Conducting a Lone Worker Needs Analysis
Table of Contents
Conducting a Lone Worker Needs Analysis
Local safety legislation and regulations
Identify users
Inventory and assessment
Communication tools and devices
Consult with a leadership team
Consult with team members
Consult with other departments
Audit
Budget
Safety features analysis
Template example
Lone worker policy
Decision time
Efficient safety check-ins
Motion features and impact detection
Location tracking
Bluetooth panic button and shake for emergency
What are the safety needs of your lone workers?
Conducting a Lone Worker Needs Analysis
People working alone must face safety hazards that teams and pairs do not. They do not have someone with them to call for help in an emergency. They do not have that extra professional presence and foresight to prevent potential accidents from occurring.
These challenges are almost ubiquitous throughout every industry, but they do not cover the specific safety hazards unique to your particular area and team. It’s the details of your lone workers’ safety that will be the most effective in protecting your employees and preventing accidents down the road.
To find and document these important details and information, you need to conduct a lone worker needs analysis, which will highlight and improve four primary areas:
1. The safety procedures you currently have in place and are practicing
2. Deficiencies and areas for improvement in your safety strategies and protocols
3. Areas that need to be explored and researched further
4. The gaps and holes in your lone worker safety program that need to be filled
Local safety legislation and regulations
So where does one start when analyzing lone working conditions and making improvements? It starts with a Google search of what your local lone worker safety legislation and regulations require. Throughout the United States and Canada, lone worker safety legislation varies from jurisdiction and industry.
If there is legislation that applies to your organization, document it as part of the lone worker needs analysis – it will be a guide for future decisions and protocol. If it’s unclear, contact your local government representative or union rep, or steward. However, we strongly caution that even if you do not have lone worker legislation, you consider their guidelines and best practices for the benefit of your team and company.
Identify users
Now that you know your local legislation and legal requirements, you must identify who your lone workers are and who could benefit from a lone worker safety system.
Lone workers who can benefit from a lone worker safety system can be divided into six categories:
Workers who perform dangerous work away from the public
Workers who travel alone
Workers who perform their jobs from home
Workers who travel and interact with customers
Workers who are located at an isolated site
Workers who handle cash
Every organization is different and so are its employees so the lone worker definition and profile can be somewhat flexible. What’s important is to identify those who perform work by themselves and without verbal communication with a contact.
Inventory and assessment
Next, conduct a thorough inventory and assessment of all current safety and OHS protocols, strategies and any other special safety measures for your lone workers. Follow this inventory with an assessment of all of the safety hazards your lone workers face. Compare the two lists to see if your strategies are effective and if any safety hazards are unaddressed and therefore a bigger threat.
Ask questions such as:
What are the costs?
What are the benefits?
How do the impacted employees feel about it?
How can it be improved?
What safety hazards can be mitigated now? How?
Communication tools and devices
Once these assessments have been performed and documented, look at the communication tools and channels being used for the lone workers’ safety. Any deficiencies or areas for improvement may have been identified in the protocol and hazards assessments. However, a reliable, accessible means of communication, such as SafetyLine, is essential for the safety of a lone worker as well as a successful emergency response.
Consult with a leadership team
Once these important areas have been evaluated, communicate the findings to the leadership team. This step may be especially pertinent when a new safety hazard has been identified and immediate action must be taken.
Consult with team members
Equally, if not more so importantly, show any impacted employees the information as well and how it will impact their work and productivity. When asking employees to carry a new safety device or add another step to their work routine, it is very important to communicate why these changes are being made and how it will benefit their safety and well-being.
Consult with other departments
Likewise, a consultation can also be performed inter-departmentally, leveraging the specific expertise of other company branches to improve the safety of lone workers. Different departments (e.g. HR, IT) can provide special insight into particular areas of the workers’ safety and what can be done – and what they can do – to improve that safety.
Audit
Perform an exhaustive, detailed audit that will identify the “holes” mentioned above. Some holes are larger than others and will require more time and planning to fill. However smaller holes such as new PPE or equipment can be remedied fairly quickly, allowing the lone worker to promptly – and more safely – return to their job and work. In other words, prioritize these holes in your lone worker safety program depending on how high the risk is of these safety hazards harming your people.
Budget
Investing in a lone worker safety solution will not only protect the welfare of your lone and remote workers, but it will have a measurable return on safety investment and cost savings over the long term. Protecting lone workforce results in fewer work hours lost due to injury, less disruption to operations, and also, in the court of law and public opinion where lone worker protection can be proof of responsible due diligence in a work-related accident.
Having said that, lone worker safety solutions come in a range of shapes and price ranges, depending on your OHS needs. There are very cost-effective and powerful lone worker safety solutions like SafetyLine that can help protect both big and small teams for every type of budget and safety hazard.
Safety features analysis
As you may have noticed, a lone worker needs analysis includes a number of sub-analyses which we covered earlier. The final assessment step in your lone worker needs analysis is to evaluate the suite of safety features you require in your ideal lone worker solution.
First of all, list all of the features you are looking for in a lone worker safety tool. Picture the perfect OHS solution for your safety needs. (We recommend you create this document in Excel or a similar format.)
Then, next to each feature, classify it with either an “Essential,” “Nice to Have,” or “Extra” to prioritize the importance or urgency of each feature.
When you visit the features page for a product like SafetyLine, you can easily compare the two pages of information side by side, determining if the safety solution can accommodate your OHS issues and needs.
Template example
A simple-but-still-effective safety features analysis should include the following columns or sections:
Feature name
Impacted employees/lone workers
Benefits
# of “Essential” features
# of “Nice to Have” features
# of “Extra” features
Additional devices, equipment, or technology
Cost
Pro Tip: Hold a “safety features” brainstorming session with the team and whiteboard.
Lone worker policy
A major component of a lone worker needs analysis is the lone worker policy which acts as a guide to protecting your lone and vulnerable employees. This policy outlines any protocols and tactics required to protect these staff members who face safety hazards different from their coworkers not working by themselves.
Decision time
Once you have completed these steps, then narrow the list down to your top three safety solutions. Have your leadership team review the shortlist and choose one according to the overall benefit it will bring to lone worker safety. SafetyLine is an ideal option as it has a range of proven safety features such as:
Efficient safety check-ins
Through an easy automated system, lone workers can check in before work and then check-in after to confirm their safety. When a worker checks in at the pre-established time, the emergency contact will be notified. These check-ins can be scheduled for regular intervals or can be customized on an ad hoc basis. What’s notable about SafetyLine’s check-ins is that every time a worker checks in, the employer and emergency contact are also sent updates of their location and other important details.
Motion features and impact detection
Using the existing motion sensors in our existing devices (like smartphones), SafetyLine will signal a panic emergency when it detects dangerous falls and impacts on the worker. It will only trigger an alert if the impact is strong enough to injure a person.
Dangerous falls can occur at lower levels, especially when walkways are obstructed by objects or are slippery from spilled/leaking substances as well as outside from ice, snow, and rain. Across all industries, slips, trips, and falls are the number one cause of work injury, if not within the top three occupational safety hazards.
No matter where you’re working, SafetyLine’s fall detection can request help even if you are unconscious or physically disabled.
Location tracking
By partnering with industry leaders such as Garmin and Globalstar, SafetyLine can locate a lone workers no matter where they are in the world and without cellular reception. SafetyLine’s innovative technology and suite of features are complemented by GPS capabilities of these products when cell service is poor, enhancing the overall safety of your lone workers, regardless of industry.
Bluetooth panic button and shake for emergency
Leveraging Bluetooth technology, SafetyLine provides an accessible panic button should a lone worker require immediate help. Leveraging existing motion sensors, SafetyLine also has a valuable shake-for-emergency feature which is exactly how it sounds; when the worker vigorously shakes their phone, it will signal a panic emergency. Additionally, the SafetyLine man-down feature will send an alert if the device has not moved for an extended period of time.
What are the safety needs of your lone workers?
When performing your lone worker needs analysis, the goal is to take a holistic approach to these people’s safety. By assessing and identifying all of the safety hazards and developing safety measures to mitigate those hazards, according to local OHS legislation, the employer can develop an effective lone worker safety program.
There are general safety needs for every lone worker such as proper PPE, ventilation, and emergency protocols, however, every employee and team has OHS needs specific to their environment and circumstances. Your lone worker needs analysis should identify the safety nuances of your team members and create a safety program that’s truly customized for your organization.
Allocate a lot of time for consultation with fellow team members and departments, and you will be rewarded with valuable feedback and ultimately, the best work-alone solution for your needs and, of course, the needs of your lone workers.