How personal safety technology can reduce the level of risk to lone workers
Employers have a duty of care to safeguard lone workers whilst they carry out their activities. How can personal safety technology reduce the level of risk they are exposed to?
Every organisation must, so far as it is reasonably practicable, ensure the health and safety of its employees while they are at work. Legislation, including the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992, and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, is designed to make the obligations of employers clear.
Call of duty
Although there are legal obligations in this area, organisations have a moral duty too. As part of a defined corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS), measures should be put in place to lessen the possibility of harm to individuals occurring.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that there are around six million lone workers in the UK. They may not have access to immediate assistance in case of an emergency and may not have the same level of support and supervision as other employees. Therefore, it’s essential to provide them with adequate training, equipment and communication tools to mitigate the risk of theft, violence, accidents and medical emergencies.
Protecting lone workers is also important for the overall productivity and wellbeing of an organisation. Employees who feel safe and supported are more likely to be motivated, engaged and productive. On the other hand, a workplace accident or injury can result in lost productivity, increased healthcare costs, decreased morale, reputational damage and, in extreme cases, corporate manslaughter charges and civil litigation.
Monitor and manage
Lone worker protection technology can summon aid in the event of emergency, collect important audio and video information that can be used as evidence, provide enhanced monitoring at ‘times of risk’, and confirm the safety or whereabouts of an individual. There is now an array of devices available – ranging from smartphone apps and panic buttons to keyfob style devices and body-worn cameras, which can connect employees quickly to an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) which can in turn quickly escalate to the emergency response service, utilising a range of technologies including 4G/5G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth functionality.
A thorough risk assessment should be undertaken to identify any hazards, consider who could be harmed and how, evaluate any danger and decide on the necessary technology to eliminate and minimise these risks. For example, police and emergency services, security officers, social workers, traffic wardens, healthcare professionals and retail staff are increasingly wearing body-worn cameras to tackle abuse, provide a way to capture evidence and raise alarms. Furthermore, location-tracking functionality can monitor the precise location of lone workers and send automatic alerts if an employee fails to check in at an agreed time.
Joined-up thinking
Technological advancements are facilitating a more cohesive approach to personal safety and it is now possible to integrate lone worker protection technology into a broader security and smart working infrastructure – creating a solution where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This enables employers to create comprehensive safety systems that can be customised to meet the unique needs of their employees and work environments.
For example, in a retail environment there could be a combination of fixed CCTV cameras, mobile body-worn cameras, lone worker devices or panic buttons, smoke screens, and live audio links to an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). Any alarm trigger allows the ARC to monitor the situation live by remotely activating the lone worker devices, CCTV and body-worn cameras, and deploy tactics to de-escalate situations, such as speak out into the store warning the intruder or aggressor they are being monitored.
Cause for alarm
Location technology to automatically trigger safety features continues to be developed. For example, when a mobile worker leaves their home to start work, the lone worker device or smartphone app can detect this using geofencing and automatically starts a check-in safety process. Likewise, when the mobile worker returns home, the check-in safety process can be automatically cancelled. An engineer working at height can confirm their attendance at a location via a field worker workforce management application and this could automatically trigger the impact and fall sensors in their lone worker device or smartphone app.
Some body-worn cameras can be linked to each other via Bluetooth. So, if one camera is activated, it can automatically activate the cameras of colleagues close by. This is something particularly useful when managing crowds at large events such as sports events, or concerts in arenas, providing enhanced evidence capture.
We are also starting to see the integration of data generated by lone worker safety solutions with other safety and security systems. Combining different data sources enables more complex analysis and trending, giving more powerful insights and moving to a more proactive and predictive approach to managing risks.
More than meets the eye
Implementing technological solutions alongside comprehensive training, and developing robust health and safety policies and procedures, can help to ensure the safety of lone workers. Furthermore, as well as keeping them safe, morale and productivity can improve when lone workers realise that their employer takes their health, safety and wellbeing seriously by investing in personal safety technology.
Chris Allcard
Director at Reliance Protect
