[National Safety Month] How To Prioritize 'Lone Worker' Safety
Are you doing all you can to keep your ‘Lone Workers’ safe?
As job site safety continues to be a hot topic across all industries, there’s one group that still notes situational uneasiness and lack of safety measures: Lone workers. EHSToday cited a recent TrackPlus survey that noted that 19% of lone worker professionals have struggled to get help after a workplace accident. No matter what your industry, keeping your employees safe is always a top priority. So what are some ways that you can identify, mitigate, and even prevent danger for lone workers? It all starts with understanding the risks.
Identifying Lone Workers on Your Sites
While the term ‘lone worker’ may seem self-explanatory, there are fringe cases to keep in mind. Generally speaking, a lone worker is someone on your job site who is alone during at least part of their workday. But this isn’t just people who are working solo or in cramped spaces, this can extend to people who remain out of earshot of others during the workday. Anything that would prevent them from being able to get the help and support they need in the case of an accident qualifies.
On construction or excavation sites with heavy machinery that can obstruct hearing or visuals, you may have more lone workers than you originally thought. For transportation teams, every time an employee is out of cell phone or radio range, they too qualify as a lone worker. The biggest risk for lone workers is that if a situation arises during which they need help, they won’t be able to get it immediately. This even extends to office workers; either by accidental situations or even workplace violence, anyone working in any situation alone is considered a lone worker. If you have a single receptionist locking up your practice at night, or a single manager doing a final count of the cash register, these individuals qualify as lone workers too.
Take count of all the lone workers, even if just temporarily, on your site to make sure you account for all lone working situations. In addition to keeping track of your lone workers, check in with them too. Whether you have one on one meetings with your employees, or fill out a standard employment evaluation form, it’s important to understand how your employees feel about their safety. EHSToday noted that lone workers can feel unsafe at work, but unless you open those lines of communication you’ll never hear about it.
“19% of lone worker professionals report having an accident and struggled to get help, while almost half (44%) stated they felt unsafe while at work.”
Are Lone Workers a Necessity?
Thanks to the modernization of every industry, and as technology advances, we will likely see the number of lone workers rise. We no longer need multiple people to run large machinery, and data entry can be handled on a mobile device. As we continue to develop new ways of minimizing the workers required on a site, we’ll only see a rise in lone workers. While this isn’t a bad thing overall, it’s important to understand how important these lone workers are to your business.
One thing to consider is the idea of a buddy system. You may be concerned about labor costs, but in some high-risk situations, an additional worker onsite may be the best solution. In other cases, it could be as simple as implementing lone worker monitoring systems, or even a portable Wi-Fi hot spot to facilitate employee communication or alarm systems. Even a digital sign in sheet can keep a record of everyone on a job site that needs to remain accounted for. The options are expanding as technology evolves, but a full audit of your business can shine a light on which lone workers are essential to your job sites.
Identify the Risks Present
You’ll never be able to remove or minimize the risks your employees face unless you fully identify them. It’s one thing to know how many lone workers you have on a site, but another thing entirely to understand what dangers they’re up against. The list is broad; everything from environmental factors to machinery, even the uniforms your team wears can play a part in potential work site dangers.
You’ve already made a comprehensive list of the lone workers on your site, now it’s time to make a list of all the risks they may face. Are there potential gas or flooding leaks? Will any electrical work take place? A great place to start with a workplace assessment for lone workers is with a checklist created by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. No matter where you’re working, this list provides situational workplace safety risks that you should consider at your job sites. Depending on your business, the list may not be comprehensive, but it can help you discover risks that may not stand out to you right away.
Once you have a full grasp of your lone workers, and the situational risks they face, you can start doing more to prevent workplace accidents.
Power in Prevention
Just like preventative care is key to a healthy lifestyle, preventative measures on your work sites can have powerfully positive impacts on your employees. This can be done through avoidance of the risks, or elimination of them entirely, depending on your business. Thanks to the list of potential work site dangers you’ve already identified, you can now individually work to minimize those risks.
First and foremost, remove lone worker situations for all prohibited lone worker tasks. These have been identified by multiple safety organizations to be too much of a risk for lone workers, and while some states and provinces may not lawfully prohibit them, it’s worth following these guidelines. The list of prohibited tasks spans across multiple industries, so whether you’re in construction or retail, there are key takeaways for everyone.
Always Gear Up for the Job
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is a key part of keeping your team safe. In some cases the gear may seem self explanatory, but make sure that not only does your team have access to it, they know how to use it properly. This covers everything from proper mask coverage in doctor’s offices, to knowing the layer order of cut gloves and vinyl gloves in restaurants. PPE can’t work effectively if your employees don’t know how to use it. Make sure everyone fully understands not just how to use or wear the PPE itself, but also what dangers it can prevent.
Understanding the gear to do your job safely is one thing, but understanding the negative impacts if not used properly is sometimes more important. Keep your employees up to date on the latest PPE as well, and never hesitate to revisit a full team training if you see any of it being used improperly. Safety for all team members is an ongoing process, but for lone workers, the risks are even higher. If even one person doesn’t understand the risks or how to use PPE, it can be a warning sign that others need more training as well.
There’s No Such Thing as Overcommunication
Just like your favorite sports team can be heard yelling across the court or field to one another, you and your employees should be in constant communication. Everyone should know exactly where others are, and what they’re actively working on. This can be with a quick all-hands meeting before the shift starts, or even a safety recap at the end of the day. You’ll know what fits best with your team, but be sure everyone knows how to communicate with one another.
Find ways to communicate with your team even when they’re out of cell phone range. The TrackPlus research found that less than half of those surveyed had the ability to communicate with lone workers when they were out of service range. In those instances, if an accident or emergency situation had occurred, there would have been no way for the lone worker to monitor their team of their danger or injuries. Make sure you have a failsafe plan in place, even in the most remote locations for your lone workers. If your lone workers are checking in regularly, even the absence of communication can alert people to potential danger and set your rescue plans into action.
Lone Worker Monitoring
Lone worker monitoring systems and supervision strategies have been around for a while to help mitigate the risks of working solo. Thanks to technology, we no longer need to rely on supervisors or managers to roam a job site for check-ins. Now, lone worker monitoring systems have the ability to signal danger, injury, and more through wearables or mobile devices.
Depending on your lone workers’ environments, you may need a variety of different safety watches. There are options now that can monitor employee temperatures and oxygen levels, environmental gases or sudden pressure changes, and even monitoring that requires cognitive password checks to confirm that workers are safe. Take the time and research the options that best fit your needs, this isn’t a time to choose the first option you see. Keep in mind whether your employees will have cell service for some mobile apps, and see if wearables that clip to safety badges or PPE are a better option.
“Lone worker monitoring was the second most commonly mentioned safety technology for mitigating hazardous situations in our research for the Safety Technology 2020 paper.”
In some cases, the best lone worker monitoring strategies will still be to have managers and supervisors check in with employees in the field. Only you know your business best, but training on whichever solution you select is key. If you’re relying on other people to identify risks, make sure they understand all of them, and train them fully on what to do in all applicable situations.
Embrace Technology
New solutions are hitting the market every day, and learning about which tools can be advantageous to your employees will serve you well in the long run. With GPS monitoring capabilities, and even geo-fencing to warn employees of dangerous areas, there’s no longer an excuse to not know where your team is at. Make sure you use the technology to its full potential, with training from the company, and analyzing the data you see. If you start to notice trends like increases in slips or falls, or you’ve seen machinery inspections get bypassed, stop those issues in their tracks.
As with all technology, there will be a learning curve for many of your employees. Make sure you acknowledge these concerns, and the inevitable frustration, but continue to press the importance of why you’ve implemented them. If everyone understands that it’s better for their safety in the long run, you’ll see better adoption results. A few extra training sessions now can mean a world of difference for mitigating dangerous situations from your work sites in the future.
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