An updated lone worker standard has been released, for the provision of lone worker devices and services.
The British Standard BS8484 was first introduced in September 2009, and lays out requirements for lone worker devices and Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) compliance.
Ian Johannessen, managing director of Peoplesafe, was part of the British Standards Institute committee which reviewed and updated the standard.
He said: “The standard has greatly improved and covers the elements that contribute to lone worker safety in a more comprehensive manner.
“There are four groups that will benefit from the 2016 release: lone workers, their employers, lone worker solution providers, and escalations and emergency services.”
The updated standard is said to have a more customer-focused feel. Hannah Weinhold, Peoplesafe business services manager, said: “The new standard will look more widely at how the employers of lone workers can achieve a consistently effective position on lone worker staff safety.”
New standards commonly have a practical life of 3-5 years, Ian explained. He went on to state his confidence that the new updated signalled a strong new direction for lone worker safety.
“Employing staff who work alone on the frontline is a challenge, this standard will undoubtedly encourage more organisations to look carefully at safety systems and culture, and specifically their provision for lone worker safety,” he said.
Peoplesafe will be releasing a guidance document on the new standard in early September, when it will be available to download from SHP.
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The updated standard is welcome news for all stakeholders involved in lone worker solutions. If you’d like to find out more about the latest version of BS8484, you can download a White Paper authored by SoloProtect, ‘Standards: What’s New?’ by visiting: http://goo.gl/sHwzB9