Safety Protection for Community Care Mobile Workforce

Lone and High-Risk Worker Safety Protection for Community Care Mobile Workforce

Management of Workplace Aggression and Violence – ZERO tolerance

Occupational violence is not just limited to hospitals but also including all health care working environments where nurses engage; for example: rural, remote, community, mental health, and aged care.

Healthcare nurses and social community care sector have seen an increase of workplace violence, abuse and aggressive behaviour towards our front-line care workers. This has spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially at the start.

The team at GPS Geo Guard have worked with all areas of health care and community care organisations to deploy a tailor made GPS Geo Guard solution to help mitigate risk.

Main risks in Health Sector

Health care workers face two main risk profiles:

Social Risk

Being that of work place violence and aggressive behavior; physical or verbal assault

Physical Risk

Slip/trip/fall/person down or incapacity, unconsciousness, accident or incident, or even a medical situation

WHY EVERYONE IS CHOOSING GPS GEO GUARD

All community care workers should be treated with dignity and respect.

We may know the risk profile of our client, but not who is going to be there at the same time as your time of visit or what may occur at the job environment.

Implementing the GPS Geo Guard Personal Safety Solution can deliver safety benefits to the front-line community care workers, but also help department managers and the wider organisation deliver genuine value to the employer in terms of safety, quicker emergency response, operational and increasing staff moral knowing they have something just in case.

Attending a private house/Hospital in the Home (HITH)

Home and Community Care (HACC)

Mental and Psychology Care

Alcohol and other Drug Care and Services

Disability Care

Mobile community-based work force

Respite care quality of life for the patient

Live-in Care

Working in multiple locations

Emergency after hours work

Lone wolf attacks of retaliation when wearing community care identification

Benefits of using Gps Geo Guard Solution in all Health Care departments and sectors

Helping customers to:

Give 100% peace of mind to mobile workforce staff and lone or high-risk workers with 24/7 instant Emergency Alarm Monitoring and support, with the GPS Geo Guard discreet personal safety devices

Document verbal abuse with live and recorded audio to stop the “he said, she said” situation and verbal assault; best practice for internal discipline or escalation to Police

Deliver protection against person down, slips/trips/falls, incapacitation, or medical emergency incident

Get instant continuous up to date location information to assist better coordination across mobile teams and reallocation of workforce

Deliver up to date live reporting to key stakeholders on GPS Geo Guard Device and solution usage, for 100% user uptake and better business or organisation’s continuity

Greater visibility and enhanced safety protocols and procedures around the use of the GPS Geo Guard of any mobile workforce

Creating a positive Safety Culture and encouraging your workforce to report incidents, and document them effectively enhancing faster responses and better outcomes.

Many Government and Community Health Organisations have implemented the GPS Geo Guard Personal Emergency Devices as part of their safety protocols; wether being used internal in a hospital environment or external, to lift the health workers moral and enhance safety, so they can go on giving the best care for their patients and able to raise an immediate alarm with live audio and recording for speed for response when they feel unsafe. GPS Geo Guard uses Propriety Technology to give the most accurate internal positioning for on-site security staff and Police to attend the incident.

PCBU is a person conducting a business or undertaking alone or with others, whether or not for profit or gain. A PCBU can be a sole trader (for example a self-employed person), a company, unincorporated association or government department or agency. A PCBU is often, but not always, an employer. A ‘volunteer association’ is not a business or undertaking under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. A ‘volunteer association’ is a group of volunteers working together for one or more community purposes that does not employ anyone to carry out work for the association. Unless otherwise stated, where the word ‘employer’ is used in this guide it is referring to a PCBU.

Primary Carer

A person who provides personal care, support or help to a client and is not engaged as a paid or volunteer worker, often a family member or guardian.

Worker

A person who carries out work in any capacity for a person conducting a business or undertaking. Examples of health and community care workers include personal carers, care providers, nurses, social/welfare workers, therapists or other people performing health care or community work at the direction of a person conducting a business or undertaking.

Workplace

A place where work is carried out for a business or undertaking and includes any place where a worker goes, for work. This includes a client’s home or part of their home (for example kitchen), a vehicle or a community venue. A workplace where a service is being undertaken in isolation from the assistance of other people because of location, time or nature of the work is considered to be one where isolated work is being undertaken

A PCBU (such as a service provider, or host employer of subcontractors or agency staff), has the primary duty of care and must do what is reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of their workers, including agency staff, subcontractors, volunteers, and others at the workplace such as clients. Participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) can choose to engage a disability service provider, an independent contractor (with their own ABN) or directly employ a worker. When directly employing a worker or contracting work, plan nominees and participants have a duty of care under the WHS Act 2011 as employers. Workers, including subcontractors or agency staff, also have a duty of care to:

take reasonable care for their own health and safety
take reasonable care that they do not adversely affect the health and safety of others
comply, so far as they are reasonably able, with work health and safety instructions and cooperate with the PCBU’s policies or procedures about work health and safety. This may include following reasonable instructions relating to the delivery of the care plan, only undertaking activities that have been agreed to in the client service agreement, and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) like the Geo Guard they have been provided and trained in using properly.

Others at the workplace (for example, clients, visitors, family members, participants) have a duty to:

Total risk assessments are essential but should be back up by the GPS Geo Guard Device for the quickest response and links to Emergency Monitoring and First Responders for the best outcome in any incident.

MORE DISCREET • MORE ACCURATE • MORE RELIABLE • MORE USER-FRIENDLY • MORE LIVES SAVED • MORE AFFORDABLE