The Story
RPS is committed to improving staff wellbeing and protections for all their lone workers. EcoOnline's lone worker app, powered by StaySafe, has provided an extra layer of safeguarding for their employees.
The app gives employers visibility of the location and safety status of lone workers in an emergency and allows them to check-in safely once they have finished a lone working or travel session. Real-time employee location and status is available to view within a secure cloud-based hub. If an employee fails to check in, alarms are raised within the hub and via SMS, email, and phone call so that assistance can be sent straight away. Plus, employees are in complete control of when their location is visible to ensure their privacy is maintained.
Replacing their manual check-in system with EcoOnline's lone worker app has not only made staff feel safer, RPS are now able to clearly demonstrate to their clients that they take lone worker safety extremely seriously. Every employee now knows that if they need help, it’s there.
The low signal mode is also an added safeguard for RPS’s teams, especially for those who work in very remote areas. Low signal mode is a standard feature which allows the app to switch seamlessly between all available connections (from 2G – SMS – through to 5G and Wi-Fi) to ensure the app stays connected. If an employee enters an area with no signal at all, their last known location remains visible in the hub and missed check-ins will still trigger an alert, even if that employee is still out of range. This feature means EcoOnline's lone worker app offers more coverage than any other lone worker app.
The app has also helped employees to feel more confident if they are faced with an aggressor. In some cases, RPS has found that a lone worker simply getting their phone out to press for help has been enough to de-escalate a situation.
Stuart Barnard, Head of Health, Safety, Environment and Quality, said, “We want our staff to be safe, and to work safely. We are always looking to see what we can do better. The EcoOnline app is helping us to achieve that. It is easy to use, and their-friendly customer service is first class. Some of the alternative options we looked at were quite complicated, and, because we have a mixture of Apple and Android users, some would only work for one and not the other. The app works on both and it looks the same on both too.”
The speed of rollout has been a huge success for RPS. Lone workers were able to get up and running on the lone worker app within 30 minutes and are now confident they will get help if or when they need it.
Every three years, RPS carry out an internal survey where employee safety always ranks very highly. This rating continues to improve as more employees use the app.
Talking about the impact EcoOnline has had on the wider business, Stuart explains that “the lone worker app has made our safety policies even more robust. Our lone workers have told us that they feel safer and can see that we take their safety seriously. These improved safety measures mean employees see the benefits and we get a more efficient and an even higher standard of work.”
The lone worker app, powered by StaySafe, has also enabled RPS to continue improving their support to employees; something they are passionate about. Following a lone worker incident, the company now tailors their aftercare support for each lone worker. If they feel able to, staff are encouraged to talk to mental health first aiders, as well as their line manager. RPS believes that giving employees the time and opportunity to talk about what happened not only helps to further improve their safety, it also enables them to get the wellbeing support they need.
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