Another year has flown by and this weekend we begin the final countdown to Winter as the clocks go back on Saturday night. So, with that in mind, here at First2HelpYou we thought we would give you some tips on keeping your staff safe during dark nights.

Don’t Walk Alone

When your staff are leaving the office in the dark or walk into the office on a dark morning, encourage them not to walk alone.

Pairs or groups of people are much less likely to be attacked or stalked. Even if it is a relatively short walk to a car park, we would always suggest that staff at the very least walk in pairs.

Make Sure There Is Adequate Lighting

Whether it’s an entrance, doorway or car park, ensure that all areas are well lit. Staff are much more likely to feel safe and any potential attacker is likely to not want to attempt any criminal activity if they are likely to be spotted.

Do You Employ Lone Workers?

If you do, then lone worker devices are essential to keeping your staff safe during dark nights. Lone workers don’t just have to walk to and from work at night, they often have to work in it. Often travelling to new locations where they won’t always be sure of how safe it is.

Lone worker devices such as the ones that we provide here at First2HelpYou are an excellent way to reduce the risk of any workers being attacked, the devices are monitored 24 hours a day by a team of highly trained staff who know how to assess any emergency situation and rapidly escalate to the police if necessary.

They also allow colleagues and managers to find out where their lone workers are and be able to be contacted straight away.

CCTV Cameras

CCTV cameras are an excellent way to not only keep a property and business secure, but staff will also feel more protected if there are CCTV cameras overlooking any outside areas.

Just the appearance of CCTV Cameras pointed at car parks and entrances or exits will put off many criminals from attempting anything. Even signs saying that there is CCTV in operation will make someone think twice before considering trying to attack anyone at night.

To give you an idea of the types of CCTV surveillance that is available, our sister company, Mayfair Fire And Security, provide a multitude of CCTV services.

You don’t just have to take our word for it of course! You can have a look at Mayfair’s website here.

FB Messenger And WhatsApp

It is all very well making sure that your staff are as safe and secure as possible when they are in or near the workplace, but what about when they leave the radius of the office?

One good idea is to encourage or even make a policy of staff letting each other know when they have arrived home or at their next destination safely.

Teams can arrange to be in WhatsApp, FB Messenger or text message groups and then it is easy to send a simple ‘hey, got home ok’ or ‘got to my next appointment now’ message.

It may seem unnatural and possibly a bit over the top at first, but it only takes a few seconds and could, in an emergency situation mean the difference between life or death.

Group messaging also has the added benefit of improving communication in general and if a member of staff suddenly needs a lift or get lost it’s a much better way of asking for help rather than having to try individual work or mobile numbers trying to speak to someone.

Access Control

Having some type of access control is the best way to ensure that only authorised personnel get access to a building.

We all know that as winter draws in that quite a lot of us arrive and leave work in the dark when it is easier for someone to get into a building if there is no door security system.

These days access control fobs and key cards are small to carry so staff don’t have to remember yet another passcode to get into the office or have to fumble about trying to find the right key in the dark.

Get In Touch

Here at First2HelpYou our primary concern is the safety of workers. So, if you would like to speak to us about how to keep staff safe in the dark and especially lone workers or lone worker safety devices then please do get in touch.

Our team of experts will be more than happy to have a chat and give you more help and guidance.

You can telephone us on 0333 7729401, email us at sales@first2helpyou.co.uk or use our online contact form here.