Lone working is more common than many businesses realise.
It does not necessarily mean someone working alone at a remote location all day. It can be the employee who arrives before everyone else to open the office, the facilities manager called to an alarm outside normal hours, or the person responsible for locking a building after their colleagues have gone home.
Most of the time, these routines pass without incident, which can make the risks easy to overlook.
But businesses are increasingly looking beyond whether a task has always been done this way and asking a more useful question: does an employee actually need to be exposed to that risk?
For many organisations, this is bringing employee safety and physical security much closer together.
Lone working can be hidden inside ordinary roles
Some lone working is obvious. Security officers, engineers and employees visiting remote locations may regularly work independently, and the associated risks can therefore be easier to recognise.
Other examples are much less visible.
An office manager given responsibility for the keys may routinely arrive before anyone else. A retail manager could be responsible for securing premises after closing. A facilities employee might be the nominated person expected to attend following an overnight alarm.
None of these people would necessarily describe themselves as lone workers, but there are periods when they may be alone and responsible for dealing with an uncertain situation.
Recognising those moments is an important part of understanding the real risk faced by employees.
Opening and closing is about more than securing a building
Opening and closing procedures are a particularly good example.
Traditionally, businesses have often given trusted employees keys and alarm codes and made them responsible for securing the premises. It is simple and, in many cases, may have happened for years without a problem.
However, the person opening the building may be the first to discover evidence of an overnight break in or attempted entry. The employee locking up may be leaving an otherwise empty site after dark while carrying keys and knowledge of the building’s security procedures.
Professional lock and unlock services provide an alternative by transferring those responsibilities to trained security personnel following agreed procedures.
This is not simply about making sure the doors are locked correctly. It can remove an unnecessary security responsibility from employees while creating a more consistent approach to opening and securing the premises.
What happens when something goes wrong after hours?
The same principle applies to alarm response.
An alarm activating at 2am creates an immediate problem if the nominated response is an employee or facilities manager. They may have little information about why the alarm has activated, yet still be expected to travel to an empty building and investigate.
Professional keyholding and alarm response places that responsibility with trained security personnel instead.
For businesses reviewing lone worker arrangements, this is an important distinction. Sometimes improving employee safety is not about giving someone more equipment or procedures to manage the risk.
It is about removing the need for them to encounter that risk in the first place.
Greater visibility can support people when working alone is unavoidable
Not every lone working situation can or should be removed.
Some roles naturally require people to work independently, which is where the wider security environment becomes important.
Monitored CCTV through Virtual Guard can provide greater visibility around relevant areas, complementing physical security such as manned guarding and mobile patrols. Access control can also help organisations maintain clearer oversight of who is authorised to enter particular parts of a site.
Technology is increasingly helping security professionals make better use of that information too. Copeland’s T.A.L.I.U.M., the Tactical, Adaptive, Logical, Intelligent, Unified Manager, has been developed as an AI enabled operational assistant designed to support experienced security professionals in managing information and making informed decisions.
The purpose of these technologies is not to replace people. It is to provide the professionals responsible for security with better information and greater visibility when making decisions.
Protecting people as well as premises
Physical security is often discussed in terms of protecting buildings, equipment and other assets.
But the people using those buildings are just as important.
Manned guarding can provide a visible and reassuring presence. Mobile patrols can extend that physical presence across locations and outside normal operating hours. Virtual Guard can provide additional visibility, while professional lock and unlock and keyholding services can remove responsibilities that do not necessarily need to sit with employees.
The right combination will depend on the organisation, its people and the risks they face.
At Copeland Group Services, our blended approach combines manned guarding, Virtual Guard, professional lock and unlock services, mobile patrols, keyholding and alarm response, access control, EcoWatch Rapid Deployment CCTV, TrakNet Technologies and T.A.L.I.U.M. to create security strategies appropriate to each environment.
Rethinking lone worker safety does not necessarily mean introducing more procedures.
Sometimes it means asking why the employee is being placed in that situation at all.
If you are reviewing lone working or security arrangements across your organisation, contact Copeland Group Services to discuss how a blended approach could support your people and premises.