Lone workers are defined as those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision. This could be on your premises or, more likely, working away from your business premises.

Some examples of lone workers include:

• cleaners
• security staff
• maintenance and repairs
• agricultural workers
• home workers
• drivers
• engineers
• sales reps

As an employer you have a duty of care to keep your employees safe whilst they are working for you. The safety and protection of lone workers in your employment is your responsibility and failure to show reasonable care could result in a large fine or criminal prosecution should there be an incident.

As an employer you should have a lone worker policy in place and provide them with the necessary tools to do their job safely.

Providing them with a mobile phone enables them to contact you in the event of a problem or, if it is really serious, to contact the emergency services.

With the latest SmartPhone technology it is also possible to keep track on the whereabouts of your staff via their mobile phone handset. This can be done in real time via a web interface (see our vehicle tracking section).

This system (ROMEX) provides an innovative panic button solution for customers handsets which when pressed sends the GPS co-ordinates of the phone to the both the Romex servers and the servers of a pre-defined alarm response centre.

We have a 14 day free trial for lone worker protection software. Click on the button above.

All lone working staff need to be trained to understand the risks associated with lone working and also the specific problems that may arise from the job they are doing. For instance, an Estate Agent or surveyor would need to be aware of the dangers of entering a derelict property on their own. It may also be appropriate for lone workers to receive first aid training.

As well as the safety benefits of supplying your employees with mobiles, there are also the obvious benefits of being able to keep in touch with them at all times. If a customer cancels a meeting at the last minute a quick call can get them re-routed to another appointment.

With mobile inernet on many of these handsets it is also possible to keep in touch with your employees via email. This might be useful if a document has been forgotten and needs to be emailed whilst they are en route to an appointment.

We can provide your whole workforce with business mobiles if required and in most cases the handsets will be supplied free, subject to the tariff taken out.

Each of these handsets can be equipped with the latest monitoring software enabling you to view the location of your employees during business hours.

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