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Trade union safety pointers on lone working
The TUC has a brief new guide 'Lone Working: A guide for safety representatives', with links to further resources. The voluntary sector was one area identified where working alone was considered a major hazard in a 2008 survey. http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-17252-f0.cfm.
Comments
Lone worker safety alerts
The TUC Guidance highlights the importance of a wholistic, pro-active approach to lone worker safety. Everything from risk assessment to training and systems needs due attention. However, in the voluntary sector it can often be difficult to implement systems as they tend to be expensive. Typical costs start at £12 per user month, plus the cost of a specialist alarm. This is in many cases not viable, particularly for voluntary workers. It is also, all too often overkill.
As an alternative, have a look at http://loneworkersafe.co.uk , where you can protect your lone workers for about £3 per user per month and you can use the lone worker's mobile phone as the primary alerting device so you won't need any extra equipment.
It's not appropriate for volunteers who regularly work in high-risk environments but for anybody else it's pretty good.