Did you know, according to Berg Insight, there are over 30 million lone workers in the US, Canada and the UK combined? Whether your company is in manufacturing, construction, retail, financial services or any other industry, chances are your organization has lone workers on staff. According to the British Security Industry Association, a lone worker is defined as an employee who performs an activity that is carried out in isolation from other workers without close or direct supervision. Typically, this means these workers are exposed to different (and potentially more) types of risks and threats.
With that in mind, as the title of this blog suggests, we have identified three (although there are more) reasons why lone worker safety is important. The first is you need to ensure your organization is meeting its employer responsibilities. OSHA states that “employers have a ‘general duty’ to provide their employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harms.” While this is very broad, these guidelines do apply and should be followed in regards to lone worker safety.
In addition, you must also consider morale. Employees who do not feel safe will not be happy and may consider employment elsewhere. Moreover, employees who cannot easily contact or be contacted if an emergency should arise will not have the best feeling toward their employer either.
Employees are an organization’s greatest asset and yet many companies are not taking the steps to protect their lone workers. According to the Everbridge Mobile Safety Research Report, “although field worker safety was seen as a top mobile worker safety concern (by 65 percent of respondents), only 18 percent said that they require lone/field workers to regularly check in on their safety and only 14 percent stated that they send out regular communications to lone/field workers to check on them.” By having a plan in place, this can improve employer peace of mind (which is our 3rd reason).
To learn more, check out our whitepaper, 3 Reasons to Care About Lone Worker Safety.
To learn about how Everbridge can help your organization with Lone Worker Safety, visit our page here.