Health, Safety & Security: Why remote monitoring is essential for health and safety

By Farsight Security
23 Apr 2014 4 min read

 

Health, safety and security at work all go hand-in-hand. It’s a known fact that if the security of your premises is optimal then the safety of your site for workers also benefits.

Remote monitoring stations regularly work with organisations looking to improve their compliance with health and safety regulations, whilst looking out for their employees too. Organisations that benefit from remote monitoring range hugely, from educational institutes and healthcare establishments right through to construction sites and logistics companies.

We’ve put together our top three reasons why improved remote monitoring security hugely benefits health and safety.

1. Protection for out-of-hours staff

Do you have staff that work beyond the regular 9 to 5 hours? If you do, they may be at risk of intruders targeting sites at nighttime or early mornings. With remote monitoring in place, security services teams can be monitoring your site when it is at most risk – and when your employees are most vulnerable.

It’s important that your remote monitoring station is aware that you will have staff on site during the hours they monitor your site. It can be tricky for a security operator to distinguish between intruders and employees, so to avoid any false alarms make them aware of staff on site.

2. Health, safety and security for lone workers

Many sites require workers to be present on site by themselves, or out of reach of fellow workers. In these instances the workers are considered at high risk, as an incident or accident could go undetected for a long time. It is an employer’s responsibility to ensure their employees are adequately protected whilst they work. The Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974, and the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, 2007, clearly detail that it is the employer’s legal duty to protect their employees – and that includes lone workers.

With remote monitoring services, employers can ensure they comply with legislation by protecting any lone workers. A remote monitoring station can act as a point of contact for workers: when a worker is alone on site, they will be required to make contact with the remote monitoring station at regular intervals, using a GPS/GPRS enabled device. If the remote monitoring station does not hear from the worker, they will instigate visual checks using surveillance equipment installed on site and try to contact the worker using the two-way communication available on the GPS/GPRS device. If the lone worker cannot be seen or there is a risk identified, an alarm will be raised and the necessary emergency services and key holders contacted, immediately.

As the devices are GPS/GPRS enabled, if there is an emergency the remote monitoring station will be able to track the location of the lone worker, so the emergency services can reach them effectively.

3. Keeping staff on site and intruders out

At anytime during the day or night, when staff are entering and exiting a site there will be an increased risk to security. With an unsecure entry and exit point, if staff can enter a site then so can an unauthorised person who could pose a threat to the wellbeing of staff and the premises.

With remotely monitored access control, security teams can monitor the individuals who wish to enter the site. With visual checks, a security operator can verify the identity of a person accessing a site. This ensures that only authorised personnel are on the premises at any given time.

Of course, security is a necessity in it’s own right – not only for compliance with health and safety legislations. But there is no doubt that effective security measures do improve the safety and wellbeing of employees and workers. Optimised remote security monitoring also brings the additional benefit of footage available to be reviewed if an alarm was raised. Consequently, if there was an incident in which the health and safety of a worker was compromised and an alarm was raised, footage can be accessed after the event so employers can evaluate how effective their health and safety policies are – and identify any possible improvements to be made.


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