Lone Workers - Find a freedom of information request

Could I ask that you review the below questions and provide answers where applicable:

1. Does your organisation have lone workers (HSE definition, someone who works by themselves or without close supervision)?

2. How many lone workers does your organisation have?

3. Does your organisation have in place any form of lone working provision, i.e. dedicated device system, smartphone applications, mixture of both?

4. How many Systems are in place e.g. Applications, Dedicated Devices

5. Do you have an existing contract in place for the above?

6. When was this awarded and for what duration?

7. Who was the contract awarded to?

8. Is there the potential for extending this contract? Will you be applying that extension?

9. What was the contract value in total?

10.Was the contract tendered through direct competitive tender, a framework, or through G-Cloud provision?

11.Which department is responsible for the health, safety and well-being of lone workers e.g. Health & Safety, Department by Department etc.

1. Yes.

2. Approximately 1550 lone workers were identified during the procurement of loneworker alarms in 2019, however there are other teams that do not use those. Gritter lorry drivers, for example, employ other methods of tracking. School crossing patrols also work alone but do not currently use alarms, and contractors working for the Council may have their own methods.

3. Yes. Lincolnshire County Council has 1550 staff using a dedicated key fob. It was felt that this offered staff working in difficult situations the option to call for help discreetly and silently, with better battery life, compared to a smartphone-based system. There is a central management website, and the system is supported by a 24/7 Alert Response Centre. ISO 8484 compliant. Users can press the SOS button on the device for immediate response (within 10 seconds), set a timed alarm in advance, and the device also raises an SOS on experiencing a fall or impact.

Gritter drivers have an in-cab tracking device with a central monitoring system run by the Council itself. The device is hard-wired into the vehicle. A driver who gets into trouble can call for help using their own smartphone, and the monitoring system can show vehicles that have been stationary for too long after, for example, a crash.

School crossing patrols may carry a mobile phone, as may contractors working for the Council.

4. Lone worker key fob solution assigned to 1550 users. All 47 gritters are fitted with a tracking system. Lincolnshire County Council are slowly modernising the Fleet so 34 gritters use the old Locatu system – which is a tracker and hard wired loneworker alarm in the cab. Since last year we have bought 13 new gritters (6 last year and 7 which will come on line this year). These have the Aebi Schmidt tracking system in them and the drivers use the lone worker devices issued to Council staff. These have been purchased by the Lincolnshire County Council Winter Team as part of the roll out of devices. A device has been issued to individual drivers rather than a dedicated system in the cab. This means the driver can use the alarm whilst outside the cab.

5. Yes.

6. 30 January 2019, for 36 months. Optional extension of no more than 24 months.

7. Vodafone UK Ltd, with ORBIS Protect Ltd as the subcontractor issuing key fob devices and running the 24/7 Alert Response Centre. Vodafone provides “open” SIM cards for the devices, effectively allowing the devices to piggyback on any contactable network in exactly the same way as 999 calls.

8. The contract contains the option to extend for a period of no more than 24 months in total.

With the initial contract coming to an end in January 2022, the project has been reopened this month (May 2021) with a view to reviewing lone-worker provision across the Council. Covid has obviously had an impact on working patterns, but many staff have continued to work alone across the Council estate and with the public community across Lincolnshire. IMT analysts will be reviewing usage patterns, response times and user satisfaction with current provision. Lincolnshire County Council will also return to the market to explore technology and service improvements since the contract started.

With that in mind, no decision has yet been made on whether to extend the contract.

9. £315,474

10.Contract was a direct award under Crown Commercial Service framework RM 1045. That framework is now closed.

11.Each team manager is responsible for the Health and Safety management of their team, including lone working. LCC have a Corporate Health and Safety team who provide support, advice and guidance to managers to ensure they are compliant.