Public employees may be required to periodically work alone in diverse environments like wastewater treatment plants, well houses, abandoned residential/commercial buildings, parks and other infrastructure. These settings are similar in that assistance in the event of an emergency may not be immediately available. Employees servicing such settings may be exposed to occupational injuries, medical emergencies, environmental hazards and public aggression.

If you are supervising lone workers, do you have a system for knowing where your team members are at any time? Do employees have means to quickly summon assistance if they run into unexpected situations? This is why safety conscious workplaces have a lone worker safety program. In addition to protecting employees, such a program ensures compliance with occupational safety standards, reduces risk of supervisor liability and builds community trust.

Start Simple

You don’t need advanced technology to implement an effective lone operator program. A simple worker accountability program can involve having employees text supervisory personnel when they arrive and depart from a work location or at the beginning and end of their shift. Such a system works especially well when employees are dispatched from home rather than from a central employer-supervised location.

Modern Safety Technology

If your organization has an appetite for a more sophisticated lone worker safety program which can provide real-time monitoring and rapid response in the event of emergencies, consider commercially available wireless solutions:

• Wearable Devices: Smart badges, watches or helmets with GPS, person-down detection, panic buttons and hazard sensors for inspectors and field crews.
• Safety Apps: Timed check-ins, GPS tracking and panic alerts for social workers and outreach teams. Some apps work with weak connectivity via Bluetooth or satellite.
• Real-Time Monitoring: Central dashboards in municipal operations centers display worker status and send instant alarms in the event of an emergency.
• Communication Tools: Radios and discreet “panic” alarms for staff in public-facing roles like libraries or community centers.

Building a Lone Worker Program

It is never too late to begin building an effective, sustainable lone worker safety program. What follows is a simple implementation road map:

1. Conduct a Risk Assessment
   • Identify hazards in parks, construction zones and residential/commercial property visits.
   • Evaluate emergency response times from local services.

2. Determine approach to maintaining situational awareness of employees
   • Match the approach to operation scope and work culture.
   • Consider involving employees in selecting and designing the solution to encourage buy-in.
   • Develop standard operating guidelines documenting how the program will function.

3. Ensure Reliable Connectivity
   • Use devices with dual cellular/satellite communication.
   • Enable automatic alerts and two-way communications.

4. Support Technology with Hierarchy of Controls
   • Administrative: Scheduled check-ins, deescalation protocols and workplace violence prevention policies.
   • Engineering: Surveillance for public buildings, secure partitions at service counters and lighting in parks.
   • Personal Protective Equipment: Dog bite sticks, body armor, personal gas monitors, etc.

5. Train and Practice
   • Hands-on training with devices and apps.
   • Training in managing aggressive behavior, medical emergencies and environmental hazards.

Conclusion

Job demands may periodically necessitate lone operator situations. Management is responsible for ensuring the safety of employees in all potential working environments.  Combining connected safety technology with strong policies, procedures and training can ensure public employees working alone are never left unprotected.