A lone worker is a person working on his or her own without close or direct supervision. This includes people working from home, away for their company base or those working outside of their normal work hours.
Information available from http://www.bsigroup.com/en/About-BSI/News-Room/BSI-News-Content/Disciplines/Risk-Management/New-BSI-guidance-to-help-protect-lone-workers/
Lance Pearson, Managing Director of Utility Watch explains why UKWA Member company managers who are responsible for employees need to understand the implications of the Corporate Manslaughter Act. Lance also provides a brief overview of an innovative device which can provide protection for employees who may be exposed to danger whilst working alone.
Lone workers, represent a risk for employers as quite often they are placed in dangerous situations. What happens if they are attacked or injured whilst they are carrying out their duties?
Thousands of organisations in the UK have had to take a close look at their Health & Safety policies since the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act. An organisation will be guilty of an offence if the way in which its activities are managed is judged to be a gross breach of the duty of the care it owes to its employees. The consequences could be that a senior manager could be personally liable and could face an unlimited fine or even imprisonment. Not surprisingly organisations throughout the UK have been searching for a robust, tried and tested solution to protect lone worker staff from danger.
A solution has been devised in the form of a Lone Worker device, which complies with BS 8484 the British Standards Institute (BSI) Code Of Practice for the provision of Lone Worker devices. This has been developed in response to the demand from the security industry to promote best practice and create a benchmark against which Lone Worker devices can be measured. BS 8484 also contains recommendations for the service provided by alarm receiving centres.
The comprehensive Lone Worker solution entails LWD (Lone Worker Device), ARC (Alarm Receiving Centre) and the software and is a simple to implement, easy to use, reliable solution. Utilising GPS based technology which interacts with leading alarm receiving software or with the hosts own hosted monitoring software platform, the Lone Worker device allows employers to know exactly where their lone workers are when they need assistance.
The device is small size and light weight – it weighs just 62.5g with the standard battery attached, which means it can be worn on a lanyard or clipped to a belt. Simple over the air commands are used to configure the device, providing 4 pre-programmable speed dial numbers and a rugged SOS alert button. An additional 15 numbers can be stored and accessed through the phonebook, making a total of 20 numbers (including the SOS number). The screen is clear and defined providing 96 x 25 pixel lines of text and it permanently displays battery and signal strength indicators.
Its strong build, high quality finish, and simple operation ensures that the device is more than suited for deployment in any lone worker management environment. One of the pre-allocated speed dial numbers, for example, allows lone workers to leave a recorded message when they arrive at an appointment. This message is safely stored on servers and can quickly be retrieved if the user is out of contact or if there is concern for his or her welfare. After careful evaluation it was the highly impressive innovative nature of this device which has resulted in the British Red Cross recently placing an order for five hundred units. Other existing high profile customers include the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), Local Authorities, Travelodge, Dominos Pizza, and Total Oil.
For more information on the Lone Worker protection solution Tel: +44 (0)800 652 5100 or email: info@utilitywatch.co.uk.