Lone Working

[sonic]

Hi All,

 

From time to time, people end up working alone - not in the building, but in a certain area of the building.

 

We are looking to alleviate that risk, do any of you have any experience with this?

 

We're currently looking at some form of lone worker alarm, but we haven't hit upon a perfect solution yet... I'd be keen to hear other input.

 

 

Thanks,

Sonic

[the kid]

Depends what they are doing and what you see in your risk assessments.

 

The farm campus where I used to work had a lone worker system that was motion activated like a pager, if you didn't move for 5 mins it would send a GPS alarm to a phone.

 

Any other lone working I have done it has been a check in every 20 mins, but invariably not needed because people have come in or we have had radio calls etc.

 

If it is something like a roof or a "high risk area" I would go as far as saying you should have 2 people regardless.

[ddproduction]

You can get Lone Worker radios, that will sound an alarm if a button is not pressed every 5 mins (or other time period).

[ImagineerTom]

I'd have concerns that any of the gadgets mentioned so far would actually be useful and pass a proper risk assessment - if someone is working alone in an even slightly hazardous situation then even 5 min delay from an incident occurring to anyone else being notified will be enough to escalate otherwise recoverable situations in to fatalities. If you've got someone who's in a situation where there are safety reasons that suggest they need to be monitored then really it's all or nothing - something that's monitoring them constantly (maybe something as simple as always-on radio so they can converse with others) or working partner, or nothing at all. I can't see how anything that introduces a delay would actually offer practical safety advantages in relation to the risks?

[the kid]

The one I mention is specific for farmers etc, yes farming is dangerous but also there is no need to have someone look after you while you walk round a field to make sure the cows are alright. Much like sitting on the floor cutting gel, not really the most dangerous thing to happen, but you don't need someone to be with you in-case you have an aneurysm.

 

Like I mention if its a roof or a "high risk" area screw the devices and you have that extra person, or 3.

[Jivemaster]

Your lone worker policy needs to be well risk assessed, you may need one for each lone task.

[Ynot]

Lone working in a professional environment is relatively easy to RA and manage.

 

However, doing so in the amateur environment is far less so. Volunteers tend to act first and think of potential consequences later, if indeed at all. You can say as often and as loud as you want, but you won't always be heard or heeded when it comes to personal safety. And the added problem with volunteers is that you have very little stick that can be waved - you can't discipline a volunteer in the same way that you can an employee, so if they decide one day to come in on their own and run up & down ladders focussing LX using the remote app on their own, and you then make it an issue that they disagree with you may end up losing a valuable asset if they get peed off. It's not as if the market is flooded with experienced volunteers who could be brought in to take their place.

 

Should we treat lone working in this am-dram arena as a serious issue? Of course we should.

 

But just saying there's a BIG difference between that and the pro world...

 

 

 

 

[kerry davies]

HSE has this guidance on lone working and it is all down to Risk Assessment. There are no hard and fast rules though there are laws around confined spaces, below ground level etc.

 

Might be useful to take BT as an example. Rigorous training and continuous assessment in safe climbing, mandatory use of PPE, tieing on of ladders, gas testing every underground space opened or entered, a control system of work allocation of one job at a time all enabled lone working. Where linesmen had to fly cable across main roads or in hazardous conditions they always called for assistance and the same for isolated rural routes. In rural areas when it snowed heavily there was a virtual blanket ban on lone working but everything else was assessed on need as it arose.

 

I don't think, as Jive does, that each task needs to be subject to a written RA in advance but that each is assessed on an as required basis and that stipulation would be part of H&S policy.

 

I am halfway with Tom in that automatic systems are second best. In order to justify their use you have already decided that there is a lone working risk. The first conclusion, for me, would be get-another-body, not how can I avoid-getting-another-body, but that is my simplistic Welsh brain at work.

 

I know a little about Andrew's venue, their history of being top-heavy with admin and managers and trying to get by with hardly any "workers" and wonder whether this culture still exists in it's new incarnation. Is Andrew trying to fix a symptom and not the disease of short-staffing? Just a thought, Andrew?