Lone worker safety: Time To Get Serious (A10002)

A company who has employees who perform an activity that is carried out in isolation from other worker without close and direct supervision is referred to as a lone worker. They are often required to carry out very crucial but also very dangerous roles, many of the roles and job they take could be very life threatening. Being serious about workers safety and health is just as important employee people to work in these dangerous areas. Lone workers are usually exposed to daily risks of diverse magnitude and there is usually no one to help them. It is good to know what type of employee safety system an organization is running, whether they are running a manual system or technology based system. A manual system could involve being careful and watching your environment, while injured you might need to get the first aid treatment yourself or phone an ambulance. This method of ensuring safety is an older method applied and used during the periods before technology was invented. It is usually important to know what safety system an organization is running.

Every employer should check if they have a manual system or technology system. For a system that is running neither, their workers could be at a great risk since harm could befall them at any time. It could eventually lead to death or push them completely out of being able to work. For employers who believe they do not have a safety system they could use the following methods to come up with lone worker risks and offer maximum protection to their workers. These methods are:

1. Identifying potential risks and hazard; the first rules to protecting your lone workers is to identify all the risks and problems that could arise. They are divided into two categories:

• Environmental risk: these risks could include all health related that could cause diseases such as heart ache, strokes and bumps or any other disease that could require immediate health care. These risks could also include blunt trauma, falls, trips and some other threats that could be seen as man down situation.
• Social risk: social risk is the most common risk type faced by employees. Since the employees are interacting with different people daily there could be cases of robbery, physical assault, sexual assault or even mental assault. It is indeed impossible to trust everyone you meet while working.

2. Conducting a lone workers assessment; in order for a company to battle the risks that could be face, there must be a proactive approach. It could involve having series of questions and putting solutions to them. Questions such as:

• Will they work involve any manual handling?
• Are women at risk if they are working alone?
• Will the work involve handling naked flame?
• Will the work be executed from heights?
• Does this work involve access or contact with animals?

By answering this questions, companies are able to know the risks involve and check them by putting measures in place

3. Training lone workers and supervisors; having adequate training is very important as the workers become ready to handle problems and get things done quickly. These training could include: informing about work hazards, first aid training, driving training and training workers how to use machineries well.
4. Applying a lone working policy; these helps keep the both the workers and the assets secure. Lone workers policy should be sued because they contribute to a safer working environment. They also build frame work for risk evaluation which staffs can interfere with.
5. Encourage cooperation between the lone workers and the managing staffs; it is important that every point in time the managing staffs are aware of the location and activities of the lone workers. This is to ensure they can monitor them and approach when there is a problem. At this point, it is important they have a lone worker monitoring system.
6. Provision of the best equipment to lone workers; being well equipped means that for a lone worker, he will not only be able to execute his task well but also feel safe as he works knowing fully well he’s working with the best equipment.
7. Invest in a lone worker monitoring system; A lone worker system is a computer program or perhaps a combination of applications which help business monitor and manage lone workers while being aware of their position and getting man down and SOS alert. They run across android, IOS and web platforms.

Today, technology has affected a major part of our lives, people can now work more efficiently using advanced tools to accelerate working process under full automation. The lone worker monitoring system is a great technology that aids companies a lot. Now company can simply makes purchases of this devices and implement them. It benefits are:

• Automation
• Reporting
• Time keeping
• History recording
• GPS tracking
• Scheduling
• Faster interaction and communication

iHelp – Man Down System- Lone Worker Safety Solution

As a company it is imperative you pay attention to the workers and ensure their safety. Lone workers are very vulnerable and have to be carefully monitored, the iHelp is all you need to keep your workers safe. With some of these important features, the iHelp keeps employees safe while helping the employers monitor them. The Help is a key chain that doubles as a man down system, a device made specially to ensure lone workers safety. Some key features it possess are:

• location tracking; this makes it very easy to track the location of the workers always with GPS
• Fall detection; with some sensors once a fall is detected an alarm is sent to the support team
• 2 way communication; it is possible to communicate with the worker with this option
• water proof quality; even when under water, the device still functions well
• Single press SOS call button; with a single tap of the button an alarm could be sent to the support team
• Free mobile app; available for the Android and IOS.

For employees working in the most hazardous sectors such as constructions, natural resources, healthcare, enforcement or even transportation. The iHelp device offers complete employees safety solution to ensure that workers are safe at all times and when they are in danger the employers are aware and can send help immediately.