Cardinus explores the benefits lone worker training can bring to security professionals.
The Health and Safety Executive defines lone working as “those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision” – for instance an on-call plumber or a gardener.
Lone working doesn’t have to mean being physically alone and can also refer to those working on a separate task at a significant distance from their team or their manager.
Having lone workers in your team provides many benefits for your business and your staff; it allows for flexible working, autonomy and more efficient allocation of staff and resources. However, lone working can be dangerous for employees if the correct policies aren’t in place and appropriate procedures aren’t adhered to.
In this handy guide, we outline the training your lone workers need and the benefits it can have for every party involved.
Types of lone workers
When referring to lone workers, there are three types:
- Fixed-location lone workers, who stay at the same site and don’t usually encounter the general public
- Mobile lone workers, who do a lot of travelling – for example, delivery drivers.
- Public-facing lone workers, who work with or around the general public on a regular basis
Some roles will fall into multiple categories.
Dangers of lone working
It is estimated that up to eight million people in the UK are lone workers, and statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show that up to 150 lone workers are physically or verbally attacked each day. This alarming statistic highlights the importance of being educated on how to remain safe when working alone.
Some risks are more specific to certain job roles, but the main risks associated with lone working include:
- Sudden illness or injury from an accident
- Theft
- Driving-related incidents
- Violence, threat or abuse
To identify all potential risks for each lone worker, individuals should know how to carry out a risk assessment to determine a relative overview of what the specific risks are and how to protect themselves.
It is crucial to have a good communication device system with an alarm feature to alert other team members in case of an emergency as well as monitoring the whereabouts of your lone workers during their working day.
What lone working training involves
Lone working training provides employees with the correct knowledge and skills on how to manage potentially hostile encounters, the correct safety procedures to follow and what to do in a dangerous situation or emergency.
Training is a cost-effective, easy way of enhancing employee safety while they work alone. The knowledge and skills developed through training can also benefit employees in their daily life, helping improve their overall health and wellbeing.
Lone working training features:
- How to identify and minimise personal safety risks while working alone
- How to review and improve existing procedures
- How to maintain contact with others and get help in an emergency
- How to develop strategies for avoiding and reducing personal risks
- The importance of reporting all incidents and near misses to your line manager
- The use of dynamic risk assessment as a tool to help assess the dangerousness of a rapidly changing situation
- Verbal and non-verbal communication skills to help deal effectively with challenging behaviour
- Techniques to help manage stress and remain professional in the face of a difficult or threatening situation
- Strategies on how to potentially calm the anger of others
- How to remove yourself from a difficult or threatening situation
Benefits of lone working training
Lone working training will teach employees a range skills and knowledge on how to identify risks and ensure their own safety, as well as how to act when dealing with aggression and violence from the public.
Knowing verbal and non-verbal communication techniques can encourage employees to be more confident in how to respond to a situation. In turn, this can help them resolve situations quicker whilst staying calm, and reduce the risk of danger or the situations escalating.
Investigating and managing lone worker incidents and accidents can be costly and time consuming. By having less incidents, money can be saved in fines and compensation costs as well as in time spent resolving the issue, meaning employees have more time and resources to spend on completing work and other productive tasks.
Reasons to invest in lone working training
Lone working training is vital for teaching your employees valuable skills and knowledge for their day-to-day work as well as benefitting your business. Training can be adapted to suit your employees’ needs and requirements, as one training programme will not suit all.
Why not invest in your employees and provide them with a safer attitude to lone working by booking them onto one of the many lone working training courses in your area?