HILLINGDON COUNCIL REALISES SAVINGS OF £4.7M THROUGH MAINSTREAMED TELECARE AND REABLEMENT SERVICES

Hillingdon Council has reported on the success of its TeleCareLine and reablement services following an evaluation after 12 months, demonstrating cost savings of £4.7m and a 50% reduction in residential care home admissions. The service is part of the council's efforts to reduce dependence on long-term residential care and enable people to remain living independently at home for as long as possible.

With the third highest proportion of gross expenditure in London for older people on residential and nursing care placements, Hillingdon Council wants to shift the proportion of the budget spent in these areas by focusing on home-based support, risk prevention and early intervention, and the Council has put in place a robust system and financial modelling to evaluate its success.

Hillingdon has made significant progress over the last 12 months by surpassing its target of 750 new TeleCareLine users in 2011/12, with over 1120 additional people benefiting for telecare in year one. It is expected this will rise to a total of 3000 additional people by 2015.

An evaluation of 195 service users with enhanced packages of telecare support over the last twelve months, found that in 48% of cases telecare delayed the need for further services, a further 42% resulted in a smaller homecare package and in 10% of cases a delay in residential care placements has occurred. Admissions of older people to residential placements have halved and are at their lowest level since April 2008.

The following 2 case studies are examples of the difference telecare is making to people's lives:

 - The daughter of one TeleCareLine user said "TeleCareLine saved my mother's life". Her mother was able to press the telecare button, whilst collapsing during a stroke, enabling prompt emergency medical attention.
 - Arthur is 96 years of age and lives with his wife, Pamela. He has vascular dementia, which has led to instances of him leaving home and finding himself confused and unable to return, putting himself at risk. TeleCareline provided a portable motion sensor linked to a pager, which alerts his wife if Arthur tries to leave the house during the day. The pager also tells Pamela if her husband leaves his bed at night so she can help him go to the bathroom, avoiding accidents and meaning she can now go to sleep without worrying. She says "I now feel rested and have more freedom around the home. I tell all my friends about this amazing equipment and wouldn't be without it."

Linda Sanders, Corporate Director for Social Care Health and Housing at Hillingdon Council said: "When I joined Hillingdon Council some 18 months ago, we set an ambitious target to reduce reliance on institutional care across all adult social care user groups from 51% of our budget in March 2011, to an average of 30% over the period 2011-15. We have made strong progress in year one of a four-year programme.

"The success of our telecare service has been underpinned by the support of key 'champions' within the Council, including the Leader of the Council, and this has ensured the necessary vision and strategy to ensure strong member and officer buy-in. For us, it is about positioning telecare at the forefront of our care provision to ensure no one is admitted to residential care without being afforded the opportunity for telecare support at home. Our partnership with Tunstall marks a significant milestone into how we are improving the lives of Hillingdon residents."

As part of its objectives, the council is seeking to provide more integrated care for its older residents, working with the health service, voluntary organisations and other local bodies to develop a personalised care service that could keep people living in their own homes for longer. Health linkages are continuing to grow, with high rates of telecare referrals coming from Hillingdon Hospital.

Hillingdon's TeleCareLine service is part of a mainstream offer and is free to anyone over 85, or as part of a reablement package. In the last year, the service received more than 165,000 TeleCareLine calls from around 5000 residents now using telecare. The service provides varying levels of support, ranging from the standard service package to the highest level of assistance, with full access to a range of telecare sensors, such as fall detectors and bed occupancy sensors, to address residents' individual needs. A 24-hour, 365 days a year responder service is a crucial new offer to support people in their homes who do not have relatives able to respond to emergency calls.

David Cockayne, Health and Social Care Director at Tunstall said: "The deployment of telecare in Hillingdon has enhanced reablement for people across the area and delivered significant cost savings. Telecare provides vital support to residents with a range of care needs, and with excellent leadership from an in-house monitoring and installation team and mobile response service, we are proud to provide a service to Hillingdon that has created a unified, preventative telecare service to encourage early intervention and support independence."

Whilst those over 85 can claim for free telecare, any Hillingdon resident can apply to use the TeleCareLine service for a small monthly cost.

Source:  eHealth News - http://www.ehealthnews.eu/tunstall/3126-hillingdon-council-realises-savings-of-p47m-through-mainstreamed-telecare-and-reablement-services

Farm owner fined £1,500 for power cables safety breach

A farm owner has been prosecuted for failing to complete legally required documentation working safely near overhead power cables.

Bedford Magistrates Court heard that on 23 June, 2010 an employee of Davison & Co (Barford) Ltd, the owners of College Farm in Great Barford, Bedfordshire was tipping compost from a lorry trailer into a field when the trailer came into contact with a live 33kV power line overhead.

No-one was injured, but a subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had neglected to complete essential, legal documentation relating to the line.

This is required to inform both employees and regulators of the existence of the hazard so that appropriate steps and controls can be put in place to keep workers safe.

Davison & Co (Barford) Ltd, of College Farm, Great Barford admitted breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in relation to the offence, and was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £500 in costs.

However, the company was found not guilty of breaching Regulation 4(3) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 in connection to the tipper lorry incident.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Stephen Faulkner said: "It is an employer's duty to complete all legally required documentation to ensure that necessary steps to protect workers from risk are communicated formally to all relevant parties, including the workers themselves.”

Health & Safety: Improving the safety record of UK’s most dangerous industry

Agriculture is officially the most dangerous industry to work in. Farmers are used to doing things their own way, without assistance or advice, and many still ignoring the facts. Clemmie Gleeson looks at how can the industry facilitate change and become a blueprint for best practice.

Farmers are not invincible, yet many take uncalculated risks with their lives everyday. Lone working, long hours, dependence on weather and daylight, and economic pressures, as well as increasingly powerful machinery have become a dangerous combination, contributing to high numbers of injuries and fatalities on farms over the years.

Figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal that between April 2009 and March 2010, the number of reported major injuries, such as broken bones or amputations, rose to 640 from 599 the previous year.

Tragically, 38 people lost their lives working on farms compared to 25 the previous year and above the five-year average of 37.

It is the rate of fatal injuries to workers in 2009-10 - 8 per 100,000 - which earned agriculture the title of Britain’s most dangerous industry. While only around 1.5 per cent of the working population is employed in agriculture, it accounted for one in four work-related deaths last year.

Many of the accidents could have been prevented, or their impact reduced, had simple safety precautions been taken, believes Graeme Walker, head of agriculture at the HSE.

“The first thing to learn is that accidents are not acts of God,” he says. “They are generally caused by failure to do something properly and are often repeated time and time again.

Cutting corners

“There are all sorts of pressures on farmers which cause them to take unconsidered risks that if they were to step back and think about they might have taken a different view. There is a lot of pressure to cut corners.

“The industry as a whole has been in denial and that it is not just a problem for industry, but one for individuals,” he says.

But how do you change an industry where many farmers have their own methods of working - despite knowing such techniques do not meet even the most basic of health and safety requirements?

“Individuals need to rethink their attitude and behaviour, while the industry needs a culture change,” says Mr Walker. “They need to think about what they are doing and be prepared to ask for advice,” he says. “On an industry level, the culture of cutting corners is something we cannot accept any longer.”

Agriculture is about a decade behind other industries in terms of health and safety, he warns. The construction industry was in a similar position when it started to work collectively on the issue about 10 years ago.

It was the most dangerous industry to work in, and despite pleas from the HSE, little seemed to be happening.

That began to change when the construction industry took responsibility for improving its safety record. It held an industry summit to discuss the crisis and what could be done to change things.

John Spanswick, who was chief of contractor Bovis Lend Lease, says getting the industry to work together was key.

“Unless the industry is engaged, there won’t be any change,” he says. “The HSE has helped, and we have a positive dialogue with it. They have good technical people, who have helped the industry work to improve its safety record.”

Changing behaviour and culture is vital any improvement, he says. “The construction industry needed to get personal - everybody has something they value.”

Construction, like agriculture, has a massive focus on getting the job done in time. “Sometimes that means when it comes to health and safety, other pressures overtake it. But we have to be uncompromising about it,” he says.

Saving lives

Sharing information on the cause of accidents and near misses helped save lives in construction, he says. But it became apparent that some workers - about 20 per cent of those in construction - will never get the message and as a consequence require very close supervision at all times.

“We also worked with everyone in the industry - workers, designers and suppliers - to look at ways of helping to solve some of the issues.”

Achieving change means acknowledging there is a problem and wanting to address it, he says. As a result, construction has seen a dramatic fall in fatal injuries (from 118 in 1983 to 30 in 2009-10).

The HSE’s ‘Make the Promise’ campaign, launched in January 2009, helped pave the way for change. It urged farmers to make the promise to themselves, their families and their businesses to ‘come home safe’ by taking time to consider their safety while going about their day-to-day work.

More than 30,000 farmers signed up to the campaign, which offered a small ‘promise knot’ to hang in a prominent place to remind them of their promise.

It wasn’t until Scottish livestock farmer Wullie Russell had a harrowing experience of his own, which left him fighting for his life, that he backed the campaign.

While pumping out a flooded underground storage tank, he slipped on ice and his shirt got caught on the partially-guarded pto shaft of the slurry tanker. It was ripped from his body and the friction was so great, his skin was flayed from the left side of his chest and arm. He crashed to the ground, hitting his head on the draw bar of the tanker and gained extensive internal injuries, including a ruptured spleen, four broken ribs and damage to his lungs and kidneys. He spent four days in a high dependency ward and was eventually allowed home from hospital 10 days later. He was unable to work for seven months.

Graeme Walker and his HSE colleagues considered the campaign a success, but believe it is just the beginning.

“It means 30,000-plus people are now recognising health and safety is a major issue - it is a step forward for the industry.”

He would like to see the industry take the campaign forward further. That work has already begun, and Mr Walker welcomes a farming industry-wide ‘safety summit’, held at the end of last year.

“Now we are seeing for the first time that key bodies in the industry are saying: we are going to take responsibility and demonstrate we can improve it.”

The summit saw organisations, such as the NFU, CLA, TFA, agricultural colleges, Lantra and Unite come together to discuss the health and safety of farming for the first time.

“The whole idea is to get people talking about safety and the importance of it,” says the NFU’s Peter Garbutt, who has recently added farm safety to his remit as transport and inputs adviser.

“We want to have a common-sense approach with some very simple practical ideas - the focus is on reducing accidents. We want to empower people to talk about health and safety. It is not just the preserve of the HSE, but a fundamental part of what we do.”

Mr Garbutt has been analysing the statistics to find what lessons can be learned.

“The key areas that we are looking at to start with are transport, machinery and falls,” he explains. “They are the causes of the biggest number of accidents, but are the easiest areas to make a difference.

“We will not see movement unless we see leadership from the top, which is why we have involved management from all organisations,” he says. “There will always be accidents, but what we want to do is reduce their severity and stop the preventable ones.

“We do not want to stop people doing their jobs - just to think about safety. Farmers are resourceful people and will no doubt have their own ideas.

“We want to impress on farmers that they are not invincible - they are invaluable to their businesses and families.”

I4S video: Lone Worker Protection at IFSEC 2012 - Mario Zuccaro (Oysta Technology)

'Oysta Technology is one of the company's exhibiting in the inaugural Lone Worker Protection area at IFSEC International 2012. In this video interview, md Mario Zuccaro explains why.

Oysta Technology provides GPS and telemetry-based solutions to a wide range of industries, Governments and law enforcement agencies.

The company specialises in designing and installing lone worker, telecare and vehicle safety and monitoring systems for a variety of customers.

Safety is its business and the company takes that responsibility very seriously indeed. Sectors covered by its solutions include security, transport, the utilities, telecoms, FM, Government and the public sector, telecare and the charities sphere.

Oysta Technology's dedicated team boasts over 50 years' experience in the market and operates in 15 countries across four continents. That team works with over 3,000 customers worldwide, its clients including the Ministry of Justice, Compass Group, Age Telefonica Spain, MTN, Anglo Gold Mining, the Australian Federal Police and O2 Telefonica.

The overriding aim is to deliver 'out of the box' and bespoke solutions, all of them BS 8484, RoHs, CE and SAR compliant.

Engagement at IFSEC International 2012
At IFSEC International 2012, Oysta Technology is also delivering a presentation on how to design profitable lone worker security solutions. This will be given by Miguel Angel Orellana, chief marketing officer at the company. It runs in Hall 3a in the Lone Worker Protection zone on 17 May from 11.30 am-12.30 pm.

In advance of the exhibition opening its doors on Monday 14 May, Mario Zuccaro - managing director at Oysta Technology - stopped by organiser UBM's London offices for a video interview with Brian Sims, media solutions manager across UBM Live's Security and Fire Portfolio.

What does Mario believe to be the central issues facing the lone worker sector at present in relation to both suppliers and end users?
Why has the company decided to play a fulsome part in the first-ever dedicated Lone Worker Protection zone organised for IFSEC International?
How is the company faring in the current economic landscape, and what are its aspirations for the next six-to-12 months?

Watch the video below and find out the answers to all of these questions.'

original article: Brian Sims http://www.info4security.com/story.asp?sectioncode=49&storycode=4129013&c=1

Help the Elderly to Help Themselves

It has become a matter of fact in the past few years, that in the UK, we have an aging population. According to UK National Statistics, over the period of 1985 – 2010, the number of people aged 65 and over increased by 20% to 10.3 million.

According to NHS statistics, in 2009/2010, 12% of people in England aged 16 or over were caring for a sick, disabled or elderly person – the equivalent of five million carers.

With these statistics in mind, the demand for carers – whether publically funded or not – is on the rise and it looks as though demand is already surpassing resources resulting in relatives adopting the role.

Just as Telecare provides assistive technology services in order to help those who are elderly or less-mobile, there are also retailers who specialise in daily living aids for this aging audience. Not only could this assist those who struggle to live independently but it can also relieve the duties of carers working for free.

The time that relatives or friends put into care for their relatives/acquaintances in need has been declared as valuable, not only to our economy but also by those who may not have any other assistance. Research published by the University of Leeds in 2007 valued the unpaid care that was provided at about £87 billion a year – a staggering amount.

In order for those who need care to not feel like a burden, or to feel more confident in living self-sufficiently, aids for daily living around the home could help relax this demand for carers as well asenabling more elderly or less mobile people to live autonomously.

These aids can include anything that provides the vulnerable with the reassurance they need to remain living in their own home – whether it be a grab rail, non-slip mat, or bath lift.

One area that does make some uncomfortable about living alone can be security but there are products available to assist here also. For example, keypads attached next to your exterior front door can give carers (or anyone you choose to give the access code to) entry without you having to get up to answer the door – particularly helpful for those with mobility issues. Similarly, electronic door phones mean you can speak to the visitor on your doorstep via intercom before having to go and see who it is for yourself.

The fact is that carer resources are strained and shall become more so as our population’s age continues to rise, alongside budget cuts within the health sector. The more that can be done at home, the better, both for the stretched carers industry as well as the individuals who really just want to live their everyday lives as easily and hassle-free as possible.

Original article: http://www.telecaretechnology.com/index.php/help-elderly-help-themselves

Comprehensive guidance for lone workers now available online

A new web page has been launched today to provide lone workers and their employers with a central point of information on health and safety, legal obligations, quality standards and advice on choosing a reputable supplier of lone worker devices.

Launched by the Lone Worker Forum of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA), the page offers comprehensive, easy-to-understand advice and links to guidance documents, which set out the individual rights and responsibilities of both employers and their lone working employees.

Patrick Dealtry, Chairman of the BSIA’s Lone Worker Forum, comments: “More than six million people in the UK work either in isolation or without direct supervision, often in places or circumstances that put them at potential risk. A wide variety of organisations and industry sectors employ people whose jobs require them to work or operate alone, either regularly or occasionally.

“Almost by definition, lone working can be both intimidating and at times dangerous, so the protection of lone workers involves a twofold approach; not only to provide safeguards but also to offer reassurance to the people involved.”

There are also important considerations to be made when choosing a supplier of lone worker devices, which, Patrick adds, can be difficult, given the wide range of solutions currently available. He adds: “The BSIA’s Lone Worker Forum recommends that companies choose lone worker systems that are compliant to British Standard 8484, which is the Code of Practice for the provision of Lone Worker Services. BS8484 is the basis on which Police respond to lone worker systems, so it's important for employers to choose a supplier who works to these standards.”

“The launch of this dedicated web page means that employers can now find out more about the implications of BS8484, download useful guidance and locate reputable suppliers all in one place, coordinated by the leading trade association for the private security industry.”

Visit the BSIA Lone Worker Forum’s webpage today at http://www.bsia.co.uk/lone-workers

O2 launches mobile helpline service

O2 Health has launched a new mobile telecare service using devices that can detect falls and alert a 24/7 call centre.

Help at Hand involves a mobile-enabled pendant or wristwatch connected to a secure website and alarm receiving centre.

It has been trialled by Devon Partnership NHS Trust with people with mental health issues and Leeds City Council with older people and young people with learning difficulties.

O2 Health managing director Keith Nurcombe launched Help at Hand at the King’s Fund International Congress on Telehealth and Telecare 2012 yesterday.

He said it used the O2 mobile network to give patients the confidence and security of knowing they will be looked after if something happens affecting their health both inside and outside of the home.

Nurcombe said 99% of telecare systems available in the UK were land-line based, meaning patients only had this reassurance while at home, which restricted them in going about their daily lives.

If the alarm is activated on the device, receivers in a call centre can see the patient’s website profile with details about who to call and how to deal with different situations.

The pendant or wristwatch has a fall-down detector and GPS to locate the user. This means safe zones can be defined and, if a patient moves out of the zone, the call centre is alerted.

This feature was used in the Devon trial, which used GPS tracking to monitor those at risk of suicide and those using the low secure forensic service.

Devon Partnership NHS Trust managing partner research and development, Tobit Emmens, said the devices allowed healthcare professionals to interact with patients at risk from suicide when they entered into high risk areas, before the situation could escalate.

“In Devon we have places where people go to take their lives. Through conversations with patients we found that when entering into an area that holds difficult memories, it sometimes presents opportunities to make unhealthy decisions,” he explained.

Having the devices with them gave patients greater confidence that they could go about their lives and if a crisis emerged, it was dealt with at the time, Emmens added.

Help at Hand was also used to track low secure forensic service patients when they left the facility on leave.

Emmens said the trust was looking at longer term use of the system. Leeds City Council trialed the devices as part of its Leeds Telecare Service which currently has 70 users.

Spokeswoman Marianne Howard said use of Help at Hand reduced the likelihood of users needing to move into sheltered housing or residential care. Carers were not required to be with patients for such long periods which could reduce costs.

The system also gave peace of mind to carers who knew they would be alerted if there was a problem.

Nurcombe said the company was working on getting some hard data together on how the system reduces use of secondary care, but said telecare was proven to help avoid unnecessary admission to care homes, reduce emergency call outs and days in hospital.

Help at Hand will be available to health and social care organisations from April. Nurcombe said it would ultimately also be released to the public so consumers can buy it for themselves.

(original article: http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/primary-care/7598/o2-launches-mobile-helpline-service)

Hillingdon Council's Free Telecare to Over 85's Delivers Real Benefits

Hillingdon Council is offering free Lifeline telecare packages from Tunstall to residents over the age of 85 through its TeleCareLine service, to promote safe and independent living by bringing support for service users directly into their homes.


More than 960 installations have been completed since 1 April 2011, almost doubling the number carried out in the previous year. Of these installations, more than 400 have been self-referrals from Hillingdon residents as a result of the council's efforts to raise awareness of the telecare service at user level.


With the population of those over 85 estimated to increase by 11 per cent by 2015, the priority for Hillingdon Council is to work in partnership with NHS Hillingdon to develop a new model of care by combining telehealthcare services in the borough, to help maximise independent living in the community. The aim is to create a fundamental shift in service provision away from institutionalised care, towards home-based support, risk prevention and early intervention.


Linda Sanders, Corporate Director for Social Care, Health & Housing said: "Technology like TeleCareLine can play a vital role in helping care for an ageing population and that's why in Hillingdon we are offering it to those aged over 85 for free. By enabling residents to stay in their own homes we can reduce the demand for residential or nursing care, which can in turn result in significant savings for the council."


Similar telecare packages are also available for all residents of the borough, and are free for the first six weeks as part of a re-ablement service and for those individuals who meet FACs(1) criteria subject to a financial assessment.


Kevin Alderson, Health and Social Care Policy Director at Tunstall said: "Hillingdon Council's ethos of risk prevention and early intervention directly reflects the national drive for more preventative, community-based care to meet the growing demands of an ageing population. Providing free telecare to people over 85 makes a tremendous difference in maintaining their independence and reducing risks and Tunstall are delighted to be part of it."


Hillingdon's TeleCareLine service offers a range of telecare sensors to enable residents to live safely, securely and most importantly, independently. The service provides varying levels of support, ranging from the standard service package to the highest level of support, with full access to a range of telecare sensors to address residents' individual needs. Each eligible resident is provided with a Lifeline Connect+ personal alarm, a MyAmie+ pendant, bogus call alarm and a smoke detector as standard, with additional sensors provided based on the residents' individual needs.


Grace Marks, a Hillingdon resident currently using the TeleCareLine service said: "This system has given me and my family real peace of mind. I've always been an independent person and through Hillingdon TeleCareLine, I can stay living at home with the reassurance that, if something happened, help wouldn't be far away."


Cabinet Member for Social Care, Health and Housing, Councillor Philip Corthorne, added: "Like most people, our older residents and those with disabilities have told us they want to be, and remain, independent. Hillingdon's TeleCareLine service allows them to do just that, safe in the knowledge that assistance is on hand should they need it."


Hillingdon works to support its older population through social care, housing and support services. The council's approach to supporting more people in the community includes the development of a range of supported housing schemes to provide a broader continuum of accommodation options including extra care housing. The council also hopes to extend its telecare provision to a further 3,000 people over the next four years.


As well as those aged over 85, anyone who is a Hillingdon resident can apply to use the TeleCareLine service.

Study reveals "true benefits" of lone worker solutions for healthcare sector

The Royal College of Nursing's latest survey has uncovered the true benefits of lone worker devices to healthcare employees, many of whom are often required to work alone or in remote areas

According to the RCN’s survey, more than 60% of community nurses spend more than half of their time as a lone worker without immediate access to a colleague for support.

Over 70% reported having been subjected to either physical or verbal abuse during the course of their jobs in the past two years, with many agreeing that the risk they face has increased (largely due to the increased expectations of patients, their relatives and carers).

Thankfully, the use of lone worker devices by many NHS Trusts and private healthcare firms is helping to alleviate this situation.

Working alongside their clients in the healthcare sector, several members of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) have developed highly effective lone worker devices equipped with GSM (mobile phone) technology to connect employees quickly and discreetly with an emergency response system that has direct links to the police.

In fact, a number of products are now commercially available from BSIA member companies (including the device used largely across the NHS and which is styled like an ID card holder).

Summoning help when required

Monitored by an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC), lone worker devices allow users to send a pre-activation message when they are entering an area of potential risk (for example, a dark car park).

If the end user experiences a problem or encounters a situation that seems likely to escalate into something more serious then the lone worker device can be activated to summon help.

Activating the lone worker device automatically triggers a voice call to the ARC. No further action is required by the user, as the device effectively functions as an open microphone, enabling the ARC to capture an audio recording of the incident for future action such as police investigation of legal proceedings.

Operators at the ARC also monitor the audio channel in real-time, enabling them to assess the situation and alert the police if the user needs help or protection. This procedure allows the police to optimise their response to genuine emergencies by providing a ‘moving picture’ of the incident, including an increase or decrease in risk as it happens.

The very knowledge that this is taking place is, of course, a major boost to the user’s confidence. Over 40% of respondents to the RCN’s survey agreed that the use of a lone worker device would increase their confidence to work alone.

BSIA Lone Worker Steering Group

The BSIA operates a dedicated Lone Worker Steering Group which was instrumental in the creation of British Standard BS 8484 – a crucial consideration for anyone purchasing lone worker devices – and has also published two downloadable guides providing both employers and lone workers themselves with easy-to-follow advice.

‘Lone Workers – An Employer’s Guide’ informs employers about and what to look for when sourcing a supplier. The guide covers the employers’ responsibilities to its lone workers, as well as specific criteria for selecting technology, monitoring services and providers (including the possession of quality management systems such as ISO 9001 and the delivery of appropriate training).

For employees whose role requires them to work alone, the BSIA has produced a separate guide entitled: ‘Lone Workers – An Employee’s Guide’.

James Kelly, chief executive of the BSIA, explained: "These guides recognise the importance of keeping lone workers safe and secure. Responsible employers will consider the Health and Safety of their lone workers as a top priority."

Kelly added: "The use of lone worker devices can help by connecting such employees with an emergency response system that has direct links to the police. British Standard BS 8484 is the basis on which the police respond to lone worker systems, so it's important for employers to choose a supplier who works to these standards."

To find out more about the BSIA and the work of its members, or to find a reputable supplier of lone worker devices near you, visit the Association’s website.

(Original article: http://www.info4security.com/story.asp?sectioncode=9&storycode=4128567)

Why telehealth will transform care of Kent’s patients

Locally, we have already seen what a dramatic effect telecare and telehealth can have on the daily life and wellbeing of people with long-term health problems after it was introduced by the primary care trusts in Kent and Kent County Council seven years ago.

Take, for instance, Haris Patel, 54, from Folkestone whose health conditions include problems caused by hardening of the arteries.

He said: “Before I had telehealth, I used to spend 10 months of each year in hospital. Since I got it, I have been in for two weeks in the last three years, and that was planned. Telehealth gives me peace of mind.”

Now the Department of Health is so impressed with the results of the Whole System Demonstrator Programme, which tested the technology in Kent, Cornwall and Newham, that it is championing its use nationwide.

The project found there was a 45 per cent reduction in deaths among patients taking part, a 15 per cent drop in attendance at A&E, and 20 per cent fewer emergency admissions to hospital.

Care services minister Paul Burstow said: “People were absolutely clear that high-tech healthcare has improved their lives for the better.

“I want to see more people across the country benefit. That is why we are working with industry, the NHS and councils to change the lives of three million people across England over the next five years.”

So what is this technology? Telecare, introduced in Kent in 2004, offers remote monitoring of people’s safety. Available to vulnerable people, who meet specific criteria, it consists of sensors that can be worn (such as a falls monitor on the belt) or placed in the home (such as a flood alarm if someone might not remember to turn off the taps).

Sensors are connected to a 24-hour monitoring centre which contacts the person and raises the alarm if there is a problem.

Telehealth, which enables remote monitoring of people’s health, is even more innovative.

Available in Kent since 2005, it offers suitable patients with conditions such as diabetes, lung disease and heart disease, the chance to measure their pulse, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood oxygen level, peak flow (lung capacity), temperature and weight, all at home.

Their community matron from Kent Community Health NHS Trust, or specialist nurse, monitors their readings from day to day, picking up subtle changes in their health before they develop into something more serious.

This helps people stay well – as does the power it gives them over their lives. People get to ‘know their numbers’ and understand the impact their day- to-day life has on their health, so they can spot when things are deteriorating and take action.

It has been such a success that the technology is no longer just a pilot – it is being rolled out across Kent and Medway and will be available as part of the care package for those who are eligible.

This is a wonderful example of what the NHS and social care can achieve by working closely together to improve the quality of life for local people.

(Original article: http://www.yourcanterbury.co.uk/blogs/why_telehealth_will_transform_care_of_kent_s_patients_1_1176973)

Is it time to change the name ‘Lone Worker’?

BS8484 was deliberately produced early on in the development of the Lone Worker Protection market with the intention of imposing controls on false alarm rates from an early stage.

While this has been shown to be a real benefit, with a very low rate of false alarms and therefore a high level of police support, it can expose other problems which were not foreseen with little market experience.  One of these is the name ‘Lone Worker’.

While the name did not get a mention in Health & Safety legislation it is there that we find its roots. The HSE were using the term at an early stage and it served its purpose well by highlighting the vulnerability of a specific employment group which signalled the birth of the Lone Worker market.

The Police were clearly going to be a most significant element in the market, as the primary response service, and they liked the name for two reasons:

Restricting it to employees only gave a degree of built-in control against false alarms because;

1. There was a mechanism to control bad practice and therefore reduce false alarms
2. Services would only be purchased and used in response to a specific threat identified through a formal risk assessment process
3. There would be training – both on using the device/service and on the avoidance and management of potentially dangerous situations
4. The term Lone Worker effectively excludes ‘consumers’ who are by definition beyond organisational control and who would probably purchase such devices and services for more general and unspecified risk to elderly relatives and young children or teenagers.  The fear was that without the discipline of the corporate environment, including training and control over their use, many more false alarms would be created.

However, while the term has been instrumental in mobilising the market it also confuses many who are not familiar with it.  It does not immediately conjure up an image of many of those vulnerable people to whom it in fact applies.  To the initiated it implies someone whose job is essentially solitary and risky because there are no other people around them; perhaps a distant figure toiling in the field vulnerable to accident or sudden illness.  Not many organisations have such people so why should they be interested?

While this remains a possible use the most likely situations are those where there is a threat because they are not alone; that there are one or more others present who could represent a threat to them.   The term ‘Lone’ therefore has come to mean someone who is not actually alone but is ‘Lone’ in the sense of having no co-workers to come to their immediate aid if required.

Also, as various organisations have discovered the flexibility of such services and how they could be applied to all sorts of people and situations, so the term Lone Worker has become further muddled.

For example several police forces that have responsibility for the protection of high risk domestic violence victims use Lone Worker services to allow them to call for help if they need to.  By no stretch of the imagination can such people be described as Lone Workers yet Lone Worker services have, in such circumstances, saved lives, saved serious injury and put violent offenders behind bars.   While they are not Lone
Workers these are certainly ‘vulnerable people’ and perhaps this would be a more accurate description?

They are also clearly at risk and maybe this would be an even better description – ‘People at Risk’?  It has the clear advantage of relating to risk which would perhaps focus people on that key word as an essential precursor to buying.

Words with imprecise meanings create false images in people’s minds.   It is quite possible that the images conjured up by the term ‘Lone Worker’ in the minds of those hearing it for the first time, without the benefit of a full explanation, are something of
a turn-off.

It is also quite possible, even probable, that this lack of precision has contributed to confusion and consequent slow development in the market.

If this is so it will, more importantly, have failed to reduce vulnerability for some ‘People at Risk’.

(source: http://www.bs8484.com/v2/2011/12/is-it-time-to-change-the-name-%E2%80%98lone-worker%E2%80%99/)

Council cuts could leave 750 vulnerable people in Lincolnshire without cash for care

COST-CUTTING proposals could leave more than 750 vulnerable people without cash for their care and Telecare.

Lincolnshire County Council is planning to make people with "moderate needs" ineligible for care funding in a bid to save £4.6 million a year.

Officials say 3,096 people are classed as moderate, which is where they cannot care for themselves properly without help or specialist equipment.

Of these 1,509 will have to be reassessed, with predictions suggesting half of these people will lose their cash.

The other half are expected to be upgraded from moderate to substantial – the second highest level behind critical.

People who are only given special equipment will not be affected by the changes.

A council consultation found 88 per cent of people who responded were against the move.

Labour group leader Councillor Robert Parker said the proposed action was "scandalous", bearing in mind the majority who responded to the consultation were not in favour of it.

The Lincoln West member said he remained unconvinced that the Big Society – family, friends, neighbours and voluntary groups – could provide a replacement service to cope with the people's needs.

Mr Parker said: "You can't get it any clearer. The council goes out to consultation to reduce the support for people with moderate needs, 88 per cent say it shouldn't be withdrawn and the council is taking no notice.

"Consultation in Lincolnshire is becoming meaningless as the council takes no notice of it."

The council's adults scrutiny committee will discuss the idea next Wednesday, with the Conservative executive making a decision on Tuesday, October 4.

It is the latest example of the authority cutting back its adult social care responsibilities, following decisions to close council-owned care homes and consult on reducing in-house council services.

The authority says it will attempt to limit the impact on those who no longer qualify for financial support.

Councillor Graham Marsh, the council's executive member for adult social care, said a growing elderly population meant a decreasing budget faced increasing pressures.

Up to £39 million has to be saved by adult social care by 2015.

Mr Marsh said: "We need to limit the number of people who receive funding, rather than spreading the money too thinly and seeing no one receive the quality level of service they need.

"The proposed change to our eligibility criteria will see Lincolnshire join almost 80 per cent of authorities nationwide in funding people with substantial needs and above – in fact some only fund those with critical needs.

"This will ensure our services are in place for the future to support and improve the lives of about 13,000 people."

But opposition leader Councillor Marianne Overton said there could be greater cost for the authority by making this short-term saving.

The independent councillor said: "Moderate care sounds OK, but it means a person cannot carry out three essential personal care tasks.

"For example, they cannot get out of bed, go to the toilet and make their breakfast. People in that situation will receive no support from the council, even though they have no other income. They say they will provide alternatives, but Telecare is expensive.

"These are not people who are perfectly fine and want a little bit of help on Sundays."

A Lincoln woman, who uses council services, also told the authority: "Without this support I would struggle to move to be more independent and would become more lonely and depressed as I could not afford to pay for services out of my benefits.

"This would make me more isolated."

The council received 630 responses to its consultation.

Forty-six per cent suggested the criteria should be lowered to include all four care levels.

Petition calls for changes to working alone rules in Saskatchewan

The killing of a convenience store employee in Saskatchewan in June has spurred the provincial labour federation to support a petition to change regulations for retail employees working alone.

Many delegates attending the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour's (SFL) annual Occupational Health and Safety Conference from September 11 to 13 strongly supported and signed a petition calling for the introduction of "Jimmy's Law" into the provincial legislature, says Larry Hubich, president of the SFL. The proposed law is named after Jimmy Wiebe, who was murdered at a gas station convenience store on June 20 in Yorkton.

It would require employers to schedule two employees to work together between the hours of 10 or 11 pm and 6 am or provide protective barriers between lone workers and the public.

The incident that prompted the petition occurred in the early morning hours of June 20. At about 4:50 am, members of the Yorkton RCMP received a report of a man who had been found deceased in the Shell Canada convenience store by a customer, says Corporal Rob King, a spokesman for the Saskatchewan RCMP division. Four days after, King says, the Yorkton RCMP detachment charged Kyle Furness, 20, with first-degree murder in connection with the homicide of the 50-year-old worker, an employee of the store for more than 10 years.

Jimmy's Law is modeled after similar working alone regulations in British Columbia which were introduced in 2008, but have not yet come into effect because of the complexity of the issue, says Megan Johnston, a spokeswoman for WorkSafeBC. That year, however, BC introduced a separate pay-then-pump requirement following the death of a young gas station attendant.

"Grant's Law" - named after Grant De Patie, who was dragged to his death in March of 2005 while trying to prevent the theft of gas from a station in Maple Ridge, BC - requires mandatory pre-payment of fuel at all gas stations in BC, Johnston says.
Wayne Hoskins, president of the Western Convenience Stores Association (WCSA) in Surrey, BC, says it's important to note the distinction between mandatory pre-payment of gas and the requirement for multiple workers or barriers. "While Grant's Law was well-intended, it refers to outside, or ex-store, and not in-store coverage," Hoskins explains.

"There are some things you can do everything in the world to try and prevent or protect from happening, but they're going to happen anyway," he says. "Having an additional employee is not necessarily going to save the unfortunate tragedy from happening. It may stop that person from going to that store. If you build a better mousetrap, the mice figure out how to get around it."

In British Columbia, the working alone regulations - known as the Late Night Retail Safety Procedures and Requirements - consist of an engineering control (barrier) or administrative control (extra staff), Johnston says. Hoskins says that a third option has also been proposed: additional training, testing and certification. This option, a combination of both engineering and administrative controls, will be presented to WorkSafeBC's board of directors in October. Meanwhile, the SFL will discuss Jimmy's Law at its executive meeting on September 19 and 20 and decide on the next course of action, Hubich says.

Ontario also considering pre-payment option

Ontario is another jurisdiction considering a mandatory pre-paid policy for gas stations following a recent gas-and-dash incident. On May 19 at about 4:55 pm, gas attendant Hashem Rad, 62, was struck by a vehicle that took off with unpaid gas at a Petro-Canada station in Mississauga, Ontario (COHSN June 13, 2011). Rad was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the following day.

Whatever the outcome with British Columbia's third option, Hoskins warns against an "emotional knee-jerk reaction" whenever there is a fatal incident at a retail outlet. "When there's random acts of violence, everybody is an expert on what the solution might be before they look into it," he contends.

"I don't know how sitting down and having a discussion about how we make sure workplaces are safe and that people who are in these vulnerable workplaces like conveniences stores and gas stations where there is a chance of them being assaulted and murdered... is a knee-jerk reaction," Hubich counters.

Writing A Lone Worker Policy

Increasing numbers of people are working on their own, at least some of the time, from shop assistants to warehouse staff to night workers and those who are occasionally based at home.

This shift away from traditional nine to five, office-based working has meant fresh challenges for employers, who need to manage the risks associated with lone working.

The first step if you have solo workers in your organization, is to carry out a proper risk assessment. Decide what needs to be done to ensure the safety of those who work alone – your current policies and procedures may not be sufficient.

You need to be sure that the person working unsupervised has the experience and good health to cope unaided, especially if they are handling potentially dangerous equipment. Has enough training been offered? Is it too stressful for them? Equally, you will need to think about how they will communicate and get help in an emergency. If the worker’s first language is not English, this can be even more important.

For example, what would be done if there were a break-in while only one night security guard was on duty? You may want to consider emergency alarms and the like. Equally, consider whether the person is trained in First Aid – or needs to be.
Regular contact and visits for those working alone can be vital. At the same time, consider how the quality of their work will be evaluated.

Some groups, such as expectant moms, the very young, older workers, those with disabilities, or trainees, may face particular challenges, and, in fact, it may not be safe for them to work without supervision.

Finally, if the lone worker deals with members of the public, there may be special considerations concerning who they see, and what emergency procedures are in place.

You may well need to have in place a lone worker policy, which sets out all these things in stone and makes procedures clear. Communicate this clearly to anyone who works alone, and display the document prominently.

Apart from anything else, lone working can be a lonely business. Make sure the employee knows they are looked after, and that you have given due consideration to their safety and welfare.

GPS Tracking Devices Attached to Toucans Help Scientists Gather Data on Seed Dispersal

In Panama, scientists form the Smithsonian Institute are using GPS tracking devices to gather data on how Toucans disperse seeds.

Toucans love nutmeg seeds. When Toucans eat, they gulp the nutmeg seeds whole. The outer pulp is processed in the bird’s crop, and the hard inner seed is then regurgitated.

There were were two main things scientists had to do to set up the experiment. First, the scientists had to figure out how long and how many seeds the Toucans would eat in a day. So the scientists gathered fresh seeds from a nutmeg tree and fed them to captive toucans at the Rotterdam Zoo.

During the GPS tracking experiment, five zoo toucans fed 100 nutmeg seeds took an average of 25.5 minutes to process and regurgitate the seeds.

Next the scientists captured six wild toucans that were feeding from a large nutmeg tree in the rainforest. The scientists attached lightweight backpacks containing GPS tracking devices to the wild birds. The GPS tracking devices recorded the birds’ exact location every 15 minutes and used accelerometers to measure the Toucans’ daily activity level.

The GPS-enabled backpacks are designed to fall off the Toucans after 10 days.

When matched with the seed-regurgitation time of the zoo toucans, the GPS tracking data indicated the wild toucans were probably dropping nutmeg seeds a distance of 472 feet, on average, from the mother tree. Each seed had a 56 percent probability of being dropped at least 328 feet from its mother tree and an 18 percent chance of being dropped some 656 feet from the tree. In addition, the accelerometer revealed that the toucans’ peak activity and movement was in the morning followed by a lull at midday, a secondary activity peak in the afternoon, and complete inactivity at night. This is a normal pattern of tropical birds.

“Time of feeding had a strong influence on seed dispersal,” the scientists write. “Seeds ingested in morning (breakfast) and afternoon (dinner) were more likely to achieve significant dispersal than seeds ingested mid-day (lunch).” This observation explains why tropical nutmegs are “early morning specialists” with fruits that typically ripen at early and mid-morning so they are quickly removed by birds.

Ideally, the scientists observed, nutmeg trees could increase their seed dispersal distances by producing fruit with gut-processing times of around 60 minutes.

Source: The original article, “The effect of feeding time on dispersal of Virola seeds by toucans determined from GPS tracking and accelerometers,” was recently published in the journal Acta Oecologica (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1146609X1100107X).

Patient safety: what's to be learned from road safety?

The idea that healthcare has a lot to learn from industries that are inherently risky but nonetheless manage good safety records – like aviation – has proven enormously persuasive. Aviation provides many examples of how to improve things that are currently not done as well as they could be, including effective teamwork and standardisation of routines.

But there are important differences between healthcare and air travel. Aviation incidents, when they occur, are dramatic, headline-grabbing events. And when a plane crashes, the crew has as much chance of going down as the passengers, so the stakes are as high for them as those they serve. By contrast, when errors occur in healthcare, they tend to harm one patient at a time, and clinicians are not affected by the outcome in the same way as patients.

Further differences lie in the scale and nature of the systems, and the constraints on what can and can’t be done. In aviation, the number of different types of personnel and types of procedure is limited: flights are scheduled and airlines can control exactly how many people are on a flight. Both crew and passengers can be compelled to comply with safety instructions, and those thought likely to pose a security risk or cause trouble can be stopped from boarding.

Hospitals are vastly more complex. Delivering good healthcare may require crossing multiple organisational, professional and institutional boundaries. Healthcare organisations conduct many thousands of different procedures, involving multiple staff, and are subject to problems of uncontrollable surge. But they often lack the ability to turn people away either because of capacity problems or because individuals pose a risk in some way.

Many of the factors that disrupt good care may be outside the control of individuals or teams, and they are dealing with autonomous patients, who may either decline or be unable to cooperate with what others feel would be in the best interests of safety. And hospital facilities, sometimes built in centuries past, are often poorly designed for the tasks they now undertake.

So, though there is much to be learned from aviation, it will never provide the full answer for healthcare, and some of its ‘solutions’ may require more adaptation to make them work in healthcare than is often recognised. In fact, looking at examples where achieving safety has been much more challenging, such as road safety, may in fact provide important lessons for patient safety.

As in healthcare, road safety accidents are only rarely headline-grabbers. Road use has the same deceptive familiarity as healthcare, and everyone has had a prang or two.

Road transportation suffers from many problems endured by healthcare: unsuitable physical infrastructure, poorly coordinated design, complexity introduced by individual autonomy and preferences, unpredictable surges, behaviour that is not always consistent with what is known to be safety-promoting, and a wide range of expertise and experience among road users, among many other things. But though it is not fully there yet, road transportation has succeeded in becoming much safer.

Both casualties and deaths on the road have shown steep declines since the 1960s (see the Office for National Statistics website), even though road traffic has substantially increased. Nearly 8,000 people were killed on the roads in the UK 1966, compared with just over 2,200 in 2009. The key is that improvements have been brought about by a range of strategies, targeting different levels and facets of the problem.

Structural and regulatory changes have gone hand in hand with large scale behavioural and cultural adjustments, and improvements to technology and infrastructure. For example, legal interventions have targeted unsafe behaviours such as speeding and drink driving; car design has massively improved; and standards of driving have improved through more rigorous training and licensing regimes.

Some interventions have removed choice and autonomy (such as removing the right to travel without a seatbelt, or to drive a banger that’s deemed not to be road worthy), but over time the resistance to them has diminished. That many people continue to be killed every year shows how difficult it can be to achieve institutional, cultural and behavioural change across the board, especially once the fabled low-hanging fruit has been picked.

Clearly, I am not trying to argue that road safety is a perfect model for patient safety. But neither is aviation. We need to be smart about how we learn from other areas, recognise that we need to select and combine many different instruments, figure out the optimal balance of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ interventions, and keep working at the wicked problems.

Mary is Professor of Medical Sociology at the University of Leicester and a member of The Health Foundation's Improvement Science Network.

Record satisfaction levels for Yorkshire telecare service

Satisfaction levels for a Yorkshire telecare service that allows elderly and vulnerable people to live independently for longer is at an all time high, according to figures from Wakefield and District Housing (WDH).

Care Link, which provides a range of modern community alarms and telecare equipment to more than 15,500 customers across the Wakefield district, has revealed that overall satisfaction for the service has grown to 96%.

Last year it became the first business in Yorkshire to receive full accreditation from its representative body, the Telecare Services Association (TSA), and will come as welcome news for the government on both local and national levels.

Telecare services help people live independently in their own homes for longer and are seen as key parts in government strategy to deal with the UK’s ageing population as they take pressure off care homes that are currently struggling to meet demand due to funding cuts from local authorities.

WDH Customer Contact Manager Mick Walsh said: “These figures are the result of our commitment to improving the service and driving it forward to meet the changing needs and requirements from our customer.

“This is obviously represented in the highest satisfaction levels we have ever recorded. This demonstrates that we are getting things right and delivering genuine peace of mind for our customers. We will continue to invest in modern technology to develop the service around those who use it.”

Care Link was founded in 1990 as part of Wakefield Council’s housing department and operated from a small converted flat in Normanton, with just 12 employees serving 7,000 customers.

Today it operates from a purpose built customer contact centre in Glasshoughton as part of WDH and has 40 employees working 24 hours a day – through Christmas, Easter and Bank Holidays – responding to emergency call-outs.

“We have a very special group of people working for us. They are absolutely dedicated to ensuring that our customers receive all the support they need, and that is the reason behind our success,” said Mr Walsh.

“Working for Care Link is more than just a job; it’s about serving the people who rely on us, round the clock, to the highest standard.”

Argyll Lone Worker Launches Proactive Risk Management Service

At the ‘Emergency Scotland 2011’ exhibition held at the SECC today, the UK’s largest Lone Worker service provider, Argyll, announced the release of ‘PRiSM’ a Proactive Risk and Safety Management service. PRiSM is a free of charge service to Argyll’s clients and stakeholders. It enables organisations with Lone Workers to identify and log the location of specific risks, such as violence & aggression, affecting their personnel and then ensure their safety by providing early intervention using powerful search tools or by issuing proactive alerts to Lone Workers upon approach to the risk location. This innovative solution is thought to be the first proactive service of it’s kind operated within the Lone Worker industry. The service has been developed by Argyll in consultation with Nick Arnold, the current Chairperson of the National Ambulance Security Group and LSMS based at East Midlands Ambulance Service who initially came to Argyll seeking a solution to enable an intelligent proactive link between workers and known locations of risk and this joint working brought about PRiSM which complies with the NHS Protect National Guidelines.

PRiSM is a membership based solution and it has been designed to be shared amongst key partner stakeholders whilst still meeting the requirements of legislation. Key risks to personnel are identified and logged by front-line staff using an Internet service. Incident markers are then vetted and eventually published to the wider membership using a rigorous management and review process. The solution is designed to reduce under reporting, eliminate false markers, minimise the time involved in creating warning markers, improve accessibility and improve management of risk incidents and data. PRiSM additionally provides each organisation with analytical statistics and helps improve work processes for risk warning markers. A formal review process ensures the quality of data reassuring the organisation that risk markers affecting the safety of personnel remain up-to-date and valid.

For further information on the PRiSM solution visit: PRiSM Solution

Garda handed $92,750 in penalties for failing to ensure worker safety

The vast majority of $92,750 in penalties levied against a national security company on Friday, for failing to ensure the safety of a female guard who was raped by an intruder at an unsecure construction site nearly five years ago, will go to a new program for safety training of lone workers.

Provincial court Judge Marlene Graham accepted the joint sentencing submission by Crown lawyer Alison McGill and Robbie Davidson, counsel for Garda Canada Securities Corp., which pleaded guilty to the Occupational Health and Safety Act charge.

The total amount includes a $5,000 fine and $750 victim fine surcharge, plus $87,000 for the Hazard Assessment Working Alone program at SAIT Polytechnic starting in September 2012.

"I like this program," said the 39-year-old woman who was attacked by the man about 3 a.m. on Nov. 1. "I feel nobody will get hurt after this program is going. It will benefit everybody."

Previously, the victim, who had been living in Canada for three years and had only been issued her security guard licence by Garda three weeks prior to the assault, told court in a victim impact statement she thought she was going to die.

"I was scared when I got there that night," she recalled on Friday outside court. "There was no entrance. It was just covered with plastic. When I heard the noise, I was in the corner so he wouldn't see me."

McGill previously told the judge this is the first such prosecution under the OHSA in Alberta, and possibly Canada, where a company has been charged after an employee working alone was the victim of a criminal offence.

The victim was called by a supervisor to keep watch overnight at a Macleod Trail site where a Shoppers Drug Mart was under construction after a co-worker called in sick.

Graham said Garda's primary negligence was failing to conduct a specific site assessment.

"In my view, this was very obviously a dangerous and unsafe site," said the judge. "It was an outdoor site just off Macleod Trail. "There was an exit door at the back that was always locked. One wonders why you'd have an exit door if it's always locked."

Graham noted the front of the site was covered by an orange tarp flap that was unsecured. She was provided with a chair, but no means of protection from anyone who might venture on to the site.

"There was a high degree of probability an intruder might enter at night in winter, for warmth or to take construction material . . . who knows what else," she said.

"It was also foreseeable that a criminal act could happen. It was patently unsafe and not addressed by Garda. It showed a high degree of negligence. (The victim) was affected profoundly by the sexual and physical assault.

"Garda is not to be prosecuted for the act of the intruder, but for its own negligence."

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Garda+handed+penalties+failing+ensure+worker+safety/5077364/story.html#ixzz1RnMzd86q

US soldier makes app for tracking down Taliban fighters

Getting shot at by Taliban fighters and need to call an air strike? There's an app for that.

Tactical Nav can be downloaded to a smartphone to figure out where an enemy is firing from, and to call in an air strike or covering fire.

It was created by US army captain Jonathan Springer after two of his comrades were killed in a rocket attack.

He says it is as accurate as any technology currently in use for the same purpose, and far cheaper too.

Captain Springer is back in his Indiana home after a 12-month tour in Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne.

Over a beer, he remembers fallen comrades - and two in particular.

"Specialist Plunk and Specialist Thompson. We were in the Pesh River Valley. They took a rocket. Died instantly."

Those deaths, he said, got him thinking.

"What can I do to help prevent something like this in future?"

His answer was to create the Tactical Nav app, which troops can download to their smartphones.

"It combines three components," he said.

"A compass, a map, and a camera. It's pretty simple - but obviously it does a little more than that."

He said he's tested his app against everything currently in use in Afghanistan - and claimed it is just as accurate.

The app is designed to give soldiers exact co-ordinates for where enemy fire is coming from.

They can then send that information to their command centre, who will decide whether to call in an air strike, or send a rescue helicopter to help wounded troops.

"The first time I tried it for real," he said, "I sighed with relief.

"I could have got into trouble - but it worked.

"As a fire support officer, I take into battle a compass, binoculars, a map, a protractor, a GPS device - a secondary GPS device in case one fails - and batteries.

"What this does is, it combines all these components, and throws it into just the one app," he said.

But Captain Springer said he'd been disappointed that his US army bosses hadn't taken more of an interest in the idea.

He said he had spent about £20,000 (more than $30,000) of his own money - and that he asked the military for financial support.

"I emailed the army saying, 'I'm not looking for a pay-cheque, but are there any kind of grants or anything you can help me with?'

"They said, 'sorry, we don't have the funds right now'."

Captain Springer said he was "very frustrated" by that response. He called it "a slap in the face".

"It really hurts because I'm doing something for the troops. But it just motivates me to continue."

The US military didn't respond when Newsbeat asked them for a comment.

In the UK, the Ministry of Defence says it's "actively exploring" ways to use smartphones in recruitment and training, as well as on the battlefield.

Now, Captain Springer is selling his app to anyone that wants it - on the iPhone's app store.

"I only sell it to try to make back the money I invested - I don't see dollar signs. I see soldiers' lives," he said.

(For full report, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/13928538 )