Safety protocols for lone workers include checking-in processes, communication systems, monitoring and response mechanisms. These must be carefully considered when drafting your lone worker policy to ensure that employees are safe and that any issues are promptly addressed.
Encourage your employees to report any incidents or near misses when working alone. This will improve your understanding of any situations that may cause greater risk and help you amend your policies accordingly.
Check-In Procedures
Lone workers who are out of sight of coworkers, such as firefighters and EMS personnel, must be aware that they face increased risks in the workplace. They may be targeted by criminals, assaulted or killed in a vehicular accident or trapped inside a hazardous work environment. Therefore, they need to check-in periodically to ensure that they haven’t become lost or trapped and that no one has entered their workspace.
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In remote settings where cellular network connectivity is limited, a satellite device can help lone workers check-in with a monitoring service and communicate an emergency alert to coworkers or others on staff. Alternatively, two-way radios, wearable technology and cell phone use (when service is available) can also be used for lone worker monitoring.
In addition to reviewing the law and identifying obvious work site hazards, it’s critical that managers talk to and survey lone workers to understand their specific risk level. The results of these conversations, combined with a review of loss incidents and near misses where being alone was a contributing factor, can help to fine-tune your lone worker policy and ensure that employees are properly equipped to perform their tasks safely. This is also a good time to discuss other potential dangers that may not be readily apparent, such as unauthorized people on property or changing weather conditions.
Emergency Contact Information
In case of an emergency, lone workers need to know who to contact. If a lone worker experiences an illness or accident while working alone, they need to be able to notify someone at the office and to have a clear idea of what steps they need to take next to make sure they are safe. https://maps.app.goo.gl/VPcDyK4AVRc1mJu19 This is particularly important if they are not familiar with the area in which they are operating.
You should also set out guidelines for monitoring lone workers, including a system for tracking check-in times, making sure communication with supervisors is maintained during their shift, and that any safety concerns are responded to quickly. Whether this is done through technological monitoring or via a third party service, you should create a system that all lone workers are aware of.
Your lone workers should have plans for dealing with a range of potential emergencies, from a falling or collapsing accident to a criminal attack. These should be developed in conjunction with your employees and include a variety of risk defusing techniques that they can employ in the event of an incident, such as how to calm an agitated customer or how to respond to a robbery attempt.
Finally, your lone worker policy should outline the roles and responsibilities of employees, managers and safety teams in the event that an incident occurs. You should also make it clear that if any member of the team feels that the situation is too dangerous for them to operate alone, they must stop work immediately.
Personal Safety Equipment
Lone Workers are more likely to face environmental risks, like slips and falls, than other employees. These types of accidents can also pose a serious threat to their health and could cause severe injuries.
Personal safety equipment for lone workers is vital to ensure their protection and accountability. This includes unobtrusive and portable devices that can monitor a lone worker’s status and location. Some lone worker monitoring devices include a discreet panic button that can signal an emergency to authorities and/or colleagues in case of distress. They can also include GPS locator tracking, two-way communication and a variety of automated duress alerts.
Many of the best lone worker monitoring devices are designed to work with portable existing devices, like smartphones and tablets, so that users don’t have to carry additional hardware. They can also save employers significant costs and training time.
A lone worker monitoring app can be installed on these devices and perform the same functions as a dedicated device, including a panic button. It can also allow a lone worker to track their status and report their status back to the organization. It’s important that the reporting system for lone workers be evaluated on a regular basis to make sure it’s working as intended. If it’s not, the policy needs to be reassessed and updated.
Emergency Procedures
Lone workers should be prepared to deal with every situation they might face during their job. From unauthorized people on company property to changing weather conditions to low fuel levels in vehicles or equipment, they should know how to handle them. They should also be aware of any safety hazards they might encounter and report them as soon as possible to prevent a dangerous situation from worsening.
Creating an effective monitoring procedure is vital to the success of your lone worker program. An escalation procedure should identify what steps supervisors are expected to take when a lone worker’s alarms (like missed check-ins, overtime alerts or emergency/duress alerts) are activated. It should also specify which supervisor will receive those notifications, as well as how they are expected to react in the event that a lone worker is overdue, unaccounted for or uncontactable.
The procedures you develop for your lone workers should be tailored to the unique risks associated with their roles and tasks. This can be done by performing a dynamic risk assessment on the fly, which is a more thorough and up-to-date version of a formal risk assessment that is performed during the hiring process. This can include evaluating the risks of employees who are new to a role, or those working alone for the first time. It can also be helpful to consider the risks of lone workers who are conducting curbside deliveries or overnight shifts.
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