Every security firm has them: the guard alone at a construction site at 2am, the static post at an empty warehouse, the night shift at a car park nobody visits. Lone work is normal in this industry. That's exactly why it's easy to stop thinking about it.
Until something happens. A fall, a medical event, a confrontation. And the first question afterwards is always the same: how long was the guard on their own before anyone noticed?
What the law expects
Under the model work health and safety laws, a business must manage the risks to workers who work remotely or in isolation, and have a way to communicate with them. That's regulation 48 of the model WHS Regulations. States and territories have their own versions, so check with your local regulator, but the idea is the same everywhere: you can't leave a lone worker out of contact and hope.
For a security firm, that means two things. You need to know a lone guard is all right at regular times during the shift. And if they're not, someone needs to find out quickly.
Why roll-call phone calls break down
Most firms start with phone calls or texts: ring every guard every hour. It works on a quiet night with one supervisor and five guards. It breaks on a busy night, when the supervisor is dealing with an alarm and the 3am call just doesn't happen.
Worse, nobody notices that it didn't happen. There's no record of a missed check, only a gap. And a gap is exactly what you'll be asked to explain.
What good looks like
Good lone worker safety runs on its own. Checks are set per site, on the days and hours that site actually needs them, and they can switch off when another guard is on site. The guard's phone prompts them at each check, and one tap says all is well.
When a check is missed, the office is told, with the guard's name and site. The guard has an SOS button for the whole shift. And every check, answered or missed, is kept on record, so you can see exactly what happened on any night.
How ORION does it
In ORION, you set lone worker check hours for each site in Command. On those shifts, the guard's Force app shows the next check and asks them to tap I'm OK when it's due. If the guard doesn't answer in time, the missed check appears in Alerts & Live Map for your office. During the shift, a guard can send an SOS from their shift card. Sites can also ask for an optional safety photo, and guards agree to that before it's used.
The result is a night shift where nobody has to remember to ring anyone, and every guard knows someone will notice if they don't answer.
From the team behind OrionUnified
This is the problem we build for.
OrionUnified connects your office, your guards and your clients on one live system — licence compliance enforced at the roster, geofenced timesheets, and client portals that build trust instead of phone calls.