If you are a lone worker or employ lone workers, then you will have heard about escalation contacts. So, for our latest blog, we thought we would provide you with a guide to being a good escalation contact.

What Is An Escalation Contact?

For a lone worker, an escalation contact is someone that checks up on a lone worker if they activate a red alert and the staff at the alarm receiving centre are not able to contact the lone worker.

Obviously, this role carries a huge responsibility with it, so let’s take a look at how to perform this role most effectively.

Answer Your Phone!

This may seem blindingly obvious, but it is all too easy for someone to leave their phone on a desk while they make a drink, or in a coat pocket when it is on silent.

The most crucial part of being a good escalation contact is the word ‘contact’. If a lone worker has sent a red alert, then it is obviously an emergency situation.

So, an escalation contact has to make sure that they have their phone with them at all times and are able to answer, whenever possible.

If the phone isn’t answered, then it has a knock-on effect for the alarm receiving centre too. Until they can get hold of a contact, they have to keep trying the escalation contact list, which means they can’t deal with any other emergency alerts that may be coming through to the centre.

Know Your Role

If someone accepts the responsibility of being an escalation contact, then they really need to make sure that they know exactly what is required of them.

Escalation contacts need to know the whereabouts of lone workers and the rest of the team, so having access to diaries is vital.

In an emergency situation, an escalation contact needs to be able to locate works as quickly as possible.

As lone workers often work unsociable hours and are more likely to be attacked at work, they may need to request help at any time, night and day.

So, the escalation contact needs to think about whether they are willing to take this extra responsibility as it has the potential to impact on their personal life.

Check Contact Details

People often change their mobile phone number or home numbers, which means that an escalation contact has to ensure that they keep any contact details up to date.

There’s not point being woken in the early hours and then annoying someone else by waking them up with a wrong number telephone call.

Similarly, a good escalation contact will know when different team workers are on holiday or on sick leave.

There are ways of making this admin easier by the way. For example, The First2HelpYou Connect Portal will automatically update any changes to an escalation contacts details, for any lone working staff.

Lone Worker Policy

A good escalation contact needs to know the bigger picture of their lone workers and how they carry out their role.

Any business having lone workers has to have a lone worker policy. So, we would recommend that this is read and understood. Also, if there are any changes the lone working law that would change the policy, that the escalation contacts always keep up to date with any developments.

In Summary

We hope that we have given you a good guide to being a good escalation contact. As you can see, being a good escalation contact isn’t just about being able to answer the phone quickly.

The role carries with it a large amount of responsibility and in some instances could mean the difference between life and death.

People are naturally inclined to want to help each other and will agree to be an escalation contact without necessarily knowing all the details of what they will be expected.

From a management perspective, it is very important that the responsibly of being an escalation contact is explained thoroughly and that any concerns or questions are answered.

It’s important that employees don’t feel railroaded into accepting the role and then find that the pressure and responsibility are too much, but they think they will be letting their colleagues and managers down if they say that they would rather not be a lone worker escalation contact.

Get In Touch

Here at First2HelpYou, we are one of the leading providers of lone worker solutions. Our lone worker devices and connect portal have been specifically designed to make lone working and protecting lone workers easier

If you would like further information on our lone worker safety devices or have any more questions on how to be a good escalation contact, then please do not hesitate to contact us.

You can call us on 0333 7729401  or by emailing sales@first2helpyou.co.uk or filling in the contact form here.