The workplace harbors many risks and hazards. However, individuals who work alone are more exposed to these elements than those who work as part of a team or group. Working alone is a high-risk venture, as 2019 data showed over five thousand lone worker deaths in the US. If your employees work in remote areas or drive long distances daily, they must be safe on the job. You can take the proactive steps below to ensure the safety of your lone workers.
- Have a dedicated lone-worker policy
Lone workers should feel secure and confident while working. Aside from providing them with the necessary tools and skills to ensure their safety, management should ensure employees do their jobs safely and efficiently. It is common for workers to attempt to cut corners and get more done in the shortest period. However, they compromise their safety, especially when working with huge machinery. The best approach for achieving this is to create a lone worker safety policy. A dedicated lone worker policy can be useful for mitigating risks and hazards faced by your lone workers. The policy should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of your employee and safe processes and procedures to complete work.
- Supervise lone workers
Even the best-crafted lone-worker policy may not yield the right results without proper supervision to prevent unhealthy or unsafe work habits. Some states and governmental institutions have legislations that require businesses to have measures to monitor workplace conditions and employee health. It is advisable to base your supervision levels on your risk assessments. The bigger the danger, the more supervision you will require. However, your capacity to recognize and address lone worker safety concerns may determine the supervision levels.
- Promote open communication
Open communication channels allow managers to monitor lone and isolated individuals’ actions and workplace conditions. Lone workers easily feel disconnected from the rest of the business, so it is best to maintain open communication. This makes it easier to protect your lone workers. It is critical that lone employees feel comfortable expressing their safety issues, reporting risks, and hazards, exchanging incident information and clarifying their safety requirements. So make communication with your lone workers simple, seamless, secure, and consistent.
- Provide proper training
A few industries frequently use lone individuals to do high-risk tasks. These jobs may include working from heights or handling dangerous machinery. Your personnel would be far less accident-prone if they had the necessary training and skills. As an employer, you are responsible for training and retraining your staff to manage certain situations. For instance, first aid training is an effective way to share practical knowledge on saving a life and remaining calm in an emergency. This will help employees who work alone to buy time until help arrives. You can take your lone workers through options like Holmes Medical Training to give them practical skills for such situations.
While businesses are required to guarantee the safety of their staff, ensuring lone staff safety is more of a team task. The tips mentioned above can be useful for averting preventable accidents from occurring.