A lot of charities have been hit very hard by the pandemic, not being able to host events or do street collections has massively impacted on their income. Now that things are starting to get back to normal, the team at Ok Alone want to let you know about our free lone worker protection for volunteers and charity workers.
If you’re involved in organising a fundraising event, Ok Alone would like to donate its lone working monitoring service free of charge. We love that people are out volunteering their time and energy to support good causes, but we don’t like the idea of them being all alone if something goes wrong.
Why your Charity Needs Lone Worker Protection
While knocking door to door campaigning for the Labour Party in South Yorkshire, England, a 72 year old man, who uses a walking stick, was assaulted by a member of the public resulting in a broken jaw. ¹
Third Sector Protect, insurance experts for charities, have created a fantastic list of fundraising best practices for door to door and street collections. In order to keep volunteers safe they suggest; ‘(Volunteers) take a fully charged mobile phone with them and arrange to contact someone at pre-arranged intervals.’ It is also considered best practise if volunteers ‘consider carrying a personal alarm.’ ²
The Laws for Protecting Volunteers
In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive stipulates that in following The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, you must include volunteers, as well as employees, in your risk assessment to identify significant risks and implement effective control measures.
You should also provide the same level of protection to volunteers where they carry out similar activities and are exposed to the same level of risk as employees. ³ This means making sure they have a way to communicate with other staff in an emergency.
The Canadian code for volunteer involvement has published national standards and guidelines. These guidelines cover; policies and procedures, risk management and quality assurance, support and supervision as well as containing other helpful information.⁴ The guidelines state that ‘Procedures and processes are identified to manage or mitigate the risk factors associated with volunteer activities’ ⁵ and that it is required that ‘Volunteers receive a level of support or supervision appropriate to the role.’ ⁶
Free Lone Worker Protection at your Next Event
So, if you’ve got drivers, clean-up crews, street collectors, litter pickers, door knockers or security guards working alone for your next fund-raiser, show them you care by giving them FREE access to the Ok Alone safety monitoring system. The system uses regular check ins to let you know your volunteers are safe, it also has a help button that can be pushed to get immediate assistance. All the volunteers need to do is download the app, and tell you when they start and stop working. If anything does go wrong, they know Ok Alone will be there to help.
2 – https://www.thirdsectorprotect.co.uk/blog/fundraising-best-practice-door-to-door-street-collections/
3 – https://www.hse.gov.uk/voluntary/employer/health-and-safety-law.htm
4 –https://www.cmhak.on.ca/images/PDFS/Volunteer_National_Standards_and_Guidelines.pdf
5 – Pg 17, https://www.cmhak.on.ca/images/PDFS/Volunteer_National_Standards_and_Guidelines.pdf
6 – Pg 20, https://www.cmhak.on.ca/images/PDFS/Volunteer_National_Standards_and_Guidelines.pdf
As an expert in lone worker content management, I possess an extensive knowledge base and experience in the area of lone working and safety monitoring. My expertise in this field encompasses a wide range of areas, including risk assessment, training, communication, and technology. I have a deep understanding of the unique risks associated with lone workers and have researched and written many projects and articles to educate people in how to mitigate these risks.
Throughout my time with Ok Alone, I have kept up to date with technological developments, legislative changes and regulations that have been introduced to help organizations ensure the safety of their lone workers.