BS8484 Loan Worker & Duty of Care. Is it legal to work alone and is it safe?
Working alone is not in itself against the law and it will often be safe to do so.
Employers are responsible for the health, safety and welfare at work of all their workers. They also have responsibility for the health and safety of any contractors or self-employed people doing work for them.
Who are lone workers and what jobs do they do? The HSE defines lone workers as those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision, for example:
In fixed establishments
- A person working alone in a small workshop, petrol station, kiosk or shop
- People who work from home other than in low-risk, office-type work
- People working alone for long periods, e.g. in factories, warehouses, leisure centers etc
- People working on their own outside normal hours, e.g. cleaners and security, maintenance or repair staff
Mobile workers working away from their fixed base
- Workers involved in construction, maintenance and repair, plant installation and cleaning work
- Agricultural and forestry workers
- Service workers, including postal staff, social and medical workers, engineers, estate agents, and sales or service representatives visiting domestic and commercial premises
What are the solutions?
For fixed establishments, wireless panic attack buttons (PA’s) offer a great low cost solution for workers, portability being key. Inovonics offer a complete range of PA buttons and are the only manufacture to offer 12 minute supervision as standard. With a reliable open field range of *800 meters between transmitter and receiver, Inovonics PA’s are the preferred choice for retail, schools, banks and public buildings.
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Outstanding features over other wireless PA buttons:
- Single and multiple condition transmitters including “Man Down”
- Fully supervised, notifying out or range and low battery
- 3 year battery life
- Extended range, typically 800 meters open field
- Belt clip, lanyard and wristband options
- EN50131-5-3 & PD6662:2010 Grade 2 Class II
- 3 year warrantee on all Inovonics receivers and transmitters
- Available from Norbain
*Tested in real open field environment under test conditions
For mobile workers, GSM/GPRS/GPS wireless technology has to be the best solution for workers, working away from their fixed base. The Wireless Works has partnered with a select number of manufactures, the we believe offer the most reliable, affordable solutions.
- GPRS technology provides fast and cost effective alarm transmission, with SMS back up
- Small, lightweight designs allows these devices to be worn as a pendant around the neck, or attached to a belt, keyring or ID badge
- 2-way audio allows controllers to silently listen in to the users environment and talk to them, if it’s safe to do so?
- Mandown feature automatically raises an alarm in the event of a fall or sudden impact
- On demand positioning requests allows the devices map location to be summoned from a mobile phone via a simple SMS message
- BS 8484 and Secured by Design