Lone Worker Personal Safety Devices

According to the lone worker estate mapping report in the UK, one of the key challenges highlighted in the NHS report is the low usage of lone worker safety devices. The challenge of course is to increase funding to further improve lone worker solutions for new and existing staff.

The report observes that the number of lone worker devices varies in each region in England. The North England averages 25%, while the South of England averages 10%. This suggests that large organisations in the North may have invested in numerous devices since they have twice the number of devices of any other region in England. The key ring fob personal alarm device is predominantly popular in the South East region, and it accounts for 12.5% of devices overall.

Regarding types of personal alarms; ‘Alarm type devices’ follow closely, with about the same percentage in usage as training, mobile phones and management systems. Portable camera devices, mobile phones with alert apps and other systems are used less frequently.

Across all regions, 15.8% of lone workers have a lone worker device, which means that on average there is 1 in 6 lone workers uses device. However there is significant variation between regions, with the North East showing the highest device per lone worker ratio (41.50%, or 1 device per 2.4 lone workers) and the West Midlands showing the lowest (6.56%, or 1 device per 16.1 lone workers).

There is a potential correlation between the frequency of assaults and usage of lone worker devices in some sectors. The sector with the lowest number of assaults (acute) has the highest usage of devices (73.83 per cent), but while lone worker devices reduce the risk of assault, other factors may be contributing more to this figure, due to the balance of lone workers and non-lone working staff in these organisations.

Read full report
https://www.wealarms.co.uk/NHS-Lone-Worker-Personal-Safety-Devices