working, one resulting in a near-miss, and the other tragically resulting in loss of life, in the groundcare profession.
Pitchcare have commissioned this article in the hope that it can help turfcare practitioners to understand, interpret and mitigate against the risks, but both Pitchcare and the author, Paul Worster, recognise it would be totally wrong to comment on the specifics of either case
146 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
A
ll of us who work in groundcare are, by the very nature of the tasks we undertake, occasionally exposed to lone working. Whether you are a volunteer
groundsman mowing or spiking a bowling green or cricket square - maybe in the evening after you’ve finished your ‘day-job’ - or perhaps, like me, used to working as part of a larger team, there is always the possibility of having to work alone from time to time.
Lone working does not suddenly make
routine tasks much more dangerous as all tasks carry their own known safety precautions. However, there is always the ‘what-if ’ scenario to be considered. What-if... I slipped and broke a bone or laid myself out? What-if.... I were attacked or robbed and left semi-conscious? What- if... I was suddenly taken ill?
How can I put some system in place to
ensure that, although I am currently alone, help would very soon be on its way if I did not check in with someone? My golf club is 54 holes on two sites. This does mean that we have a
reasonably large team but, equally, that they are spread over a larger area. Lone working, by necessity, does happen and we do need to control the risks. Typically, men and machines disperse
from the machinery base at first light. I am not keen on people working in pitch darkness - apart from being inefficient and potentially dangerous, this time is far better spent on staff training and development.
One course is on common land and is
well-walked and used. As such, it would be highly unusual for anyone to be completely alone for very long. The two new courses are much more private and, whilst one of them winds around the clubhouse area, with members able to start off around five different holes, the other is much more ‘out and back’ and the golfer does not normally reach the last few holes until late morning. So, in theory, a greenkeeper could lie injured for some time. We mitigate this by being vigilant and observing the progress of routine course preparation, knowing, for
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