Lone worker safety is dependent on understanding potential risks, mitigating those risks, and putting safety solutions in place. Working alone brings hazards, so it’s critical to take steps to keep employees safe on the job.
Perform a risk assessment
The first step is to identify every risk your employee may encounter at work. To do so, gather a team with a deep understanding of the different elements in your workplace. They will accurately assess the situation and understand the unique risks it presents.
As each job site has its own risks and hazards, ensure to include individuals who have industry-specific knowledge. For example, while every assessment team should have someone with health and safety expertise, your team might also need experts in specific equipment, electrical work, or chemical assessment. These specialists are critical to the development of a thorough risk assessment.
The risk assessment team should analyze all workplace activities from beginning to end, including tasks that occur daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. They should flag any risky situation that could cause injury. Additionally, they can review your company’s accident and sick-day records to look for patterns.
Some potential hazards include:
- Equipment and materials hazards. Review manufacturer’s data sheets and instructions to find safety information for all equipment and chemicals.
- Weather hazards. Extreme temperatures pose risks. For example, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, and fainting can occur in summer. In winter, there might be a chance of frostbite or hypothermia.
- Long-term exposure to noise or chemicals.
- Specific times when your workers are alone.
Create a risk management plan
Once the risk assessment is complete, it’s time to find ways to mitigate those risks. For example, does your company currently have procedures to address any of the issues? If it does, can those processes be improved?
Additionally, should any new policies or preventative measures be implemented? For instance, improving training, changing procedures, using protective gear, or shutting down hazardous areas for lone workers can reduce risks. However, you should also assess every new solution for unique risks they might cause.
Invest in lone worker safety solutions with CommAlert
Law requires that employers take steps to protect all employees who work alone. Lone worker safety devices and services make it easier to do so.
That’s where CommAlert comes in. We provide reliable, professional, and customizable lone-worker safety solutions for businesses and government agencies.
CommAlert will tailor all lone worker monitoring solutions to your organization and individual workers. We work with you to design them to address the unique needs of your workers to keep them safe.
We have live operators available 24/7. When your employee starts their shift, they check in with our operators. They also check in periodically throughout their shift and again at the end of the day.
CommAlert will initiate emergency call-out procedures if we don’t hear from your employee at one of their check-ins. We reach out to their supervisor and other individuals on their contact list until someone checks in on the worker. If the situation escalates, we can contact first responders.
Contact us to learn more about our lone worker monitoring service.
