Lone working.

Re: Lone working.

Mark Walsh — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:19:56 GMT

Recently on a night shift alone at the practice it was 4am and I went out to the garden shed to get some newspaper and I very stupidly locked myself out. I didn't have my phone on me so I was well and truly stuck in an awful predicament. I managed to climb back into an upstairs window, nobody saw me (it was the middle of the night). I know this was a very stupid thing to do and it was dangerous climbing back in but I panicked and all I could think about was getting back into the practice and back with the inpatients. It went to show that if I could break back in then the security isn't that great, an expert burglar could do too.

In hindsight I should have walked down to the local police station and explained my situation, it would have been hugely embarrassing but at least I wouldn't have risked a serious injury and not being found till the following morning.

There is no way I'll let this happen to me again, I've learnt a very important lesson. However, a colleague of mine also admitted locking herself out once on a night shift, she climbed back in too (through a different window), it made me feel slightly better.

Re: Lone working.

Bethany Leonard - Williams RVN — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:55:35 GMT

Ouch hope she is ok?

All the nurses and svn's that work at my practice answer our OOH calls between 7 and 10 so we have a phone on us at all times, we have to ring our on call vet when we leave the surgery at 10pm and if we havent then they will ring us one our personal phones and then if there is no answer the boss lives behind the surgery so he comes down to check - needless to say when this was first implemented a few people forgot!.

as for security we have an alarm that can be set in sections so once everyone has gone we can set a perimiter alarm for the exterior doors and windows and if needs be we can set individual inddor areas, we have lights all round the outside that are controlled from indoors and some that are on sensors, these are ones that may overlook neighbours houses so as not to annoy them too much. there are also personal panic alarms available if we want to use them.

Re: Lone working.

loobylou — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:32:20 GMT

We have put a few temporary measures in place until we can sort something solid out. We are to carry a phone with us at all times when alone, we have had a phone line out in downstairs in case we cant get upstairs and we are ringing the duty vet as we leave the practice. If they havnt heard from us by a set time they contact us or send out a search party. Also because we are quite close to the practices which have been burgled we are getting a panic alarm to hang around our neck.

Re: Lone working.

tw1 — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:18:10 GMT

ha my boss just said what if i fall and knock myself out at home!! told him i wouldn't be able to sue him at home but would if i was at work!!!

i've been saying this for ages but no one seems bothered. we've got night nurses now that are on their own from 8pm until 8am. the vets are moaning because they didn't have anything when they came in on their own - they didn't ask for anything though.

we went on a house visit and this guy came out with a big samuri sword thing pretending to pts his dog - really. we kinda knew he was pretending but i got out the practice mobile which is connected to a 24hr centre. i must've pressed the emergency button and they must have heard us saying "he's got a sword!!!" because they phoned us to check we were ok!

i think regular phoning of the duty vet seems like a good idea - my mum used to do it when she was a security guard, they had set times - but the boss just pulled a face! typical!

Re: Lone working.

Nick Shackleton — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:40:54 GMT

[quote user="Sparky"]

uh-huh for sure!

[/quote]

I'd third that!!!!! get it sort'd. and as for not being able to set alarms, wot a load of dog's dangling bites!! A practice I used to work at the nurses used stay over at the practice and if the farm vets came in at night to collect supplies, they very rarely reset the alarms......

Re: Lone working.

hayley brodrick — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:33:35 GMT

I have just worked somewhere, a hospital, where the place did not get alarmed!! aparently it was too much faffing to set the alarm on the external doors because people were up and down the stairs all night doing checks! its too much trouble to type in a 4 digit code or something? i was furious as i had to stay there in a room as it was a long way from home

Re: Lone working.

Sparky — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:16:35 GMT

uh-huh for sure!

Re: Lone working.

Caro Laithwaite VN — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:14:55 GMT

No mabe

Yes definite

Re: Lone working.

Sparky — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:10:52 GMT

gosh thats awful! i'm always scared that might happen to me! poor nurse-hope she's ok,

We don't have a policy really-but once the phones are over and the vet's gone home in the evenings, I always go and grab my phone so its on me whilst i'm alone-especially when I have to go out in the dark to lock the gates.

And when I have to go back for the late check I makesure my phone is on me-just in case

I dread to think what would happen if something happened to me or one of the other nurses during the night and they didn't have access to a phone or couldn't get to a phone they'd be stuck till morning!

maybe it's something I need to suggest??

scary

Re: Lone working.

Shane — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:43:22 GMT

And according to H&S, you can refuse to carry out the task if the employer has not put suitable measures in place to ensure yor safety at work. The employer may NOT discriminate against you or take disciplinary action against you should you have a valid case.

Re: Lone working.

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:09:47 GMT

Can I say that shane is quite right, it is the employers resposibility to ensure the health and safety of all employees....... and this includes night shifts, and they must have measures in place to ensure their safety at all times.

Re: Lone working.

Nick Shackleton — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:10:59 GMT

Also we have a burglar alarm fitted, this can be set to perimiter only, therefore if any external doors are opened the alarm is triggered, ours is linked to manned 24hr centre. Althou have to remember to switch it off before taking the dogs out.

Re: Lone working.

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:04:19 GMT

As has been explained no one will HEAR a personal alarm it goes to a central station manned 24 hours and they call in police if it goes off. And or another person who can be a keyholder.

Re: Lone working.

Maria Mahon — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:54:34 GMT

We're a hospital and so have regular night shifts and weekend duties; so quite often we are alone in the practice. I always keep my phone in my pen pocket when I am alone, incase of any emergency or undesirable situation.

As for (personal) alarms and such, I don't think we have an emergency alarm installed, or if so, it isn't in use and none of us carry personal alarms. As others have already said, in the case of working alone..who would be around to hear?

We have very recently had stronger locks re-fitted on a select few doors, partly due to a very disconcerting event which a fellow nurse encountered on Xmas Eve; was in kennels and thought she heard movement upstairs (nurses flat & managers office etc.) but thought nothing of it. Though it didn't stop. At this point she came out into the reception area to find the door to the stairway leading upstairs, creaking open and "a massive man built like a brick" appeared. I believe there was a bit of banter, her demanding he leave and him saying he was lost and needed an A-Z... and this was only just after 4pm!Anyway fortunately he did leave and she was left unharmed just shaken. But I feel even more anxious (suffer from anxiety anyway) when alone in the practice now and I always lock the doors and carry the keys around with me.

Re: Lone working.

Nick Shackleton — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 10:48:39 GMT

I guess the only way to can prevent personal injury is to have more than one person within the building at any one time. I know in larger practices, esp ones who have on site staff, such as Vets Now (other emergancy services are available) this is easy, as they have a vet and nurse + support staff. Most general practices only have a nurse on site and this is where lone working comes in.

Where I currently work we have an intern on site 24hrs and as mentioned above we have a personal alarm, which is pretty good, althou quite easy to set off, have ahd a few phone calls from worried vets. At least I know that it works.....

Re: Lone working.

Shane — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 09:47:10 GMT

I read somewhere recently in one the the veterinary magazines that tend to end up on my desk that it is the employer's responsibility to ensure the safety of the employee when working alone and that the employee may refuse to do such work should these responsibilities not be met.

Having done many a night shift alone at the present group that I work for, where you spend the whole night at the hospital alone, with no checks or procedures in place to ensure your safety, and where you have to open the door at all times of the night if someone has phoned an emergency in (could be a fake emergency!), this is an extremely worrying situation.

And even discounting possible outside threats, as what happened to the poor person earlier in this thread, physical harm can come from an innocent wet floor.

I'm happy to report that I will not be subjected much longer to such potentially dangerous after hours work.

Re: Lone working.

Caro Laithwaite VN — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:10:35 GMT

At the end of the day you can only do so much. A fool ignores it like whoevers boss. A wise man looks at what can be done within reason and then does it. The problem is that for those under about 40 they can not understand this.
h & s is the most dangerous thing invented as it stopped people thinking and made them assume everything could be made safe. Yes a load of you will say "not so" but at the end of the day l stand by my guns on my comment.

Re: Lone working.

hissycat — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:59:04 GMT

We have a panic alarm in reception but would be no good if you weren't in reception if an incident were to happen.. we do lone night shifts and luckily nothing like that has ever happened, though we do have a lot of stairs so its a possibilty! I always have my phone on me, even in the day you never know when you might need it for something like this. I would put it on silent/vibrate if this was a problem for the practice. Hopefully this is a rare occurence in practice because other than a two person policy I can't think how it would be easy to prevent

Re: Lone working.

Sue74 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:45:46 GMT

Our practice policy, is that no-one is left on the premises alone, all staff leave together in the evening. If a nurse is going back later to check in-patients, we haev to call the vet on duty as we enter, and then again when we leave. If the vet has not heard from us after a set amount of time, they have to call us, if no reply, call the boss, and if necessary the police.

As I am the Health and Safety officer as well as a nurse, I implemented this system into our practice

Re: Lone working.

Nick Shackleton — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:13:56 GMT

We have a personal alarm for when we are working alone. It's like an ID badage, bit thicker, but it has a transmitter and microphone in it. Basically when triggered it allows a security company to listen into conversations and if the security company feel you to be in a treatening situation they can then either contact another member of staff ie your boss or the police.

www.peoplesafe.co.uk

Re: Lone working.

loobylou — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:11:33 GMT

The alarms are good for intruders/ break ins but not much good for accidents if you cant press them. Need a procedure in place where if we were to slip and fall we wouldnt be left there all night! Not sure there os a foolproof way of doing this though.

Re: Lone working.

Caro Laithwaite VN — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:03:35 GMT

You can get carry about alarms or ones you hang around your neck. The carry ones have a clip for pockets so do not need to 'carry' it.

Re: Lone working.

nicky shoult — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:36:24 GMT

OMG poor girl!

When we lock up we are quite often left on our own. We do have a panic alarm but its about midway up the wall so if we couldnt get up this would be useless! With us bein on an industrial estate its a lonely place in the dark and we tend to lock ourselved in!

THink we need to have a little talk about this!

Re: Lone working.

Charlotte says smile — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:32:33 GMT

oh that is nasty. there are panic alarms that can be linked to the local police station. also there are sos buttons that can be hooked up that you press that sends a standerd sos message to 1 particular person so when they recieve it they know to go directly to the practice. I had this at a shop i worked in when i was a teenager proved to be very useful when i had a crazy drugged up man in the building threatning me he didnt notice me pressing the button someone came and the police were called meaning there was no harm done (apart from a shakey me for a few weeks!)

Re: Lone working.

Saskia Quinn — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:24:32 GMT

That is a very shocking and unpleasant thing to happen, Loobylou. I can't offer you much advise as I am never in the practice alone. Though one thing I will say, we also have a policy where no phones during work etc but I have clearly stated that I will not obey to this policy as I have to young children and I need to be contactable at all times just in case....

It was very lucky that your nurse had her phone in her pocket or the outcome may have been a lot worse.