LONE WORKER PROTECTION


THELEE THEETE


Craig Swallow, Managing Director of Connexion2, discusses what is important when it comes to protecting staff working alone.


can be argued that environmental risks could be sub-classified into two groups - as being passive or active. An active risk could result in a ‘man down’


UNDERSTANDING THE RISKS STAFF FACE:


The decision to effectively equip lone working staff should start by understanding the role they do and the risks they face. Without understanding the demands of the role, the environment, and empowering that worker to assess risk dynamically, the chance of not making the proper provision is a distinct possibility.


Risks are generally social or environmental. A social risk has the potential to result in incidents of verbal abuse or physical attack – often something faced by community-based workers, often making home visits or other staff dealing with the public.


Environmental risks are physical risks posed by a worker’s location and/or activity being carried out – these are often associated with maintenance, manufacturing or utilities lone worker types. It


46


situation from a slip, fall or injury; a passive risk can equally result in injury to a worker, but is accumulative over a period of time i.e. working with high-vibration or noise resulting in some faculty loss.


Therefore, it is vital an employer provides a worker with the most suitable option - clearly, there should be sensible risk assessment and lone worker policy support provided to underpin this process.


TECHNOLOGY IS AN


ENABLER: There is nothing new about working on your own; however ‘Lone Worker’ as an industry term is still relatively young. Some approach the issue with a genuine sense of interest; others see it as a hoop you have to jump through to tick a box perhaps. Neither camp wants their staff





or colleagues to be exposed to danger clearly; however it is often the occurrence of an unfortunate event or incident that sharpens focus to look to put a technology system in place.


Using a lone worker technology such as identicom could prove to be vital, however it is only worth as much as the response and speed of response it elicits. Only lone worker solutions audited and approved against BS8484 (British Standard for Lone Worker Device Services) can guarantee a Police escalation at a regional level via a URN


(Unique Reference Number), which is one level above a 999 call. ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers, England, Wales & Northern Ireland) specify that a Police response cannot be guaranteed by a non BS8484 lone worker solution. Any compliant solution provider will have been audited by a UKAS (UK Accreditation Service) accredited supplier and will be happy to provide certification if asked. The other benefit of a BS8484 solution is that the speed of call handling through the URN process (compared to 999) can often be one to two minutes quicker, hugely important to a worker at risk.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60