AGENDA ITEM 3.2 7 OCTOBER 2010 LONE WORKER ALERT SYSTEM PROGRESS REPORT
Report of Head of Health and Safety Paper prepared by Health and Safety Adviser
Purpose of Paper Progress Report on the Violence and Aggression Action Plan
Action/Decision required
Progress report on the implementation of the lone worker alert system
Link to Health Care Standards:
New Standard 6: Managing Risk and Health and Safety
Link to Health Board’s Strategic Direction and Corporate Objectives /
Legislative and Regulatory Framework
Core objective for Board in relation to Health and Safety of its employees
Acronyms and abbreviations
UHB – Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
WAG – Welsh Assembly Government UHW – University Hospital of Wales
LONE WORKER ALERT SYSTEM PROGRESS REPORT Executive Summary
The report outlines progress made on the delivery of a key WAG target to equip high risk lone working staff with a lone worker alert device by November 2010. Cardiff and Vale UHB leads on the implementation of this system.
The Total Number of High Risk Staff requiring a device has been identified as 1417.
Number of staff requiring devices has increased but it is considered that revenue costs will remain within the agreed contracted amount.
720 staff have been trained and received their devices since June 2010. Up to the 1st of September there have been 287 Red Alerts by staff all of which were confirmed as false alarms.
Feed back from staff has been very positive.
The report concludes that subject to staff being released it will achieve the WAG Target.
INTRODUCTION
The lone worker alert system is a discreet one-way communication device. When a ‘red alert’ is activated a channel is opened to the Reliance Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). Trained operatives listen to the call and determine the appropriate action to take, including the deployment of emergency services if needed. In addition to this, audio evidence can be secured and used in cases that are progressed through the criminal justice system.
Cardiff and Vale UHB are more advanced than any other Health Board within Wales and considers it will meet the November deadline subject to continued staff release.
CONTRACT
The UHB approved the purchase and ongoing revenue charges of the specified WAG system in the April Board.
In June 2010 a 3 year contract was signed for the implementation of the lone worker alert system supplied by Reliance Protect. WAG has funded the capital purchase of the devices and the UHB has agreed to centrally fund the revenue costs. WAG has now allocated 1314 lone worker alert devices to the UHB. This number of devices was based on the submission of information regarding the number of high risk lone workers employed by the organisation.
Health and Safety Staff have visited the ACR centre and audited their ability for appropriate response, ensuring that staff personal details and escalation procedures are correctly matched.
Contract Variation
Variation in the numbers of users and devices needed will occur to reflect the organisation’s needs. Indeed the original number specified within the contract has been increased by WAG agreeing to a supply a further 120 devices (Free of Charge).
However the revenue costs to the Health Board will not increase from the total of the 3 year contracted figure without reference to the Committee and approval.
LONE WORKER ALERT SYSTEM PROGRESS
Since the deadline for the submission of information regarding high risk lone workers, a number of areas have come forward with additional staff members who meet the criteria for a high risk lone worker that was set. To date, the number of high risk lone workers identified in the initial phase is 1417 staff members. Where appropriate, devices are being shared by up to 3 members of staff.
Each identified lone worker requires a personal user profile, identified escalation contacts and a 2 hour training session.
Training commenced on June 21st 2010. To date an excess of 720 members of staff have received training and received their lone worker alert device.
Three devices with a built in GPS have been allocated for use on a temporary basis if the need is identified. For example, there are currently two members of staff who are being stalked due to issues related to their
work and one of the measures being taken to protect their safety is provision of one of these devices.
Initial feedback from users has been very positive resulting in further staff being identified as requiring a device.
USER Report
Detailed regular reports are received by the Head of Health and Safety. These are being scrutinised and if it is identified that a device is not being used then contact will be made with the individual to investigate the reason for this. If the member of staff no longer requires the device then it will be retrieved and reallocated.
From July to September there has been a total of 7599 Amber alerts and 287 Red Alerts. None of the Red Alerts required escalation to Emergency Services in that they were all confirmed as false alarms .
CONCLUSION
Good progress is being made with the implementation of the lone worker alert system. It is envisaged that staff will continue to be identified as high risk lone workers and as such there may be a need to increase the number of devices available.
RECOMMENDATION
The Health and Safety Committee is asked to: • Note the report.
• Recognise that procurement of the number of active devices specified in the contract will vary, however the overall revenue costs over the period will remain within the agreed sum.
• Any future purchase of additional devices will be funded from the Health and Safety capital budget.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT Health Improvement
Workforce Violence and Aggression attacks are the most frequent incidents reported by staff and account for over half of all staff incidents. This directly affects Employee Wellbeing.
Financial The Lone Worker Alert System identified revenue costs of £232,543.44 over 3 years.
Legal The UHB has a responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act to reduce or eliminate risks of violence and aggression as far as is reasonably practicable.
Equality N/A
Environmental No impact assessed.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Clinical/Service Clinical services are affected where staff are unable to deliver care programmes due to disruptive patients.
Financial There may be a variation of contract, however it is currently considered that the revenue costs will remain within the Board approved figure
Reputational Currently, the UHB is leading on certain aspects of the management of violence and aggression and has gained support and publicity for the number of successful criminal prosecutions through the courts.
CONSULTATION AND ENGAGEMENT Not applicable.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION & EVIDENCE
Information retrieved from the Health and Safety Department database of high risk lone workers and ESR training database.
