Posted By Steve Collinson
Hi All

Our head office building is staffed out of office hours (5pm - 9am the following day) by staff taking calls. There are usually 5 or 6 staff present on any shift, however, there are some periods when staffing levels can reduce down to one person for short periods.

Can anyone advise on appropriate levels of first aid cover for these circumstances? We have a trained first-aider who covers office hours - but only one or two out of hours workers who are trained, and as these staff are on rota's it can be difficult to provide round the clock cover. Also, there is high staff turnover in that department.

The staff work in a standard office environment - not high risk. I'm a little concerned about the periods of lone working, but as always am keen to keep training costs within budget.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Posted By stephen d clarke
Hi,
In addition to the above how will the lone worker be supervised? Could they phone in every so often to security, could they have warning devices activated manually or automatically in the absence of activity, have they had the training to respond correctly to an emergency, do they have access to the first aid box and have some first aid training, like mobile workers perhaps they should have a first aid box to treat minor injuries. In the end as often stated it's down to your risk assessment but basically lone workers should not be at more risk than other employees and if they are controls should be put in place to address this increased risk.
Steve