Kickstart Your Lone Worker Protection Project

Step One: Identify Hazards

Every job comes with a unique set of hazards. Before you can decide what kind of lone worker protection you require, you must understand the risks involved in each role in your organisation. This means looking at the people or animals that each employee may work with or encounter, the locations, time of day or night, environments that impact their safety, and any physical activity involved in the job that could cause injury.

Incident reports and near-miss reports can help provide insight, but your workers should be involved in this step, as nobody understands their role better than them.

Step Two: Decide Who Might Be Harmed And How

After you have identified the hazards presented by the work environment, it’s time to dig a little deeper and determine who is more likely to be harmed and what kind of incidents might occur.

Are your workers at risk of slipping or falling? Are they operating equipment that could cause an injury? Is there a risk of confrontation from members of the public, or fatigue from physical exertion or driving for long distances?

If something were to happen to a worker, who would know about it, and how would they find out? How long would it take before a response was enacted?

Compile a list of these factors for each role.

Step Three: Evaluate The Risks And Decide On Precautions

The next phase of the project involves reviewing the current systems and H&S policies. Are the existing precautions adequate, or does more need to be done? How are the existing risks being reduced or eliminated (if at all)?

Have all your workers had the proper training for their roles – such as first aid training (and is it current?) or situational defusing training?

This is an excellent time to review or your H&S documentation to ensure it’s adequate. After all, your organisation must be able to demonstrate everything that is being done to protect your staff. If the documentation isn’t up to scratch, your H&S measures will be deemed inadequate.

Does your company have a clear policy procedure and guidelines for staff who visit clients? Is there a system in place to check on a worker’s location if they fail to return home or back to base?

Lastly, how will your workers call for help in an emergency? If they rely on smartphones, are there procedures in place to ensure their phones are always accessible and charged? And what is the backup plan for when your staff are working in areas with no cellphone coverage?

Step Four: Risk Assessment For Lone Worker Protection

Now that you have gathered all the data, it’s time to compile it all into a risk assessment framework. This document should include the following information:

●       Details of the work environment and tasks for each staff member or team

●       The approximate amount of time staff spend working alone each week

●       The approximate amount of time they spend working out of cell cover each week

●       Whether they work inside buildings or homes

●       The hazards on-site and en-route to the site

●       Mitigating factors

●       Any lone worker PPE currently in use

Step Five: Analyse And Decide

With most of the paperwork out of the way, the next step is to analyse the information you have gathered and put in some due diligence to find the best solutions moving forward.

You will be considering all the risks outlined and reviewing what is required in terms of cell cover and satellite cover. These factors will determine what lone worker solutions will meet your worker’s needs, including network, IP rating, battery life, functionality, wearability and usability.

You will need to research what kind of equipment or devices seem to be the best fit solution for each team or role, and decide on the number of each device type required based on the time staff work alone each week – some devices may be shared.

Step 6: Review And Implement

The hard work is done. You now know exactly what risks your lone workers face on the job, where the gaps are in your H&S procedures, and how to bridge them with the right equipment.

All that’s left now is to design and implement your lone worker protection strategy. Start by researching, selecting, and engaging your preferred lone worker solutions provider.

Make sure your chosen provider has the range of products your organisation needs, can support you to implement the project with clear guidance and advice, and provides an end-to-end service, including 24/7 monitoring and end-user training and support.

Implementing your lone worker protection project may feel daunting, but once you break it down into achievable steps, it’s easier to schedule the time and resources to make it happen. Part of Direct Safety’s service is to assist at any or all stages of the project if needed.

If you need support or advice on kickstarting your lone worker project, contact us today, and we’ll help you keep your people safe.