Hazards and Control Measures of working Alone at a workplace

 

Risk and Control Measures of Alone Working

 

 

What is a lone worker?

A lone worker is the one who works on his own without direct or close supervision and can be found in a different type of activities. Mostly we consider lone worker which is working alone without direct supervision and without his co-workers as well. 

 

Here are some examples of lone worker:

 

Watchman which are working alone most of the times.

Personal which are working outside the normal working hours.

Agriculture worker are also the example of lone working.

Drivers and operators are also fall in lone worker category.

Crane operator specially Tower Carne Operators

 

 

We have to consider about the safety arrangements for the lone workers as we care about the workers which working on the controlled workplace. It is important to make sure that the worker which is performing the activity alone is competent enough. Is he able to handle all the risk which can be there?

For the personal which are working out side the normal working hours can be instructed to work in the normal working hours. 

 

Things which need to be keep in mind related to lone working:

 

1.      Is there any risk of violence for the lone worker?

2.      Does the place is safe to work?

3.      Can young personal involved in the lone working?

4.      Can women be at risk?

5.      Is the medical condition of the worker suitable to allow him to work alone?

6.      Can a worker use effectively all the temporary tools, plants and equipments?

7.      Experience personal should educate the worker about the risks and control measure. Basically, teach them what they can do in case of emergency while working alone.

 

 

  

Only consider experience employees for lone working, new employee should not be sent for the job until they are fully qualified for the task.  

 

Regular communications required for the employees which are working alone. It could be achieve by radio or mobile phones and supervisors responsibility is there to check them time to time.

If no other means of communication is there, automatic alerts should be activated which raises the alarm in case of emergency.

 

  

Risks of working alone

 

Alone workers may face similar risks to others in your company, but the reality is that if they are lonely, the risks of a incident increase.

In particular, additional work-related risks include:

 

Lack of supervisors

Accidents

Emergency

Medical conditions

Violence or threats from others

 

These risks mean additional risk. If you are working alone, and there is no one around you to help in an emergency. If something goes wrong or you are in trouble, how will anyone else know that you are in need of help? If you have an emergency and no one around you then it will create delay, that delay can be fatal some time. 

That is the reason it is always important to reduce the risks before working alone.

 

Remember that when working alone, there is no backup on site and no other team member comes close for helping.

 

Control measures

 

Steps to overcome the hazards of the working alone:

 

Proceed with eliminate the need to work alone and make sure there are at least two people available all the times.

 

Working alone time amount can be reduce.

  

Provide emergency alarms for the lone worker in the workplace as a guideline for emergency services.

 

Provide an individual alarm for mobile users.

 

Provide suitable communication devices (such as radios and mobile phones) to alone workers.

 

 

 

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Pre Task Safety Briefing for a specific task at a workplace

 

Pre Task Safety Briefing 

 

 

We can say that these are a kind of toolbox talk. Pre-task briefings are used to make a specific task safe. In this we can identify the hazards which could be there and control measures to control these hazards and also about the Personal Protective Equipment which are required to commence the job safely and securely. In others it works like on the spot risk assessment.

  

We will cover here all the topics about Pre-Task Briefings. Hazards can happen before even starting the activity i.e., unloading or material shifting for that activity. So, it is important to start with pre task briefing. It is better to conduct it in the same language which your crew members are speaking otherwise they are unable to understand the hazards due to language barrier.

It needs to be conducted if the work procedure change or even if the machinery or equipment changes during the activity. These few minutes which we spend on pre task briefing will help a lot to educate the workforce.

 

These pre task briefings are normally given by a competent personal, supervisor, engineer, leadsman or workplace safety officer some time. It should be conducted on the real workplace so that we can take input from the workers.  

 

In the past few years, I have investigated or reviewed a large number of incidents reports. Impotent thing in my mind is that how many of them included comments from workers involved in accidents or injuries. Most of the time the answer was I did not think about that or that was not in my mind. They were not engaged that is the biggest reason of incident on workplaces.

The input from worker which are the actual one who perform the task and also in real danger.

 

 

Infect, each pre task briefing should include review the work sequence, list the hazards associated with the work, and summarize how to control these hazards. 

Now we will discuss how it will be conducted:

Categorized all the parts of the activity.

Understand the job and responsibilities related to the job.

Identify the hazards which are associated with the activity.  

Control measures which are required to make the workplace safe.

Discuss about the tools and equipment and also about the suitable PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to perform the job safely.

How many pre-tasks briefings we need to conduct? Frequency of the Pre-Task Briefing.

How to respond incase of emergency.

 

It is mandatory that each and every employee which is involved in the activity should sign on that form and verify that they have undertaken the work instruction.

 

If procced correctly these pre task briefing will help the workers to make them familiar with the activity and reduce the hazards or chances of getting injured.

  

Pre tsk briefings are the key to the framework if you have not started yet start conducting these it will surely help to achieve a safe workplace.

If you are already conducting pre task briefings then keep it up the good work. Enjoy

 

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Work Related Violence types and control measures of these incidents

 

 

Violence at Workplace

 

What is Violence (Work Related)?

 

Definition:

“Any incident in which a worker or an employee is threatened, attacked or abused by a member of public in situations that arise during their employment is called work related violence”.

 

This definition tells us that employees who come in contact with general members of public are at greater risk of being threatened or attacked.

 

People in their work where there is a risk of attack or intimidation, especially those at risk will include employee who are handling cash or who deal with members of the public in general, and in particular those who work in the role of enforcement or who have to handle difficult people.

 

Another group of workers who are particularly at risk are lone workers. The risk of violence against a lone worker was listed as a major threat, as well as difficulty accessing aid and assistance, if anything goes wrong, including violent incidents.

 

 

Employment Sectors and work activities in which we can have violence incidents

 

There are chances of violence in a workplace which relates to these sectors:

 

Health services

 

 In this section all the employee who are providing care, advice or training:

Doctors.

Nurses.

Ambulance staff.

Social workers.

Housing office staff.

 

 

Public transport:

 

In this section all the personal which are employed in an organization who is dealing public transport. For example:

1.      Drivers

2.      Helpers

3.      Bus Cleaners

4.      Ticketing counter staff

 

Bank staff and employees who are Handling Cash or valuables

1.      Security staff.

2.      Shop assistants.

3.      Cashiers.

4.      Delivery staff.

5.      Transport workers.

6.      Bank and post office staff.

 

 

Education sector staff

 

Employee which are working in education sector are also direct dealing with public. It includes:

1.      Teachers.

2.      Clerical staff.

3.      Caretakers.

4.      Library staff.

5.      Laboratory staff.

 

Enforcement’s agency staff and employees carrying inspections

 

Personal which are employing in enforcements agencies or those who are carrying out inspection are also facing the violence incident, these are:

Traffic wardens.

Employees who are working in any kind of jail (Prison).

Ticket inspectors which are checking the tickets in railways, buses etc.

Working with potentially violent people i.e Security staff.

Public house landlords.

Employee who are working in mental hospitals.

 

Employees Working Alone

 

Employee which are working alone are mostly facing issues with snatchers and are found easy target by robbers.

Gardening workers.

Taxi drivers.

Maintenance workers 

Lab Workers specially the ones which are dealing with chemicals

Night shift workers

 

 

 

From this study, we can say there are many jobs where workers are dealing directly with members of public and that is the reason are employees are at risk most of the times. Chance of workplace violence are always there if we are dealing with the public. 

 

 

 

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Environmental Management Systems and its benefits to employees and others benifits

 

Environmental Management Systems

 

 

A management system can be described as any process used to simplify the planning and management of people's daily lives, which can help spread procedures and information around the world, to companies, to check if they are adequate and that they work. Management system used to verify compliance with environmental directives, company procedures and information All organizations have some impact on the natural environment, especially through the resources they use, the processes and activities they perform, and the waste they carry with them. A company, no matter how large or small, can achieve results if Improvements are planned and implemented in a structured and coordinated manner. Good environmental management can also help companies comply with environmental laws, save money, and improve public relations. a proper Environmental Management System (EMS) can help organizations to attain these.

 

 

Environmental Management System Types.

The main standards for environmental management systems are:  ISO 14001: 2004  and EMAS (European Community Ecosystem Management and Audit Program), which is implemented by EU Regulation 1221/2009 / EC. They are essential characteristics for achieving good environmental management practices. For more information, visit the EMS web portal here: http://ems.iema.net/emas

 

 

Benefits of an EMS (Environmental Management System)

There are lot of benefits of an EMS (environmental management system).

Some of them are:

 

Employee Benefits

 

Compliance with the environment management system create befits to the employee by :

  

1.     Employee quality of life and their health will start improving by following the good EMS.

2.     Employees working environment improving and living environment as well.

3.     Incidents related to the environment starts reducing

4.     Increasing overall environment

5.     Employee motivation and personal commitment starts increasing with the company.

 

 

Benefits related to Environment

If we can reduce the below mention things at our workplace, we can also educe the effect which can have the impact on the environment.

 

These things are:

1.      Noise

2.      Waste

3.      Electricity Usage

4.      Raw Material which we used on our workplace.

5.      The production and discharge of, especially gas or radiation.

6.      Odours (smoke …)

 

Financial Benefits

We can generate more profit by doing these things:

1.     Reducing the insurance premium

2.     Reduce the waste, what ever we are using try to reduce the waste as possible.

3.      By attracting the customers, investors and those who would like to expand heir environmental ideals.

4.     We can generate more profits if we comply with environmental legislation as a result the risk of fines reduces.

5.     Profit generation is achieved by using our resources intelligently by creating less waste and rejection.

 

Public Relations Benefits

 

1.       Relations with the community will be improved.

2.       Company reputation and image will also improve.

3.       Confidence of the customer increased.   

 

 

Compliance Benefits

 

If we work safely with the law we can avoid warnings and fines or prosecutions from environmental regulator authorities and specially peace of mid that we are complying with legal requirements.

 

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