Lone working in engineering
An introduction to lone working in engineering
Lone working in engineering may mean being alone inside a workshop, working in someone else’s home or business, or out in the public sphere. Engineers’ highly practical, often machine-orientated roles can put them at higher risk of injury, so it’s important to explore how and when it is safe to work alone.
What sort of work do engineers do?
From civil to mechanical, electrical to aeronautical, the umbrella of 'engineer' can cover dozens of roles. (And don't even get us started on computer engineering!).
That being said, certain risks and hazards exist for nearly all engineers –whether they work in construction, mining, utilities, science, or defence.
What are the risks of working in engineering
Engineers face a higher-than-average risk of suffering from serious injury or even death while at work.
While different types of engineers may face different risks, it’s worth noting that, of the 123 work-related deaths in the UK last year, 42% worked in the construction or manufacturing sector.
A recent article from Insurance Choice highlighted the key risks engineers face:
Vehicles
Machinery
Slips, trips and falls
Electricity
Manual handling (carrying objects)
While slips and falls and manual handling are fairly ubiquitous for those working on their feet, workers in this industry are at a much higher risk of injury from vehicles, machinery, or receiving an electric shock.
In fact, between 10 -15% of engineering accidents reported to the HSE involve the use of machinery.
Our goal in this article is to explore these risks, explain how they interact with lone working, and what you –as an organisation– can do to keep your engineers safe.
So, what is lone working?
A lone worker works out of sight or earshot of their colleagues for some or all of their day.
By its nature, lone working can increase the risk of serious injury by lowering levels of oversight and increasing response times to potential emergencies.
Note: as many people in the engineering and manufacturing sectors work with loud machinery, supervision can be difficult –even within a relatively small workspace.
How does lone working affect engineers?
For engineers who work in a workshop, the HSE generally advises against working alone:
“It would not generally be reasonable for employers to permit [workshop] employees to work alone, because there is usually some dangerous machinery about.”
Lone working may be acceptable, however, for some lower-risk roles and environments:
“However, if just low-risk work such as assembly or some cleaning is being planned, then provided other risks are minimised and a system of checking or line of communication established, it would be reasonable for an employee to work alone.”
So what are some examples of work that may not be suitable for lone workers? The Department of Engineering at Cambridge University gives some good examples, such as:
“laboratory, workshop, construction, and maintenance work activities; work with toxic chemicals; work with radiation; work involving biological or GM materials; operation of heavy machinery, e.g. saws and lathes.”
Of course, there are many types of engineers, in many fields of work so experiences and standards will change from organisation to organisation. When considering levels of risk, a good place to start is to look at the risks facing lone-working engineers.
What risks do lone workers in engineering face?
As mentioned above, there are some engineering tasks that are incompatible with working alone. Where lone working is permissible, however, organisations should assess the hazards of a task and take steps to make it as safe as possible.
This is the foundation of a lone worker risk assessment –identifying risk and working to mitigate it.
Building lone worker safety into your risk assessment is a vital part of keeping your engineers safe when they’re working alone –but what are the risks?
Some specific risks that your lone working engineers may face include:
Slower response times –sometimes even the safest of jobs can go wrong. An object can fall off its racking and knock a worker unconscious, faulty wiring can lead to a serious electric shock, and a seemingly low-risk machine can misfire. When an engineer is working alone, these injuries can become more serious. Working alone (without proper failsafes) can lead to longer reaction times and, therefore, more serious results.
Lack of supervision –supervision is important in higher-risk roles. This is particularly true for less experienced workers, but also for the most senior of engineers. While working alone is often necessary and desirable, it can lead to a greater number of incidents. Across all sectors, having someone watch your back and be able to spot mistakes and hazards can be beneficial.
Aggression from the public –while many engineers work within their organisation, if your team work on the street, for instance, or in people’s homes, they may be at higher risk of aggression and violence from the public.
What are the responsibilities of organisations that employ lone-working engineers?
Since engineers already face higher than average risks from many parts of their role, engineering organisations will probably already take their health and safety seriously. If your organisation is new to lone working, however, there are some responsibilities that you should consider:
Build lone working into your risk assessments. Identify who is working alone, and what hazards they face in their day-to-day role.
Check if there are any roles which are inappropriate for lone working. You can find some examples of this at the top of the page, but we also have more general examples in our introduction to lone working.
Provide equipment and training appropriate for the tasks being performed.
Ensure that lone workers are trained to use their equipment.
Ensure that engineers (and all other lone workers) are working in accordance with your lone working policies.
Make sure that lone workers have suitable, comprehensive and trustworthy systems of supervision and ways to call for help in the case of an emergency. Naturally, it can be hard for an incapacitated person to call for help, that’s why we provide smart solutions for just this problem.
Responsibilities towards contractors and part-time lone workers
Organisations should remember that they have a legal responsibility for all their employees’ health and safety needs –no matter what type of employment.
That means that, if you hire contract or part-time engineers, you will still need to consider them as part of your lone working strategy.
Solutions for keeping engineers safe when they’re working alone
There are some key areas you should consider to keep your engineers and other lone workers safe, including training, working in a group (for when lone working is not reasonable!), remote supervision, emergency procedures, and protective technology.
Training
Lone working engineers should know how to stay safe when they’re on their own. Knowing what tasks can and can’t be performed alone is a good place to start, but it’s also important that engineers know what precautions to take, what to look out for, and how to handle difficult situations.
If your engineers work directly with the public –and especially if they work in people’s homes– they may require training on how to deal with aggression and violence. Knowing how to de-escalate aggressive situations, and how to get out of them, can be vital.
Working as a pair or in groups
Where possible, working as a pair or in a group is the best way to avoid the risks of lone working and, as mentioned, there are many jobs that are totally unsuitable for lone working.
If your staff cannot work in groups, however, it is important that they have the same levels of communication and support as someone who was.
Technological solutions like the Safepoint App can make it easier for teams to stay in communication with each other (and their supervisor). The Safepoint app not only allows lone workers to call for help in an emergency (more of that later) but it also allows supervisors to see where everyone is and what they’re working on. This can really help coordinate engineers who need to come together for certain tasks.
Supervision
It’s important that lone workers are given support and supervision, even when they’re a long way from their nearest colleague. This is explicitly laid out by the HSE (and summarised in our handy guide to lone working).
There are several ways to provide supervision to those working alone. One is to set up periodical check-ins with your staff (by phone call or similar). Unfortunately, making routine calls to all your staff can be time-consuming and disruptive for the workers, as well as for the person making a call.
A smart solution like Safepoint allows you to keep track of how your staff are doing, without the risk of interrupting their important work.
With Safepoint, workers create temporary, timed tasks (such as “visiting workshop – 2hrs”). Once created, supervisors can see what their staff are working on (including live GPS updates) and when they’ll be finished. If the worker fails to check in as safe at the end of the task –or if the system detects an emergency at any time– an alert will be sent out. This allows managers to supervise their lone workers, without affecting their productivity.
Emergency alarms
The UK’s Health and Safety Executive requires employers to equip their lone workers with “robust and dependable” methods of calling for help in an emergency.
Note: If you work outside of the UK, your country’s rules on lone working may differ, but the challenges you face will be similar. We work with companies from the US to the UAE who want to make sure their lone workers have the proper protections and supervision.
One way for a lone working engineer to call for help in the case of an emergency is to use their mobile phone. This is what most people think when asked “How would the worker call for help if they needed it?”.
But what if a worker is under threat from a member of the public, is knocked unconscious, or is otherwise unreachable?
That’s where Safepoint’s all in one lone worker solution comes in. Safepoint’s apps and wearable devices allow lone workers to create live ‘tasks’ that are shared with their supervisors. This not only helps supervisors to keep track of what everyone is doing, but Safepoint can also send out automatic, smart GPS alarms in the case of an emergency.
What’s more, Safepoint provides a 24/7 alarm monitoring service that is backed by security giants, ADT. This means that, wherever or whenever your staff run into trouble, they will get immediate support from one of the world’s best-known and most respected security brands.
How do Safepoint’s automated solutions protect lone workers?
Safepoint provides award-winning lone working solutions for workers in the engineering sector along with many other industries across the UK and abroad.
In fact, Safepoint has helped protect lone workers for companies like Mitsubishi, Michelin and Babcock.
Automatic alarms
As we’ve mentioned, lone workers can’t always call for help when they’re in trouble. If an engineer is incapacitated by a machine, a vehicle, or electric shock –to give just a few examples– then they may not be able to shout out or pick up a phone.
That’s why Safepoint has created robust, easy-to-use solutions that not only help you keep track of your team throughout the day but also will automatically alert your managers if something goes wrong.
We even provide 24/7 alarm monitoring that is backed by security giants ADT so, if anything does go wrong, it will be handled immediately and professionally. Keep reading to learn more!
How Safepoint keeps engineers safe
When engineers are equipped with Safepoint’s apps and wearable panic alarms, they can set up timed, GPS-tracked ‘tasks’ (such as ‘Workshop inspection - 1 hour’).
If the worker runs into trouble, they can tap a button on their phone or wearable panic alarm and an alert will be sent out (along with their live location).
What’s more, an alert will automatically be sent out if a user takes a fall (sometimes called a man-down feature) or if they are unresponsive.
How Safepoint and ADT’s 24/7 monitoring can help your engineering team
With Safepoint’s ADT-backed 24/7 GuardianPlus service, your team’s safety can be monitored day and night by an accredited team of expert responders.
These emergency response professionals, working out of a dedicated, top-of-the-line Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC), will handle any emergency –from first response to escalation management to liaising with the emergency services.
Keeping track of your entire remote force
We know that many people working in manufacturing and engineering may work remotely or at home for some of the day. Many may travel between several sites, or may always be on the road.
Beyond the safety considerations, this type of remote, mobile and flexible work can make keeping track of your workforce more difficult.
With Safepoint’s unique in-app team view, you can see where your team are, where they’re heading, how long they think their trip will take, and more. This makes it easy to keep track of dozens of engineers, no matter where or how they work.
Check out the video below to see how Safepoint works. You can also try Safepoint for free, or you can book a free demo!