Road traffic accidents are a common occurrence in our time. Every day hundreds of people are seriously hurt, often through no fault of their own.

It is estimated that there are aproximately 4 million lone workers employed in the UK today. By law employers are required to deal with any health & safety risks before allowing employees to work alone.

Deciding how to ensure the safety and well being of lone workers can be a lengthly and confusing procedure. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states that; "Employers have responsibility for the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees. These responsibilities cannot be transferred to any other person, including those who work alone. It is the employer's duty to assess risks to lone workers and take steps to avoid or control risks where necessary."

The HSE recommends such procedures as having; "Regular contact with the lone worker using either mobile phones, telephones, radios or emails." and to also have "Checks to ensure a lone worker has returned to their base or home once their task is complete."

Business Link recommends having an automatic warning system in place if a lone worker fails to check in on schedule.

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What do fire alarms, gas leaks, cut phone lines, football fans, heavy snowfall and cleaners stuck in lifts all have in common?

It's funny how people view situations differently.  The snow over the last few weeks has been great fun for many people, especially some children who have never seen or experienced real snow.  It's great to be able to get out there and play.  On the other hand the disruption to travelling and normal business activities can be severely damaging to companies and individuals.  Does a company need to plan for such events so that it doesn't suffer any disruption to operations or services to customers?  Of course they should. One of the most fundamental aspects of business disruption planning concerns communications.  If there's no one to answer the phone how can anyone know what's going on.  The potential damage to a business is enormous in situations such as this and yet the solution is so simple and inexpensive.  Implementing a fall back phone system so that when the main phone is not answered it rolls over to a permanently manned contact centre who will answer the call just as you would normally is simply effective...