A Lone worker is someone who works alone, away from normal facilities without close or direct supervision and works in the most hazardous sectors such as construction, natural resources, healthcare, enforcement or transportation. There are mainly two categories of lone workers. First, are those who work at a given/provided work station; those who work within the premises of the business i.e. A person who comes first in the office do activities like opening gates, cleaning office or go home late after locking each thing at the office. Second, are those with mobility; the mobile lone workers who are in remote areas and work outside of the business premises. As for as Laws & regulations are concerned it is the responsibility of the organization to provide job-related safety to the lone workers. Here we will discuss the common risk associated with the lone workers, how companies currently ensure the safety of the workers and the modern solutions to these chronic problems.

The common risks to Lone Workers

• Dangerous slips or fall: It usually happens when a lone worker is working on the trestle, flat roof, ladder or on height. The main causes behind the fall can be wet surface, Stair and steps, falls in the bathroom and damages surface. Another reason can be a non-professional attitude, for instance, wearing non-resistance footwear at work which may lead towards slipping on the surface another example can be not having safety while working on the height.
• Health emergencies: The most common health-related emergencies to lone workers are heart attack and strokes which can turn into a major health-related problem if first aid is not provided on a priority basis. Among the cases of workplace-related stress; Critical incident stress is a more dangerous one. Critical incident stress is an accident, injury or any fatal incident at the workplace which may cause a person emotional trauma. Especially in lone workers critical stress can lead to major accidents.
• Workforce violence: When a single worker works in a remote area there are chances a member from the public can turn against him and harm him and the organization cannot respond on the time. Other workforce violence can be the noise coming from the work through which this person can feel sick or loss his/her listening ability.
• Fire and explosion: Workers who are working on the mines or dealing closely with electric related stuff; they can become victims of fire and explosion. This can be minimized by using proper tools & strict adherence to SOP. However, fire is a source of ignition which may lead to an explosion and lone workers cannot deal with this situation alone. Lone workers should be trained enough to deal with such instances.
• Chemical exposure: Lone workers working in the lab are continuously exposed to chemicals which may lead to a problem of severe health issues especially breathing.

Current Status: How does the company ensure the safety of Lone Workers:

Currently, companies are using different methods to deal with the common risks that lone workers are facing. Firstly, the most common method is to provide them Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) which can help them to deal with the unwanted situations. Secondly, organizations are using the signs of non-verbal communication in order to avoid any severe miss-hap i.e. when the floor is wet, they place sigh there similarly when chemicals are present in the lab, they have signs of danger. In addition to that organizations go for regular visits and communication through radio and mobile phones are the common ways to deal with the situation. All these conventional methods are being used across the organizations in order to provide Add Form their workers with a safe & healthy environment. But as the world is changing; so, as the approaches and methodologies to prevent these unwanted situations. iHelp is a complete one-stop solution for all your above-mentioned concerns. Our product iHelp not only provides a solution to these issues but it is also user-friendly. The world is changing, preferences are changing, aren’t we supposed to change? iHelp can make your work-related issues smoother and easier; Have a brief overview below;

iHelp – Man Down System – Lone Worker Safety Solution

It is the world’s smallest 3G GPS tracking device that provides a complete package of solutions for lone workers. It comes with a sim and also includes a GPS tracker which will give you real-time monitor status of lone workers. Apart from that, it has a fall detection sensor as well which sends accurate fall alert to supervisors. It also offers you a free smartphone application through which you can monitor your lone workers. You may wonder how this device operates. When a lone worker is in danger, he can press the button on the device which will send a message with location and call you as well. Secondly, if a person falls from the Height its sensory algorithm will send you an automatic message which includes its location. However, you can also set a certain location for the employee if he goes outside of that area a message will be delivered to you with his location. It also enables you to have two-way voice communication with lone worker, through this you can talk to them and know about the exact situations they are facing. It also has a feature through you can check the location history of lone worker by this you can know where he has been working in the past. In short, it gives your full solution to monitor lone workers and minimize the most common risks associated with lone workers.