LONE WORKER PROTECTION
A major lift company had no lone worker support in place when a lift engineer working alone in a lift shaft, fell, and later died. He wasn’t found for eight hours. Alex Wright, a geologist for Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, was on his own investigating soil conditions in a deep trench on a development plot in Stroud when it collapsed and killed him in September 2008. The company was fined £385,000 under the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and last year had its appeal against conviction turned down.
Many organisations are therefore turning to technology to support their lone working employees. The use of lone worker devices and services can help by connecting employees with an emergency response system that has direct links to the police. British Standard BS8484, a code of practice for the provision of lone worker services, is the basis on which police respond to lone worker systems, so it’s important for employers to choose a supplier who works to these standards.
For low to medium risk lone workers, a simple solution set up on a standard mobile phone linking through to an alarm receiving centre, such as that managed by SitexOrbis on the Wirral, will provide an increased level of safety, says Mark. For lone workers who routinely face higher levels of risk, enhanced services can be combined with dedicated devices or a smartphone app that can include the ability to set up automatic welfare checks giving the user greater flexibility and protection. Devices from Sonim Technologies for
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example, have dedicated emergency keys, or specialist safety sensors which detect falls, impacts, extended lack of movement or loss of vertical position, and raises the red alarm even if the worker can’t press any buttons. “This is essential in high-risk environments such as security and facilities management, construction, utilities and transportation,” says Vince Galvin, VP sales Northern Europe at Sonim Technologies.
the phone and the digital recorders were commended by the police who are confident of upgrading the severity of the offence and securing a conviction.
In addition to technological support, practical safety training and the deployment of mobile based back- up solutions can help an organisation to embed health and safety into its culture, better assess risk and change working practices.
dial system set up linking through to an alarm system, which notifies them when they haven’t heard from their lone worker at the set time they are allocated to call in. Lone workers need to be properly catered for and Servest’s H&S team and their HR department are always considering new initiatives to support their lone workers in their day-to- day activity.
The benefit of lone working support was demonstrated in April this year, when a female parking attendant in Bristol was subjected to a tirade of abuse and threats while issuing a parking notice to a driver who had parked illegally in a disabled bay near the city centre. She pressed the dedicated panic button on her Sonim ruggedised mobile phone, all audio was recorded and she was discreetly connected through to the SitexOrbis alarm receiving centre (ARC). The operator remained on the line and began to initiate the pre- agreed emergency response procedure set by Bristol City Council. The man was later arrested and found to be in possession of several knives. The quality of the audio captured between
Supporting lone workers is a key issue for facilities services provider Servest Multi Service Group, which employs more than 9,000 people in the UK several of whom are lone workers ranging from cleaners, pest control operatives, maintenance operatives and security guards to business development executives and senior management.
For their medium to high- risk lone workers Servest has a dedicated speed
Further information
Unison has produced a health and safety guide for lone workers, which can be downloaded from
www.unison.org.uk/file/A227.pdf.
The Health and Safety Executive has also produced a guide for those working alone and those employing or managing lone workers. Access it at
www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg73.pdf.
Safety is not the only issue affecting people who work on their own, says Andrew Mawson, managing director of Advanced Workplace Associates, a consultancy which helps major organisations to implement agile and flexible working. “Keeping yourself motivated can be a key challenge for some, and occasionally those who were previously used to a busy office environment struggle to work alone. People need to be taught new work habits and ways of engaging with colleagues. If they don’t some people find the isolation of working away from the office a challenge.” There is also the issue of managing lone workers, he says: “There is a huge amount of trust involved when it comes to managing people who are not in your line of sight every day. You have to learn new ways of engaging and arrive at new accommodations with staff, managing by output rather than presence.”
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