Employees who work alone outside of regular hours and out of the office are at a greater risk of coming to harm, and there is technology to provide staff and employers with peace of mind.

The number of lone workers is increasing rapidly and this growth is creating problems for organisations. Employees and contractors who work outside normal office hours, and those who work away from their organisation’s base, are vulnerable to verbal and physical abuse. There is also the risk of genuine accidents in the work place and on the journey to and from that workplace. Technology can support lone workers and offer protection.

The many changes in current organisational environment has been phenomenal. The growing group of lone workers sees more staff spend parts of their working day with no direct contact with colleagues and often with no supervision from managers. They tend to work in isolation. The nature of such roles mean that these people may work on their own on a daily basis, or perhaps less frequently, but what is clear is that it is a fundamental part of many roles within the public sector.

It is these jobs that open employees up to a range of dangers, and although the risks are not necessarily higher, lone workers are certainly more vulnerable than their office-based colleagues. The risks can be verbal or physical, plus there are other hazards to be mindful of such as traffic accidents, fire, theft and even dangerous animals. Studies confirm the most common key risk is alcohol and drug use by clients and members of the public with whom the lone worker comes into contact. Other risks listed include geographic location, as some areas have a higher risk of violence; the late evening or early morning; the nature of the job itself; as well as the client’s behaviour.

The consequences of incidences are enormous. For staff there can be serious effects. Stress, psychological issues, low morale and loss of confidence can all affect the quality of work and lead to time off work. Consequently these issues impact the organisation in terms of staff recruitment and retention, low morale and productivity and sick leave; all of which are costly. Every year millions of dollars are spent on security, training, sick leave and even legal costs.

For lone workers, mobile technologies can play an important role in their safety and wellbeing as many have built in features specifically for field workers. In its simplest and most common form, panic buttons on mobile devices such as a PDA, BlackBerry or Smartphone can be pressed by lone workers who consider themselves to be in a risky situation. An SMS alert and email is then triggered which states the worker’s location. GPS enabled technologies are able to provide real time status updates on the worker’s location. TeleClock can also be made appointment sensitive, so if a lone worker does not check in on the device, an alert is raised automatically. There is also the ability to send a message to a lone worker during periods of inactivity and if the message is not responded to, again an alert is created. Such messages then prompt the back-office procedures which could include trying to establish contact with the worker by telephone or SMS, or even arranging for a colleague who is working in close proximity to make contact.

Employers need to be committed to minimising risks to lone workers. Staff safety is absolutely paramount, and all of these features can help organisations meet their employer health and safety obligations. These types of technologies are often simple to use and empower lone workers to work more safely, confidently and therefore more efficiently. Staff often feel safer and more at ease in their working environment if using a system that has alarm features built in. For the employer, they are a low cost way of assisting with lone worker protection.

Once a lone working protection system has been implemented, users must receive comprehensive training in order to understand how and when to operate it to get the most out of the device. It is crucial to ensure that staff are comfortable with using the solution, and are familiar with the processes and procedures of usage. Ongoing user support, refresher training and scenario training are also beneficial. Staff should feel confident that there are robust policies and procedures in place in the advent that they find themselves in a situation that puts their safety at risk. Applied in conjunction with other methods, technology is an essential asset in the protection of lone workers.