Hidden Costs of Lone Worker Safety: How to Protect Staff and Save Money

The world of work has changed dramatically in recent years, with an increasing number of employees operating as lone, remote, or isolated workers. While this shift has brought flexibility and efficiency to many industries, it has also created significant safety challenges. Organisations now face a pressing duty of care to implement effective strategies for protecting lone workers, strategies that not only keep staff safe but also manage costs effectively.

Unfortunately, many organisations underestimate the hidden costs of outdated or inefficient safety systems. What might seem like a simple process of phone calls, text check-ins, or manual monitoring quickly adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted time each year. Worse still, these methods often fail to deliver the speed, reliability, and protection required in a real emergency.

This article explores the hidden costs of managing lone worker safety, the compliance risks of outdated systems, and how innovative solutions like My Safety Buddy provide both financial savings and better safety outcomes.

The Growing Risk of Lone and Remote Work

Across industries, from healthcare to construction, utilities, social services, and beyond, more staff are now working independently. These lone workers face unique challenges, including:

Lack of immediate support if an emergency occurs.
Increased exposure to hazards such as slips, trips, falls, or violent incidents.
Stress and reduced morale due to feeling unsupported or isolated.

Organisations, meanwhile, carry the legal and moral responsibility to ensure these workers are safe. Work health and safety regulators are increasingly holding companies accountable, with serious criminal penalties having been introduced for failing to meet duty of care obligations.

The stakes are high: failure to adequately protect lone workers can result in financial penalties, reputational damage, staff turnover, and devastating personal consequences for workers and their families.

How Organisations Traditionally Monitor Lone Workers

Many organisations still rely on manual and resource-heavy methods to supervise their lone workers. Common approaches include:

Regular supervision: Supervisors track the arrival, location, and departure of lone workers, and check in at set intervals.
Communication systems: Phone calls, SMS check-ins, or emails to confirm safety.
Location tracking: Systems that allow supervisors to confirm where workers are.
Emergency notification systems: Devices such as fixed duress alarms that workers can activate in emergencies.

While these strategies are important, they are often fragmented, labour-intensive, and prone to human error. The biggest hidden issue? The time cost of check-ins.

The Hidden Costs of Safety Check-Ins

It’s tempting to think of manual check-ins as a low-cost safety solution, but in reality, the numbers tell a very different story. Let’s look at an example.

Scenario:

50 lone workers
5 days per week
6 check-ins per day
Worker cost: $23 per hour (including on-costs)
Supervisor cost: $35 per hour (including on-costs)

The Result:

If check-ins are by phone call, the hidden cost is $226,000 per year.
If check-ins are by SMS, the hidden cost is $113,000 per year.

Now think: what else could your organisation do with an extra $100,000 to $200,000 per year?

These costs are rarely accounted for in budgets, but they impact the bottom line significantly. And that’s before factoring in the inefficiencies, stress, and reduced productivity caused by clunky safety procedures.

Meeting Compliance While Reducing Costs

For many managers, the challenge lies in balancing compliance requirements with operational efficiency. You cannot afford to risk non-compliance, but you also cannot afford the burden of inefficient safety practices.

This is where innovative lone worker safety technology becomes invaluable. By using streamlined digital tools, organisations can reduce costs, improve efficiency, and meet their duty of care obligations.

The solution? My Safety Buddy.

How My Safety Buddy Transforms Lone Worker Safety

My Safety Buddy is Australia’s leading lone worker safety app. Built with the needs of modern organisations in mind, it delivers a next-generation safety solution through an easy-to-use smartphone app and web portal.

Here’s how it works:

Rapid Emergency Alerts: Features like duress alarms, man down alarms, welfare checks, and journey monitoring mean workers can instantly signal distress.
Automated Safety Monitoring: Supervisors no longer need to waste hours on manual check-ins. Alerts are sent automatically when required.
Location Tracking: Supervisors know where workers are and can respond quickly if something goes wrong.
Compliance Made Easy: Organisations meet their duty of care obligations without unnecessary administrative burden.

Most importantly, My Safety Buddy saves organisations time and money. In the scenario above, replacing phone or SMS check-ins with My Safety Buddy reduces time costs to just $13,000 per year. That’s an annual saving of up to $200,000.

Benefits Beyond Cost Savings

While the financial argument for My Safety Buddy is compelling, the benefits extend far deeper.

For Organisations

Reduced costs from claims, lost time, medical expenses, and WorkSafe regulator actions.
Stronger reputation and protection against legal or regulatory penalties.
Employer of choice status by prioritising staff safety.

For Managers (HR, OHS, and Operations Managers)

Peace of mind through OHS compliance.
Improved staff retention thanks to better safety and wellbeing.
Confidence in providing supportive leadership.

For End Users (Lone Workers)

A genuine sense of safety and support.
Improved job performance and efficiency.
Reduced stress and greater confidence at work.

Why Now Is the Time to Act

Workplace safety standards are becoming stricter, and expectations from staff and regulators are rising. Relying on outdated safety systems not only puts your workers at risk but also your reputation and financial stability.

The truth is simple: if just one worker is injured, the costs, financial, reputational, and emotional, could be devastating. And regulators will want to know: Why didn’t you implement a better system?

Organisations that act now to adopt solutions like My Safety Buddy position themselves ahead of the curve. They protect their staff, safeguard their brand, and achieve significant cost savings in the process.

Final Thoughts: Smarter Safety, Better Outcomes

The hidden costs of lone worker safety systems are real, and they’re draining resources from organisations every single day. Phone calls and SMS check-ins may seem simple, but they are outdated, inefficient, and costly. Worse, they fail to deliver the peace of mind and reliability needed in an emergency.

My Safety Buddy offers a smarter alternative.

With innovative features, simple usability, and proven cost savings, it helps organisations meet their duty of care while enhancing safety for every worker.

The question is not whether you can afford to invest in better lone worker safety technology. It’s whether you can afford not to.

~ ~ ~

Travis Holland
CEO
My Safety Buddy

Should you wish to discuss strategies to improve your staff’s safety in their work environment, please feel welcome to contact My Safety Buddy.

Passionate about creating safer workplaces our goal is to enhance wellbeing for all concerned whilst also delivering improved operational and financial performance.

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