Introducing the updated British Standard, BS8484: 2022
Direct Safety has long been a supporter of the British Standard BS8484, which set out to support businesses who have lone workers, needing a solution to mitigate risk factors associated with working alone or remote. The standard sets minimum standards for businesses providing such solutions.
Lone worker protection contributes to the organisation's governance, management of risk and compliance with both company policies and legal obligations.
The British Standards Institution (BSI) introduced BS 8484 in 2009 to create a new standard for those that provide lone working solutions. The standard has since been updated in 2011, 2016 and 2022 to keep up with changing technologies, particularly around the use of smartphones, and acknowledging that more and more people are now working from home.
In March 2022, BSI released an updated standard for us to meet and exceed. Direct Safety’s Managing Director, Michael Curlett says,
““It’s great, the standard makes sure that those providing lone worker services such as ourselves, are delivering on the code of practice, it also gives those looking for solutions a quality guideline as to who is meeting the high standard of product and service provision, indicated by the ‘BS8484 compliant’ mark”.”
Lone workers are those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision. Employers have a legal obligation to manage any health and safety risks before their employees can work alone.
Due to stringent Health and Safety laws, outlining the responsibilities of employers in significant detail, the UK is considered one of the safest places in the world to work. Strict regulations and industry best practices help ensure employers offer an unparalleled duty of care to their workers. BS 8484:2022 defines the industry-leading code of practice for lone worker equipment and monitoring services in the UK. This standard is the closest lone worker standard available to us, based here in Australasia.
Lone Worker devices or apps, enable organisations to maximise workers’ safety with incident detection and emergency response services to ensure the most vulnerable team members are always accounted for and return home safely to their families at the end of each working day.