Why Lone Worker?

 

 

 

 

The issue of Lone Worker Security is becoming more wide reaching within every level of an organisation - far from being a consideration exclusive to the individual lone worker, staff at manager level and business leaders are increasingly aware of their legal duty of care to staff.

Tens of thousands of lone workers are abused, attacked or victims of an accident in the UK every year (over 160 attacks take place on lone workers in the UK every day *), those particularly at risk are employees carrying out jobs where social contact with the general public is commonplace. Thousands of other workers are at risk of ‘man-down' situations from an environmental risk (61 deaths and 14,000 serious injuries from slips, trips and falls were recorded in the UK in 2008 alone *). Receiving abuse or being faced with a disproportionate level of risk as part of your job is unacceptable and brings associated business costs that are a significant financial drain on those employers involved.

Connexion2 are lone worker specialists and were formed in 2003. The company provide a wide-range of organisations with support on issues affecting lone workers whether they are involve policy creation and review, the training of staff, or the specifics of a device-based solution. The company also manufacture the award winning identicom Lone Worker Device (LWD) which is available in several product variants, the first LWD range to achieve ‘Secured by Design' status from ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers for England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Connexion2 analysis of employment data provided by The Office of National Statistics 2009 suggests there are approximately 2.5 to 3.5 million lone workers currently employed in the UK. As well as risk to individuals, financial risk carried by an organisation is potentially huge and often left uncalculated internally. Financial risk is most likely to arise from:

1. Health & Safety Legislation enforced by Health and Safety Executive
2. Risk of Action under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act
3. Litigation from staff that are not protected
4. Cost of low-efficiencies due to time off, staff-churn and resultant business disruption

Fines levied can often run into tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds routinely, even prior to factoring-in private proceedings. Any organisation employing significant numbers of lone workers therefore carry a significant financial risk regardless of whether they operate in the private or public sector arena.

Recent developments in the industry include the first British Standard for Lone Worker Device Services, BS8484 (Connexion2 is approved against the standard through audit), a standard designed to improve the provision of services to organisations employing lone workers. The standard also affects how the Police are likely to respond to emergencies raised through lone worker alarms. UK Police forces are now outlining that suppliers of lone worker services conform to and are audited against BS8484 before a Police response can be guaranteed - suggested by ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers for England & Wales) & ACPOS (Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland) . The Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007 is also awaiting its first legal precedent and is likely to further impact on how organisations view the provisions they are making for lone workers.

How many lone workers are there?

There have been a number of estimates made about the current number of people in UK employment who are classed as lone workers. Our analysis of data provided by the Office of National Statistics estimates there are between three to four million lone workers employed in the UK. All these workers are facing a variety of risks at different frequencies, thus placing certain demands on the lone worker which in turn impact on an employer's duty of care.
More >

Risk Type & Frequency

Risks generally fall into two categories:

• Social Risk posed by other people (threat of abuse & attack)
• Environmental Risk posed by a location combined with an activity (threat of man-down through working at height, with electricity or chemicals etc)

 For more infomation, see our risk type and frequency page.

Legislation and British Standards including BS8484

Duty of care may be a shared responsibility between a lone worker and their employer however it has never been more important for an organisation to meet that duty.

You might also have seen on this site about the type of risks that are posed to lone workers, however it is also worth considering the level of risk liability carried by the organisation you work for and in turn the implications that should have on the provision made for lone worker safety.

For more information, please click here.

Click to view our certification of approval through audit against BS8484.

Why wait until after an incident?   For more information on any of the above please call Connexion2 on 0844 856 6606 or +44(0) 1909 518020 if calling from outside the UK.

> Learn more about the Identicom Lone Worker Device

>Where to buy UK

> Where to buy outside UK

Lone Working and Violence in the workplace internationally:

	Australia: A number of studies on worker safety have been conducted in Australia, however specifically . . >> More
	France: In France evidence of attacks on workers in the transport sector have been on the rise over recent years . . . >> More
	Germany: A 2002 study (Source: Violence at work 3rd edn , p.13 - Chappell & Di Martino) in Germany found that over 800,000 workers in . . >> More
	South Africa: The National Institute For Occupational Health estimated the South African workforce to be in the region of 11.5 Million people in 2010. >> More
	Spain: Statistics from Spain (Source: LFS 2007) list the number of workers reporting an accident at work over a 12 month period as . . . >> More
	United States: In the USA, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is the main federal agency that is tasked with the enforcement . . >> More

* Source: Attack Statistics taken as an average for 2008/09 from a variety of sector sources including the NHS, Retailers against crime, and Inside Housing. Slips, Trips and Falls statistics are taken from the Health & Safety Executive.

International statistics taken from 'Violence at Work - Third edition' by Chappell and Di Martino, ISBN 978-92-2-117948-1 unless otherwise stated.