The many benefits of music and work

So just like you would invest in PPE or other equipment to keep your workers physically safe, you should also invest in steps that would improve their mental health. In fact, according to a 2005 study, The effect of music listening on work performance - music was found to improve both the worker’s mood and productivity.

It is no secret that lone workers are faced with infinitely more risks than many other workers within a company, given the isolated nature of their work. Any organization that employs lone workers must provide those workers with the necessary knowledge and tools to work safely. A lone worker policy is an effective way to ensure that your lone workers are well-educated on your company’s work-alone rules and have extensive knowledge of all workplace hazards that could be encountered on the job. It’s a useful tool that ensures both employers and employees know the risks

The safety needs of your team can be complicated and sometimes costly. But as the employer, it is your responsibility to provide everything possible to protect your staff who, in some cases, may be putting their safety at risk to do their job. Include the added layer of COVID-19 protection and the requirements of your workers become significantly more challenging and complex as you are now looking at not only safety and mental health needs, but what is essential to increased remote work and considerations around new social distancing guidelines.

As the temperatures plummet and the snow, ice and rain increase, slip and fall injuries see a spike, particularly for those working in these conditions. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2017, there were more than 20,000 work injuries related to ice, sleet and snow. The workers most at risk are obviously those working outside, facing the elements including farmers, fishermen, snow cleanup staff, first responders like paramedics, construction workers, security personnel, and community healthcare workers.

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and whatever holiday you’ll be celebrating is going to be different this year. There might be socially distanced get-togethers with family (if at all), the annual shopping trips to the mall will be replaced with online orders and for many of us, we will be celebrating and working in our homes where there will be unique safety hazards that have never really been considered before the pandemic. While this season may feel like uncharted waters, there are a number of holiday safety hazards in the home that can be eliminated, or at least mitigated, to ensure your safety while working from home.

Investing in safety isn’t just buying reflective jackets, at least on its own. It’s something that is ongoing and involves a lot of reflecting on how your organization manages risk, protects employees, and actively works towards introducing incremental changes that can add up over time.

As we approach the final month of a surreal year, the temperatures continue to plummet and depending on where you live, snow, sleet and rain will fall even harder. Here in rainy Pacific Northwest where SafetyLine’s headquarter is located, winter brings us increasingly wet streets, walkways, and surfaces, resulting in more injuries (some very serious) from slips, trips and falls at work, at home, and in public.

If you’re concerned that workplace violence is currently an issue or has the potential to become a safety hazard with your team and lone workers – even if it’s at home – you need to determine if you have a violence prevention and mitigation program available through your employer and what the next steps are; if not, you should ask your employer to develop one.

Manitoba is one of the seven provinces in Canada that regulate working alone. Given that having at least two employees on a job site was not always practical or useful in protecting workers, these regulations were established to ensure the safety of those workers who were required to perform their jobs alone.

Did you know that there are about 3,000 satellites orbiting above our heads, transmitting billions of signals, relaying important information? Some of that valuable data include the locations of workers who are out on the job and without a cellular connection. Satellite technology can save the lives of those working remotely, empowering employers to send help to the right location when seconds can make the difference between life or death in a work emergency.

When COVID-19 turned our world upside down last spring, the global labor market responded, sending many of its workers to perform their jobs remotely and at home. According to Stats Canada, nearly 40% of Canadians were working from home in the last week of March and those numbers have undoubtedly increased over the summer. And according to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, as of June, 42% of the

While most of us can adapt to working by themselves and/or remotely, it takes a particular kind of person with special expertise to thrive in these new conditions. For example, an anxious person could find lone work difficult as there are less structure and more responsibility and unpredictability. If some of your team members are struggling with this new professional world, hopefully, this article will provide you with some insight to help them out, increasing productivity and well-being as a result.

Working from home safety is not a new concept or challenge. But the significant number of people now working from home or remotely is a phenomenon we haven’t experienced before. Because of that, many organizations are trying to learn and adapt as the new normal becomes more and more, well, normal.

If or when a second COVID wave hits a number of areas must immediately addressed to protect your workers such as any needed PPE or sanitizing supplies and restructuring of operations to facilitate social distancing while working. But even ahead of those important priorities, you need to establish dependable and accessible employee communication with management and your team, wherever they may be working – at home, out in the field or back at the office or plant.

The types of organizations and industries that use SafetyLine to protect their remote workers range from healthcare and legal services to agriculture and government at all levels - and yes, those working at home can be considered lone workers. In the first of a three-part series, here are what our grateful SafetyLine users are saying about the service as well as how it has improved the safety and wellness of their remote teams, helping protect their most valuable resource – their people. 

As we approach what could be another wave of COVID-19 and therefore more workers doing their jobs remotely or at home, employers must not only make their safety a priority, but must also focus on the three areas of mental health, engagement and productivity. After many months of living in a pandemic world, you workers may experience quarantine fatigue with their anxiety increasing, and their engagement and productivity decreasing.

In the early days of working from home, it was great. But after the quick honeymoon period (about a month into the quarantine), there were times I desperately wished I had the privacy of my old office. I found that there were more disruptions at home, like our son crawling into my workspace while on a call or having to meet the Amazon delivery guy downstairs, that were breaking my train of thought – I know, first-world problems. One day, I texted a single friend to see how he was doing during the quarantine and working from home. He told me it was getting tough and he was lonely. I never thought of that way and it put my circumstances into serious perspective. I began asking questions like, “How are people finding that meaningful connection during quarantine?”

While it’s still somewhat debatable at the moment, increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases are showing us that a second wave of the virus may be imminent. The good news is that there may have been lessons learned from the first time, allowing us the privilege of hindsight to improve our tact, better protecting our workers and communities.

Can you afford safety training for your lone workers? Well, we’re here to tell you that you can’t afford not to train your staff and lone workers around workplace safety. Providing safety training is a true investment, on multiple levels. It’s an investment in the safety of your most valuable asset – your team.

This is the second article of a three-part series: Setting Up a Lone Worker Safety Program, we look at how a company can implement a lone worker safety program on a budget. These days, budgets are stretched thin and are uncertain, making it difficult to allocate funds for areas such as lone worker safety. But lone worker safety should be a priority when you look at the potential legal, reputational and financial costs if one of your lone workers, unfortunately, experiences an accident that could have been prevented or mitigated by the organization.