LONE WORKER PROTECTION
With an increasing number of people working remotely, safeguarding employees has become an even greater challenge. Here, David Rowan, Sales Director at Chubb, explores the growth in lone working and introduces its new app designed to assist employers in keeping those who work on their own safe.
PROTECTING PEOPLE FIRST
The world of work has become extremely fast- paced and dynamic, with more people than ever working from home or alone, sometimes in remote locations and for long periods. With increasing variations in work patterns,
employers need to be assured that their people – wherever they’re located –
are always safe.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers have a responsibility to protect the health, safety and welfare of their workforce. Neglecting this duty of care, even by a small margin, could lead to substantial legal implications, such as fines, imprisonment and reputational damage.
LONE WORKERS Currently, in the UK, there are an estimated 8 million lone workers, making up 22% of the 31.2 million working population. Lone working is defined by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) as work carried out by people who work by themselves without close or direct supervision.
In some cases, lone workers can work entirely independently; in other scenarios, they are not physically alone but in a separate location from the rest of their team. For example, a retail worker replenishing stock alone in a store room is classed as a lone worker. Some other examples include security guards, warehouse operatives, social workers, cleaners, engineers out in the field, and facilities managers. Employees who cannot be seen or heard by a colleague are classed as lone workers.
MANAGING RISK In the workplace, all employees are exposed to risks; however, working alone makes lone workers more vulnerable to harm as they face hazards alone. The main types of risk are accidents or emergencies carrying out a job, sudden illness, and physical violence from members of the public or intruders. Alarmingly,
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statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales indicate that as many as 150 lone workers are either physically or verbally attacked every day.
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, employers are obligated to manage the risks to lone workers; however, according to a recent survey of 1,300 lone workers and health and safety professionals, some employers are falling short. The survey explored how seriously employers take lone worker safety and found that 94% of companies gave themselves a 10 out of 10 rating. In contrast, just 45% of lone workers felt the same, and 33% believed other factors like deadlines and financial targets were considered more important than their safety.
INTRODUCING SAFEZONE With 205 years of experience delivering fire safety and security solutions designed to help businesses protect their most valued assets, Chubb understands the challenges employers face in keeping their people safe.
Recently, we launched a new app SafeZone, explicitly designed to help employers manage the safety of lone workers. Workers can swiftly raise an alert for general assistance (help), medical assistance (first aid), or an emergency using one of three buttons. When an alert is raised, the user’s location is shared with operators at Chubb’s 24/7/365 remote monitoring centre in real-time. The operators can then connect directly to emergency services to provide the most appropriate assistance.
A check-in timer is also available on the app, allowing employees in high-risk situations to enter a duration or time of day they anticipate a particular activity, meeting or trip. When the countdown timer starts, if the check- in timer is not cancelled before the pre-set countdown time is reached, then an alert is automatically sent to Chubb’s remote monitoring centre.
www.chubb.co.uk/safezone
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