Notes

Legal Requirements for Employers Regarding Lone Worker Safety
Every employer must complete a general risk assessment for all employees. However, for lone workers, the process needs to be tailored to their specific duties and working environments.

Management must monitor their lone worker employees and ensure they can get in touch in an emergency. This can be done through regular check-ins or technology such as a lone worker safety app.
Duty of Care

As an employer, you have a duty of care to protect the physical and mental health & wellbeing of your employees. This is especially important for lone workers because they are more at risk of suffering an accident or injury while on the job.

This includes ensuring that they have access to appropriate training and support, as well as a clear safety policy detailing emergency procedures and reporting structures. Having this policy in place will also help your team focus on their work without worrying about potential risks or accidents, which can increase productivity and overall organizational success.

Regular communication with lone workers is also essential. This can be achieved through app-based lone worker solutions, like StaySafe, that enable staff to contact their employers and raise the alarm quickly in an emergency. Whether they are working alone in a remote location, or travelling between jobs (like truck drivers), these tools can ensure that lone workers have the means to remain safe.
Risk Assessment

Employers should conduct a risk assessment to identify, prevent and reduce risks that lone workers face. This may include evaluating job sites to ensure that they can be safely completed by one person, interviewing employees about their work and any specific hazards, and analysing loss incidents and “near misses” to see if being alone increased the severity of the situation.

It’s also important for employers to provide training on how to perform a task safely, emergency procedures and any other relevant information that lone workers might need to know. They must also monitor their lone workers and check in with them regularly, whether that’s through GPS tracking, regular phone calls or automated alarm systems such as Safepoint’s lone worker solution. In addition, they must ensure that any device or system used to communicate with lone workers is suitable for the specific needs of their employees and workplaces. man down alarm device This is particularly vital for industries such as late-night retailers that are at particular risk of crime and violence.
Training

Lone workers should receive training on how to deal with potentially dangerous situations. They should also be trained on how to contact their supervisor and the emergency services, and be given guidelines for reporting incidents.

Employers are required by law to provide homeworkers with the same health and safety protections as other employees. They must carry out a risk assessment to determine any hazards and take control measures to protect homeworkers, particularly when working away from the workplace.

Once you’ve completed a thorough risk assessment, you should implement a lone worker safety solution adapted to your company’s needs. This will typically include a monitoring system that can track employee movements and locations, as well as an automatic alarm that can be activated in the event of a potential threat. Using a lone worker safety solution reduces liability and ensures that employees can be alerted promptly in the event of an incident or accident. This will help you avoid legal issues and promote a strong workplace culture.

Communication

Lone workers often work away from the office or their home. They can be sales employees, real estate agents, truck drivers or other mobile professionals. Some jobs are not suitable for lone working, such as those in the logging or oil and gas industries, where it is dangerous to be alone.

If a lone worker is injured, the company may experience a loss of productivity, low morale, decreased sales or even closure. Taking steps to ensure the safety of their employees is crucial for every business, and that begins with having a dynamic risk assessment in place.

Having a check-in system in place to verify the lone worker’s well-being on a regular basis is also important. These can be in the form of an automated check-in tool or simply calling their main contact on a set schedule. The two-way communication aspect of these tools encourages employees to be more open and honest about their physical or mental health, which may prevent them from hiding signs of illness or distress.

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