The Suzy Lamplugh Trust is the UK’s pioneering personal safety charity, and for over three decades our personal safety training for lone and frontline workers has been delivered to tens and thousands of organisations and individuals across the UK. We provide guidance and best-practical models for keeping workforces safe in and outside of work, through effectively assessing, mitigating, and managing risks of aggressive and violent behaviours.
We work with organisations to ensure they have the right personal safety protocols and policies in place, and one way this is achieved is through our occupational personal safety excellence framework, commonly referred to as Suzy’s Charter.
One of the key measures the charter includes is the implementation of lone-worker technologies. Given that choosing such technologies for employees who are at risk of experiencing aggressive behaviours must be a needs-based exercise, the Trust does not endorse any particular product or provider, but we strongly support the provision of lone worker technologies and have partnerships in place with several BS8484 accredited providers to ensure our clients have access to leaders in the sector.
In our training, we try to address misconceptions and reiterate that these technologies are not there to track employees but are an effective way to ensure employees are safe and can raise the alarm in cases of near-misses or actual incidents when meeting clients, working remotely, or whilst travelling. Therefore, access to such technologies allows at-risk-employees to safely and discretely raise the alarm and reach out for help when needed most, mitigating risks of even more serious incidents. The reason the Suzy Lamplugh Trust does not endorse a particular provider or brand is that requirements for the technology vary from one job role to another and again from team to team. For example, an inner-city worker’s needs vary from someone who works in rural areas, where one type of technology may be far more effective than the other. To help commissioners make the right decision, we offer a downloadable questionnaire which assists decision makers in the process of asking the right questions and choosing the right product.
Such apps and devices are there to support organisations and their employees but should also be part of a wider program of effective policies and personal safety practices and should not be seen as a solution to all problems. To discuss any of our services, please contact the Trust on 0207 091 0014 or by emailing training@suzylamplugh.org
