Many of us are lucky enough to work in environments that allow us to fulfil our human need for socialising and team building, however many individuals work makes it necessary for them to work in isolation from other employees. An estimated 8 million people in the UK are classified as loner workers who work by themselves without supervision and assistance.

Roles that often require lone working include construction workers, gas and electricity tradespeople and logistics workers. Take the construction industry for example, operating heavy machinery like forklifts for weight lifting can cause accidents, if a traditional approach is used. On the other hand, integrating these systems with advanced technologies like Staffa motors can help gain control and precision over the moves, reducing the risk of mishaps. This can call for the optimisation of equipment for lone workers in order to ensure safety. Further, here are some of the ways you can help to protect lone workers in your organisation.

• Perform lone worker risk assessments

Risk assessments are a vital part of any organisations strategy when it comes to creating a safe environment for people to work in; they can help uncover hidden issues and act as a good point of reference to measure how you are doing when it comes to health and safety.

For example, if you are managing a construction industry, where lone workers might be engaged in tasks such as site inspections or maintenance work, a comprehensive risk assessment can evaluate any potential hazards like working at heights, machinery safety, and site access. The assessment can involve checking the adequacy of safety equipment, ensuring that your workers have reliable communication tools, and verifying that emergency procedures are in place. It should also be noted that Builders Risk Insurance Utah (or elsewhere) will be needed to ensure that workers are covered when they are on these sites, as there is always the potential for problems, even with safety precautions in place, as this is a risk filled business.

Furthermore, adhering to the Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations is just as important in the construction industry. The guidelines of cdm health and safety at ST&L, or similar organizations, often outline responsibilities for health and safety throughout the construction project lifecycle. This might include making sure that safety measures are part of the planning, design, and execution stages of construction. By sticking to these regulations, you can ensure that all safety aspects are well-managed, from worker training to keeping the site safe.

Similarly, if you are operating a healthcare facility, lone workers such as home healthcare providers can face unique risks when visiting patients alone. Risk assessments in this context should focus on personal safety, potential hazards in the patient’s home, and the need for emergency response plans. Factors such as the presence of aggressive patients, hazardous environments, or lack of immediate assistance must be considered.

Also, when it comes to creating lone risk assessments, the lack of an HSE executive template means you are able to create one that suits your needs. Try and involve the lone worker when conducting the risk assessment, this may give you insight that you would not have been able to gleam by yourself. Once the risk assessment has been conducted, be sure to put in to place actionable steps to improve safety.

If for example, during the lone worker risk assessment you uncover a hazard due to the lack of proper clothing, look into the use of protective equiptment.

• Encourage the use of Personal Protective Equipment

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used to increase the safety of operations in many different businesses, such as face masks from companies like StringKing to help with putting a stop to disease spreading in close

Electricians and construction workers are all required to wear PPE which minimizes there exposure to hazards and allows them to perform their job with minimum risk of injury or death. For lone workers who do not work under a designated supervisor, the importance of PPE is heightened due to the higher risk of incidents due to individual error.

• Take steps to safeguard employees mental wellbeing

Lone workers can often feel isolated from organizations, and this can contribute to a poor mental state that may lead to increased incidents through a lack of attention or conscientiousness. If you take steps to safeguard employees’ health and wellbeing, you will reduce the risk of an incident occurring.

These steps can come in the form of one on one sessions, the encouragement of breaks, and feedback opportunities. There is also the possibility of putting an onsite clinic in the workplace that will be able to help employees’ when needed. To see how health insurance can support this, websites such as Eden Health are able to offer further insight.

Take a Holistic approach

It is worth stating, that in order to fully safeguard lone workers, no one of these changes will act as a ‘silver-bullet’. As a company, if you have lone workers you should take a top-level approach looking at various different areas to make sure you are covering enough ground to make an effective difference.