The Importance of Lone Worker Safety

Lone worker safety is of vital concern to businesses of all kinds. From field service workers and office-based personnel, to field service employees and office-based employees - it's crucial that companies create policies and monitor lone workers with an advanced monitoring system.

Establish communication protocols for regular check-ins, emergency responses and accessing personal protective equipment. Furthermore, secure real-time location tracking solutions with two-way communication capabilities as well as panic buttons can provide peace of mind.

Identifying the Risks

Lone workers are vulnerable to various physical and psychosocial hazards, compounded by the fact they do not have co-workers or supervisors nearby to assist with any difficulties they might be encountering.

Lone worker safety should be of primary concern for employers as companies could face lawsuits for corporate manslaughter if an employee dies due to insufficient health and safety measures being put in place. To protect employees as much as possible, companies should start by identifying any risks or hazards associated with specific job roles or locations.

man down alarm devices Once a risk assessment is complete, managers should create a list of required actions to address identified risks. These should be documented as standard operating procedures (SOPs) and integrated into employee training programs so employees can proactively provide feedback about their experience while offering input into ways to enhance the process.





As part of your lone worker safety program, it is vital to establish effective communication protocols and emergency response plans. This should include setting check-in intervals and giving employees access to real-time communication tools. Furthermore, you should establish emergency contact information and display this clearly on all equipment.

Other aspects of a lone worker safety plan should focus on ensuring employees can easily enter and exit the workplace, engineering out any hazardous tasks and providing sufficient emergency procedures training. It may be worthwhile encouraging employees to conduct task hazard analyses themselves as well as create checklists of necessary safety gear and learn how to use it efficiently.

Best practice dictates having one person assigned as the go-to source for reviewing lone worker risk assessments and communicating them to all staff, in order to reduce errors made and ensure all involved parties remain aligned regarding risk management processes. This ensures all relevant parties remain on board regarding risk mitigation efforts.

Check-In Procedures

Lone workers, commonly referred to as remote employees, include janitors, security guards, special production staff members or plant maintenance repair staff as well as delivery truck drivers. A thorough risk analysis, comprehensive policies, training courses and technology solutions may significantly decrease accidents among these unaccompanied staff members.

Employers can start protecting lone workers by creating check-in procedures for them. This may involve calling in to a designated supervisor via phone call, or using devices like GPS trackers that require employees to manually check in before their shift begins and periodically during and after it concludes - with emergency/duress alerts being activated if any check-in fails within a set timeframe or physical well-being is compromised.

App-based lone worker monitoring solutions provide a more advanced version of this type of monitoring system. Employees use their phone or wearable device to access an app with features like panic button, GPS location tracking and timestamps for accurate timestamping as well as man down alerts. Devices also automatically record audio, notify designated contacts of location notes shared via cloud storage hub and record any needed audio clips automatically.

Apps such as SOS Emergency can also enable emergency contacts to initiate live video conferences between employees and emergency contacts, providing them with crucial assistance during high-risk situations such as when one of them becomes sick or is injured and cannot respond verbally. This feature is especially beneficial in times when workers may be isolated by themselves and need urgent medical help but are unable to communicate verbally themselves.

Lone worker apps provide companies with an efficient and effective means of assuring the wellbeing of their employees while they're on the job. Not only can employers use them to establish proper check-in procedures for lone workers, but they can also offer comprehensive solutions like emergency/duress activation notifications, missed check-in notifications, panic buttons, live maps of employee location and 24/7 professional monitoring centers - providing full protection.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) plays an integral part of lone worker safety. PPE includes hard hats, safety glasses and even hazmat suits to provide extra layers of protection from environmental hazards, physical injury and psychological stressors.

An effective PPE program shows employees that management values their health and wellbeing, contributing to an enhanced company image that attracts top talent and drives business expansion.

An effective PPE program should incorporate a risk assessment that identifies potential hazards and determines whether it is safe for lone workers to complete a task alone. Furthermore, an emergency protocol must be in place. Furthermore, workers should receive training on how to correctly use their PPE so as not to create hazards themselves by misusing it incorrectly.

As part of an effective PPE plan, employees should receive regular communications regarding its provisions. This helps lone workers feel more assured they can safely complete tasks on their own while also quickly responding to any unforeseen hazards that may arise.

Although many organizations provide their lone workers with PPE, it's equally important to invest in additional tools and technology to ensure their safety. Bodytrak's online lone worker monitoring service offers all of the advantages of traditional PPE, while providing superior monitoring services 24/7 - this so-called digital PPE can detect physiological changes such as fatigue and heat stress to alert employers or supervisors of potential crises.

Reach out to us if you would like more information on implementing lone worker safety solutions! Our team of industry professionals would be more than happy to answer any of your queries, helping to create a safer workplace together! We look forward to partnering with you towards creating one.

Situational Awareness

Lone workers that can understand and adapt to their environment can reduce risks of injury or disaster, with situational awareness helping to minimize such incidents. This requires perceiving current conditions, understanding them fully, and anticipating what might come next - thus improving response coordination, decreasing risks, limiting damages, and saving lives.

To develop situational awareness, employees must regularly and actively "scan" their work area and the surrounding environment. This practice is similar to using vehicle mirrors; you need to periodically look in all directions. Anyone who has ever been distracted while driving knows just how dangerous it can be when your concentration wanders off course.

Safety managers are charged with the responsibility of ensuring their workplace is free from hazards before sending employees out on solo shifts. While any workplace hazards should ideally be eliminated entirely, all reasonable steps must be taken in order to mitigate risk as much as possible.

An important consideration when hiring individuals to work alone is their suitability for working independently. An employee should be medically fit, capable of identifying and responding to any health or safety issues as they arise, while those new to a job, undergoing training or undertaking tasks that present specific risks may require more supervision until they can perform them autonomously; management decisions based on risk analyses should dictate this level of oversight.

A policy designed for lone worker situations must also address any additional security or communications measures required, such as an emergency duress alarm that can be activated quickly in case they feel threatened; they also may require instantaneous communication tools that allow them to stay connected while sharing status updates and photos from work sites.

Employers of all industries must prioritize lone worker safety. By following the tips outlined above, it's possible to reduce accidents and injuries while increasing employee comfort and confidence in themselves and their abilities.