Alone in a busy brewery

Producing and bottling cider for all of the UK’s major supermarkets is not just a day job for the workforce at world-famous Aston Manor Brewery.

With workers required to work weekends and nights to meet the huge demand, sometimes staff find themselves alone on their shifts despite the usual hustle and bustle of working in a busy brewery.

Despite the Birmingham-based brewery keeping strict records of staff on shift at any time, there was no system in place to detect if any of them had been involved in an accident or fell ill.

When it came to finding a solution to ensure the safety of staff, brewery bosses looked no further than LONEALERT.

James Fletcher, Health and Safety Manager at Aston Manor Brewery, said:

There wasn’t a particular incident that prompted the implementation of a lone worker protection service but it is something I thought was the right thing to do.

I tried writing a policy which would suit the group but each site has its own agenda.

The LONEALERT system is portable and can be used as a mobile phone so therefore security and the second device can contact before escalating the situation.

With weekend and night working shift patterns – as well as an unusual site design which includes numerous alleyways and corridors – workers are now getting used to having LONEALERT on hand to keep them safe on shifts.

James explains a typical working day at Aston Manor Brewery with the system.

“The operator picks up the device and turns it on / logs on; he then carries it during his shift acknowledging the timers.

If a timer is missed or the device alarms; the first call goes out to a second device on site; if his is not operational it then alarms to the security who ring the device to check on the operator. If no answer is received security then ring for an ambulance and also an Aston Manor contact.

“Security then need to meet the ambulance at the gate as the site is very complicated. Assuming there are no issues the operator rings security to inform them he is logging off at the end of his shift.”

With the implementation of a multi-regional SIM card the system is now in full flow and – although James admits there have been ‘changes’ to get over in terms of workers’ personal attitudes towards a lone worker protection system - he is confident that the company is now fulfilling its Duty of Care to staff.

We would definitely recommend LONEALERT to other companies,

he added.