Are Health and Community Care Workers Classified As Lone Workers?
A person is considered to be alone at work when they are on their own and cannot be seen or heard by another person. Careful consideration of all situations where this may be the case is essential. Working alone encompasses all employees who may go for a period of time, short or long, where they do not have any direct contact with a co-worker. Even though working alone is not always dangerous, it can be when other factors come into play. The level of risk involved in any given situation will depend on the location, type of work, and whether there are interactions with the public.
Lone workers in the health care industry
In the health care industry, employees and patients spend a lot of time alone. Known as “code whites”, it is predicated that violent or potentially violent interactions with patients or clients occur up to 10 times per day. It’s no wonder that nurses, who are more frequently alone with patients than doctors, are demanding improved security, including personal alarms. You can read more about this in our previous blog article Nurses Call for Personal Alarms After Attack.
The risks of at-home care
Particularly for health care professionals who provide care to patients in their homes, security and safety are necessary. There are several risks that are specific to the health care industry that traveling nurses, doctors, and therapists may face. Travelling to a patient’s home poses risks related to road conditions, weather adversities, and the possibility of a motor vehicle accident. Upon entering a patient’s home, health care professionals are faced with a number of new safety hazards. The mental and behavioral state of the patient may be unpredictable and unknown. Employees face the risk of violence due to certain medical procedures that can make patients uneasy or nervous, working in a remote location in isolation, and working with patients who have suffered some trauma and may be violent by nature. Using a work alone safety monitoring device such as SafetyLine can be invaluable in employee health and safety.
Case study: Seasons Health Therapies and SafetyLine Lone Worker
Seasons Health Therapies has been serving Kamloops and the interior of BC since 1996. The company employs a close-knit group, 32 employees in total, of occupational therapists, kinesiologists, clinical counselors, vocational rehabilitation, and return to work specialists; all of whom share the one common goal: “to help you keep doing the things you want to do … because of life changes.” Seasons provides both in-clinic and at-home services, meaning that therapists are often required to travel alone to the homes of their clients. This inevitably poses lone worker safety risks.
You can view our SafetyLine and Seasons Health Therapies video below:
How can SafetyLine benefit your company?
Some organizations are still a little hesitant about investing in a real-time monitoring solution for lone worker safety. Instead, they simply have their employees phone in to voice their safe. However, telephone-based lone worker safety programs are actually not successful in keeping employees safe. The truth is, often when employees are experiencing an emergency, they are unable to say so. SafetyLine’s proactive check-in system solves this problem, by allowing employees to periodically check-in at pre-set time intervals to ensure their safety. In addition to our fail-safe safety system, the SafetyLine interface is easy to use and is compatible with all your pre-existing devices. All employees need to do is download the app, and all the benefits of SafetyLine Lone Worker will be at their fingertips.
Let's connect to discuss how SafetyLine can help your organization to cultivate a positive and proactive safety culture.