What is a lone worker alarm?

A lone worker alarm is a personal device — a fob, app or badge — that an employee working alone can use to raise an alert, which goes to a monitoring centre that can listen, locate and escalate to the police. Where the service is provided and monitored to BS 8484, it can access a police response level normally reserved for confirmed alarm activations.

Devices vary: a discreet button, a badge that also detects a fall or a period of no movement, or an app on the worker's phone. Most combine a manual alert with automatic triggers, since a worker who has been knocked unconscious cannot press anything.

On activation the centre typically opens an audio channel to assess what is happening, uses location data, and escalates according to a plan — to a manager, or to the police.

The BS 8484 point is what makes it more than a phone call: compliance is what gives the monitoring centre its police escalation route.

It is commonly used by lettings and estate agents, housing and care staff, engineers and drivers, healthcare visitors, and retail staff handling cash or closing alone. For employers it forms part of demonstrating that lone working risk has actually been managed rather than noted.