StaySafe - Experts & Thought Leaders

The majority of companies (68%) have experienced an incident involving a lone worker in the past three years, with a fifth of these incidents described as severe or very severe, according to research from lone worker solution, StaySafe. In addition, nearly a quarter of staff feels unsafe at least once a year. StaySafe surveyed over 1,300 lone workers and health and safety executives in the ‘The Lone Worker Landscape Report 2021’. Levels of protection This research aims, for the first time, to uncover the disparities between the opinions of employers and the lone workers themselves with the hope that, through greater understanding, the levels of protection given to lone workers can be improved. The research finds that incidents relating to external factors including accidents, sick health, aggression, and violence make up 41% of recorded lone worker incidents, with the rest (59%) involving stress, mental health issues, and tiredness. Incidents rates Male-dominated industries have higher rates of incidents overall, with 76% of utilities, telco, and construction Manual, traditionally male-dominated industries have higher rates of incidents overall, with 76% of utilities, telco, and construction companies experiencing an incident with a lone worker in the last three years. 66% of FM, property, and estate agents had reported an incident in the last three years, closely followed by housing and local authorities at 65%. Charities, social services, and the NHS recorded the lowest number of incidents (59%), which may be linked to both the nature of the roles, the increased levels of training in these industries, and company culture. The research showed that this group conducted the most training with 60% holding briefings on regulatory requirements relating to lone working. There could also be an issue with under-reporting in these industries. Lone worker safety concerns  Only around a third (36%) of lone workers have expressed their safety concerns to their employer. However, companies seem unaware that lone workers are failing to report these concerns, with nearly all (92%) believing that their lone workers are speaking to them regularly about any incidents and concerns. Don Cameron, CEO of StaySafe, comments, “The considerable under-reporting of hazards is a major concern for health and safety executives, particularly as they seem unaware that their staff isn’t having these conversations. Under-reporting can lead to employers under-estimating the real level of risk faced by staff daily and failing to put in the necessary protective measures to prevent accidents or incidents.” Increasing safety measures following an incident 83% of companies took action following a lone worker incident through improved training or additional protective measures The majority of companies (83%) took action following a lone worker incident, usually through improved training or additional protective measures. However, a significant minority of companies (17%) took no action at all. In addition, the research indicates that companies are often overestimating how well they have dealt with hazards or incidents. 78% of executives say that they have addressed their employees’ concerns to a great or fair extent, with only 45% of lone workers agreeing. Understanding safety concerns Don Cameron adds, “We can see when it comes to reporting incidents, companies, on the whole, are doing the right thing. However, the research shows that health and safety executives can only take appropriate action when they are aware of safety concerns or potential risks and hazards that lone workers may face.” “It’s clear that there is a high rate of lone worker incidents, many of which are severe, and health and safety executives have to focus on preventing these before they happen by ensuring that they understand the safety concerns of their staff.”

StaySafe allows employer to monitor location and safety status of lone workers when a session or alert is activated Introduction Saskatchewan based company, TransGas uses the StaySafe Solution to protect their employees while traveling and working alone. TransGas provide transportation and storage services to natural gas producers and consumers across Saskatchewan. With a network of 14,000 kilometres of natural gas pipelines, their operators spend much of their working day traveling to and between sites, and may spend large portions of their day working alone. Traveling on the road is one of the greatest and most uncontrollable risks workers around the world face each day. In Canada there were 1,923 fatalities and 165,306 injuries related to vehicle accidents. Many of these victims would have been at work at the time. TransGas is a business dedicated to the health and safety of their employees, providing personal protective equipment and training for when they are on site. However, they recognized the unpredictable nature of traveling alone and wanted to do more to monitor their workforce’s safety during these periods as well as when working on site. Efficient And Time Saving Solution While looking for a self-serving technology solution, TransGas decided StaySafe was best suited to their needs. The company was previously operating a check-in policy in which each front line operations person was expected to call their supervisor at pre-determined intervals throughout the day. A supervisor would be responsible for 8-10 employees at a time and would be expected to call an employee if they had not heard from them. This resulted in down-time where both the employee and supervisors were making several phone calls before refocusing on the job at hand. TransGas searched for a solution that was efficient and time saving with quick check-ins and alerts only being raised when necessary. StaySafe App And Monitoring Service StaySafe is an app and monitoring service which allows an employer to monitor the location and safety status of their lone workers when a session or alert is activated. If an employee is in need of assistance, the monitor will be alerted via SMS, email and on screen. With StaySafe’s man-down, session expiry and panic features, an alert and GPS location can be sent to a monitor even when the employee cannot get to their phone, allowing help to be sent directly to them. This is particularly helpful when traveling alone to remote locations where there may be no one around to provide assistance should an accident occur. A-Jay Medwid, Manager, Operations Effectiveness at TransGas comments “StaySafe is an efficient and value saving solution that allows us to monitor all of our front line employees distributed over a large geographical spread, from one place. Our team can now check-in at the touch of a button and supervisors will only be alerted when they need to be, freeing up time and allowing them to focus on other important tasks, while feeling confident that an alert system is in place to assure the safety of front line workers. The intuitive nature of the app and hub means that it is very easy to implement and easy to pick up. It has been well accepted and embraced by our supervisors and frontline staff alike who feel safer knowing that the StaySafe solution is there.”