The Dangers of Working Alone for Chartered Surveyors

Lone working can be described as ‘those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision’ as stated by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Typically, by the nature of the job, chartered surveyors spend majority of their time working alone whether they part of a large company, small firm or self-employed.

Tasks performed by anybody working alone are not necessarily more dangerous; the increased risk is due to the lack of backup and support should an incident or emergency occur. Specifically thinking about chartered surveyors, we are exposed to different risks depending on whether the property is occupied or vacant.

Occupied homes pose several possible risks, including household pets, particularly dogs. In the UK, there are approximately 210,000 dog attacks every year.  I know first-hand how frightening it can be to encounter aggressive dogs at properties. Whilst I'm fortunate enough to not have sustained an injury, the outcome could have been very different. 

Moreover, there is also possible threat when interacting with members of the public, particularly when you are entering their homes. If a situation becomes threatening or aggressive, the homeowner or tenant has the upper hand because they are familiar with the property.  Surveyors are always at risk of verbal and physical abuse. This risk is heightened with tenanted properties when they may not be expecting a surveyor to be visiting. Similarly, an incident may occur or be escalated when there is a language barrier, making it difficult to explain the situation and what is going on.

On the other hand, vacant homes pose slightly different possible risks, such as not being able to receive help in the event of an accident or sudden illness. For example, at a recent event a colleague recounted the tale of a fellow surveyor who fell out of loft and had to drag himself to the bedroom where he had left his phone in order to call for help.

Working at height is commonplace for a surveyor, so an injury similar to this could happen at any time.  When working alone, we may not be fortunate enough to access our phone, especially if we were knocked unconscious from the fall.

It is important that Chartered Surveyors have access to receive help should they need it when lone working. Some solutions include: 

·         Buddy system – pairing surveyors to check in with one another before and after jobs

·         Provide staff with a means of communication (e.g. work mobile phone)

·         Lone worker safety device

At Morgan Sloane we use the MicroGuard device from lone worker specialists Peoplesafe. It is a dedicated lone working device that is linked to their in-house Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) where all SOS alarms are handled by expertly trained Controllers. 

The MicroGuard is a cost-effective product for an SME practice like ourselves, that offers peace of mind in case of an emergency, as well as being practical to assist the lone worker if an incident occurs.  The device can be equipped with a fall detection feature which is able to understand when the device has changed orientation followed by a period of non-movement: indicating that the user has fallen over.  In this instance, an alarm will automatically be raised to the ARC in case the user has been rendered incapacitated through injury or being knocked unconscious. (You can read more about Peoplesafe’s MicroGuard device). 

For more information, please contact us on info@morgansloane.co.uk or call us on 0800 161 5767