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A tightening-up of UK employment law expected shortly is likely to impose significant new duties on businesses of all kinds, but especially those employing lone workers.
The Corporate Manslaughter Bill, expected to be enacted soon, is forcing businesses throughout the UK to adopt more stringent employee "duty of care" practices to avoid prosecution and the prospect of unlimited fines.
the tightening of legislation is designed to make it easier for an organisation to be convicted of corporate manslaughter if it can be shown that it's working practices fall far below what can reasonably be expected in the circumstances. The duty of care applies to all employees, whether they are working on or off site, in groups or alone.
The bill is likely to have a particularly significant impact on businesses that employ lone workers in both the public and private sector e.g. mobile nurses, social workers, parking attendants, and service engineers. Exposure to violence has long been associated with lone workers and, since the infamous Suzy Lamplugh murder case, organisations have been seeking to minimise the risk their employees are exposed to in the field.
According to the latest British Crime Survey, 36 per cent of lone workers fear danger in the workplace and it appears that this fear is justified - in the survey period a total of 849,000 threats and actual assaults were actually reported. The unfortunate truth is that approximately 2 per cent of lone workers were subjected to some form of violence.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Protecting lone workers is a complex task but keeping in touch with them and knowing their whereabouts is a fundemental requiement. It should form the foundation of any strategy to protect workers exposed to potentially dangerous situations. Equipping employees with mobile phoines does go some way to solving the problem but they do have severe limitations in many circumstances.
The development of safety applications for the lone worker is important in light of the tightened legislation. As the Health and Safety Executive rightly points out, training and the provision of information is the first line of defence, but training and information alone fail to address the "duty of care" obligations. The onus is on businesses to ensure that they provide adequate measures to protect employees from the risk to which they are exposed.
ADDING SAFETY FEATURES
Businesses which already have wireless devices, or those seeking to equip their employees with devices, might consider adding safety capabilities to help demonstrate an adequate duty of care.
One such safety application could be the installation of a panic button on to a vehicle, available through ETS within the Navman Wireless Fleet Management system, or on hand-held devices such as the GPS/GSM Skyguard Skyminder 500 lone worker protection device or via their handheld two way radio, available on models such as the Entel HX481. Not only can a panic button provide an effective means to communicate in the event of an emergency, it also provides reassurance to lone workers by giving them access to a tangible lifeline. Our devices allow businesses to send the emergency alert via e-mail, text or directly to an emergency response centre (ERC).
The Skyminder 500 is a personal protection device (pictured below left) uses GPS positioning to determine the position of a lone worker to within 10 metres. Furthermore, with two way voice communication and full ERC support lone workers have never been able to have access to such high levels of protection.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Businesses and organisations not yet equipped with mobile devices will initially see the investment in such systems for lone workers as another business overhead. However, integrating lone worker policies with existing systems, such as two way radio or fleet management systems can often offset the cost.
Call ETS on 0870 428 6268 for more information on our lone worker solutions to help you fulfill your duty of care
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