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Dramatic launch of lone working event
There is a touch of drama to this year's Lone Worker Safety Expo which is set to take place on Tuesday, 28th March at London's Olympia Conference Centre.
The event which brings together experts and businesses to discuss the risks and safety solutions to lone working is a one day conference and exhibition that for the first time will bring the subject to life. Organiser Nicole Vazquez is offering ‘drama-based workshops’ to deliver scenarios of conflict situations typical to what lone workers will encounter.
“It’s one thing to say how you would react to a situation; when it’s there realistically and literally in front of your face, you might find that it’s surprisingly different,” said Nicole who runs Worthwhile Training.
“Managing violence and aggression is about dynamic risk assessment; ‘reading signs’ and interacting in a way that doesn’t inflame a situation, but defuses it.
“That comes with confidence; hence the training in scenarios, that puts the trainees under stress as they might face in their workplace. What you can also get from such training is feedback, not only from the trainer and colleagues who may be watching you, but the actor, who is playing the part of the aggrieved or aggressive customer.
“It’s not usual that you get feedback about your management of a conflict situation from the person who’s caused it!?”
Stratford-upon-Avon based Nicole says that more companies are now buying into the value of drama-based, immersive workshops,
“If you are trying to get people to change behaviours, you have to do something that somehow connects with them emotionally, and sitting down and talking about it doesn’t always make a connection … it really is powerful.”
Worthwhile Training can also deliver ‘train the trainer’, and work with managers on how they are meeting their legal responsibilities to lone workers. And besides a ‘duty of care’ to all staff under health and safety law, Nicole points to the business benefits from competent and productive lone workers; and the moral obligations, of doing right by your staff, ‘not necessarily in that order’.
For more information visit www.loneworkersafetyexpo.com/
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