FOCUS HEALTH & SAFETY
ALONE AND AT RISK
Facilities management remains
one of the sectors most likely
to include lone workers, whether
that’s for all or just part of the role.
It’s also a sector that contains a
lot of variation in when and where
employees are operating on any
given day, and this can prove
challenging for any manager who
needs to keep track of these comings
and goings.
Technology has moved the needle
on a considerable number of areas
across the industry but unfortunately,
too many businesses remain static in
their approach to health and safety.
Analogue solutions, paper records
and old-fashioned timesheets not
only steal time away from other, more
productive tasks but also prevent even
the best health and safety policies
which ensure FM’s are protecting their
workers ež ectively.
The same can be said for a lack of
lone worker-specific protections,
which can easily get lost at the bottom
of the to-do list.
As the current crisis continues, it’s
essential to consider more immediate
lone worker protection alongside plans
for protecting vulnerable workers,
once social distancing and shi¤ s to
operating with fewer members of staž
are no longer needed.
In the meantime, while some safety
measures will cease to be as essential
as they have been over the past few
months, others will remain and be
forced to evolve. The facilities space, in
particular, cannot až ord to turn back
the clock.
WHO ARE LONE WORKERS?
A lone worker(i) is anyone who works
away from colleagues or supervisors,
whether that’s on-premises or out in
the field. This o¤ en includes workers
who operate outside of ‘normal’
hours, such as overnight or early in the
morning, or those who are required
to drive long distances as part of their
job.
Facilities workers o¤ en fit into this
category because they are regularly
called out to jobs that require only one
person on site.
Many of the risks faced by lone
workers(ii) are similar to those faced by
colleagues who work more closely with
their co-workers, but there are a few
crucial diž erences. These are generally
categorised as environmental or social
hazards, which can include (but aren’t
limited to):
Slips, trips and falls
Handling, li¤ ing or carrying
Being struck by a moving object
(e.g. a vehicle)
Falls from height
Being attacked or threatened at
work
Road accidents
Sudden illness
Lone workers are particularly in
danger should an accident happen
because they are far less able to call
for help or assistance. Without others
working around them, possibly in
remote locations or late at night, they
are le¤ extremely vulnerable.
In facilities management, this could
look like an employee attending to
a job at 7 pm. when no one else is
around. Everyone at head ož ice has
also gone home for the night. The
employee then falls from the ladder
they are using, injuring themselves.
If a lone worker policy had been
created before this job was carried
out, it’s possible that the employee
would have been able to call for help
with the lone worker alarm they had
been given. Even better, the device
may have detected the fall with in-built
sensors and already contacted the
relevant parties.
LONE WORKER PROTECTION
Whether you keep your facilities
management roles in-house or
hire outside contractors, the legal
responsibility of employers remains
the same. Businesses must do
everything they can to identify and
mitigate the risks their workers may
face, and subsequently introduce
ež icient ways of responding to future
incidents.
It’s essential that organisations
conduct a thorough risk assessment
before any lone working is carried
out. This is because an incident
will not only put the worker in a
dangerous situation but also leave the
business liable if it is proven that the
appropriate safety measures were not
put into place.
When it comes to maintaining
safety in this space, the challenge
will almost always be related to
ež ective employee management. With
a significant part of the workforce
working alone out in the field, keeping
them safe requires the right tools.
There are a number of benefits
that come from using technology to
improve health and safety policies,
and chief among these is the ability to
take care of workers remotely across
a number of sites from one single
location.
Lone worker devices don’t just allow
employees to call for help - they also
give managers the ability to track
where their employees are. This
boosts the safety use case by showing
responders where to go, but also aids
in reporting and incident logging.
Having an automated, accurate log
of incidents can be invaluable when
conducting future risk assessments
and revising policies. It removes the
guesswork from the process, and in
turn, makes any resulting policy that
much safer.
The past year has forced
organisations across almost every
industry to re-examine their approach
to employee safety, while also
increasing the number of workers
who are operating alone due to
social distancing measures. It’s
understandable that the pace of this
shi¤ may have le¤ many workers
without appropriate protections
tailored to their needs.
These are just some of the reasons
why it has never been more essential
for facilities management to introduce
lone worker protections into their
health and safety policies. Without
them, a part of the workforce that
is only growing will continue to be
vulnerable.
-amie *riƝ ths, %usiness 'evelopment ManaJer at 9itix, on the importance of
ensurinJ lone worker protection in the FM sector
REFERENCE NOTES
(i) www.fmj.co.uk/lone-workers/
(ii) https://vatix.com/blog/what-is-a-lone-
worker-complete-guide-for-employers/
36 FEBRUARY 2021
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