How to keep employees safe when lone working 

Lone working is appealing to many people and businesses as it is proven to increase productivity, can allow for more flexibility and attracts more remote workers who may be more qualified for roles outside of their travel limitations. Lone working doesn’t just mean working from home or being the only person in the office. It can also include jobs such as plumbers, electricians and care assistants. Here we will look at how to keep lone workers safe.

Making sure that your employees are safe and feel safe during their lone working hours is crucial for their wellbeing. When an employee feels unsafe in their work they will be much less productive and over time may lead to a higher turnover of staff.

There are many solutions to keeping your employees safe; these include panic alarms, man down alarms and panic apps that can track where employees are and can be used to draw attention to their location if something was to go wrong.

Panic Alarms are user activated alarms. These can be used when an individual is feeling unsafe and needs help. They are highly effective at warding off attackers as they draw attention to where the individual using it is. These are also useful for people who spend a lot of time alone outside of work.

Man down alarms will notify an appropriate response team to you and your whereabouts. These alarms will go off when the device hasn’t moved in a long time, when it has recognised a fall or when they have stayed in a horizontal position for an extended period of time. The automatic feature of this type of alarm is crucial as the person using it may not be able to move to signal for help themselves.

The UK Health and Safety Executive does stress the importance of providing lone workers with a way to signal for help and also checking in with them regularly. Employers have a legal obligation to assess the risks in the workplace and implement procedures for when risks occur or are identified.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about how to protect lone workers or make your employees feel safer then Call us on 01726 65636 or email security@waldons.co.uk