Safety Tips for Lone Worker Response

Lone workers are vulnerable to many situations that can pose a serious threat. For example, workers that are isolated can’t rely on colleagues to call for help in an emergency situation.

A risk assessment should identify foreseeable incidents and develop clear emergency procedures for your remote staff. You should also equip your employees with a personal alarm device that includes features such as duress or man-down alarms, or discreet panic alarms.

Training

Lone workers often work in remote locations or with a nonstandard schedule, so their safety is especially important. Taking the time to educate lone workers on how they can best protect themselves in various scenarios can help minimize risk before an incident occurs.

Training can include a range of topics, from protocols for reporting incidents and hazards to guidelines for working alone. This can also be an opportunity to train employees on how to use a lone worker monitoring system that includes features like a discreet panic button and GPS location capabilities.

In addition, a clear procedure for conducting lone worker safety check-ins should be established. It is important to provide a consistent and predictable process that reflects the risks identified in the risk assessment. It may be helpful to create a step-by-step guide that can be distributed to your lone workers and used as a reference until the procedure becomes routine.

The risk assessment should identify if any circumstances require a lone worker to be accompanied by someone at the workplace, such as new workers or employees working in areas with elevated risks. Management should decide on the appropriate level of supervision based on the results of the risk assessment. This should be reviewed and updated as necessary. Lone worker monitoring solutions that can be used to notify emergency responders when a lone worker has been exposed to hazardous gases, has fallen and is no longer moving or has pressed their monitor's panic button for assistance are also valuable tools.

Communication

Communication is a critical part of any work environment. In a lone worker situation, it can be especially crucial. Without coworkers nearby to point out a risk or offer assistance, a lone worker must be able to recognize and address hazards themselves. This requires clear and consistent training, a reliable method of communication, and the ability to act quickly when an issue arises.

An effective lone worker communication plan can include regular safety check-ins, mobile panic buttons and customizable escalation plans. These features allow lone workers to confirm their safety with their employer and provide vital information that could be helpful in the event of an emergency. DATAMYTE also lets users send alerts via multiple channels including email, text and voice, improving the likelihood that a lone worker will receive an alarm in a timely manner.

Lone Worker Alarm Some lone workers may require supervision to ensure their health and safety, but this is a decision that should be made by management based on the results of a risk assessment. If an employee is new to a job, facing a risky situation or working in a remote environment, they may need to be accompanied at first until they are comfortable handling situations independently.

Situational Awareness

Whether on the job site or not, all employees should be mindful of their surroundings and always be aware of potential threats. This includes being conscious of what’s going on around them, whether it’s an unauthorized person wandering into the building or a car slamming on their brakes in front of them on the highway.

Developing situational awareness requires scanning the environment to identify hazards, and then understanding what is happening in those surroundings and how that may change with time. It also involves being able to make predictions about future events, which is crucial in the event of a crisis.

Lone workers, by their very nature, are surrounded by potentially dangerous environments and situations. Having the right tools to help them stay safe is critical. Using solutions that offer both a personal emergency device and live monitoring is ideal, as it allows employees to send out an alert at the push of a button. This can be done through a wearable monitor or smartphone app, and the appropriate contacts in the emergency escalation chain are notified instantly.

Many companies use manual check ins, which require lone workers to contact their manager at set intervals and report on their safety status. While this meets regulatory requirements, it is not fail-proof and can leave workers vulnerable in the event of an emergency. By utilizing a live monitoring solution, lone workers can instantly alert their managers to any potential issues that need to be addressed, such as a gas leak, a fall, or an active duress signal.

Emergency Response

A clear emergency response procedure is essential for all employees, especially those who work alone. Lone workers are often operating in environments where help is not readily available and need to be able to communicate with their supervisors in an urgent situation. It is important to conduct a thorough hazard assessment to note any potential hazards that may arise in your operation and then develop a protocol for emergency response based on the results of the evaluation.

Ensure that employees who work alone know how to call or text their manager to let them know they are okay and what their current location is. It is also recommended that you use a lone worker solution that offers GPS tracking with an optional duress alarm feature. This allows lone workers to activate the duress alarm in a number of ways including an in-app panic button, quick-access widget, shaking the device, or using a Bluetooth wearable. In this way, the monitoring center can immediately send a red alert to your internal emergency response process and the designated supervisor will be contacted.

An accredited lone working service, such as Rombit, has a 24/7 professional security monitoring center that can escalate missed check-ins, overtime alerts, and duress alerts according to your internal procedures. These services can also automatically notify other managers when a lone worker fails to contact them.