Protect employees lone working

As an employer, you have responsibilities to manage any health and safety risks before people can work alone. This applies to anyone contracted to work for you, including the self-employed. 

Lone workers are classed as those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision, for example:

• Delivery drivers, health workers or engineers
• Security staff or cleaners
• Warehouses or petrol stations operatives
• Employees working at home

Manage the Risks of lone working

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, you must manage the risk to lone workers. A risk assessment should be  undertaken where you must think about who will be involved and give close consideration to which hazards they could be exposed to when lone working.

As an Employer, you must:

• Train, supervise and monitor lone workers
• Keep in touch with them and respond to any incident

Risks that particularly affect lone workers include:

• Violence in the workplace
• Stress and mental health or wellbeing
• An individual’s medical suitability to work alone
• The workplace itself, for example if it’s in an isolated area

Certain high-risk work requires at least one other person to be present. This includes work:

• Working in a confined space, where a supervisor may need to be there, along with someone in a rescue role
• Working near exposed live electricity conductors
• Operating in diving operations
• Operating vehicles carrying explosives
• Working with fumigation

Home Working

When Employees are working from home, as an Employer you have the same health and safety responsibilities for homeworkers and the same liability for accident or injury as for any other workers.

This means you must provide supervision, information and training, as well as implementing enough control measures to protect the homeworker.

Risk of Violence when lone working

Lone working does not always mean a higher risk of violence, but it does make workers more vulnerable. The lack of nearby support makes it harder for them to prevent an incident.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines violence as ‘any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work’ – this includes verbal threats.

Some of the key workplace violence risks include:

• Late evening or early morning work, when fewer workers are around
• Lone workers, such as security staff, who have authority over customers and are enforcing rules
• People affected by alcohol or drugs
• Carrying money or valuable equipment

Stress, Mental Health and Wellbeing

Lone working can create work-related stress and have a negative affect people’s mental health.

Being away from managers and colleagues could make it difficult to maintain appropriate support.

Consideration should be given to putting procedures in place that enables direct contact with the lone worker so their manager can recognise signs of stress as early as possible.

If contact is poor, workers may feel disconnected, isolated or abandoned. This can affect their performance and potentially their stress levels and mental health.

Lone working with a Pre-Existing Medical Condition

If you have any concerns or doubts whether someone’s health condition means they are safe to work alone, you must seek medical advice. As an Employer, you must consider both routine work and possible emergencies that may put additional physical and mental pressures on the lone worker.

First Aid and Emergencies

Consideration should be given to putting emergency procedures in place and train lone workers in how to use them.

Your risk assessment may indicate lone workers should:

• Carry first aid equipment
• Receive first aid training, including how to use first aid on themselves
• Have access to adequate first aid facilities

Emergency procedures should include guidance on how and when lone workers should contact their employer, including details of any emergency contact numbers.

Training 

It’s harder for lone workers to get help, so they may require additional training. They should understand any risks in their work and how to control them.

Training is particularly important:

• Where there is limited supervision to control, guide and help in uncertain situations
• In enabling people to cope with unexpected situations, such as those involving violence

Supervision

The levels of supervision required should be based on the findings of your risk assessment – the higher the risk, the more supervision they will need. This will also depend on their ability to identify and handle health and safety issues.

Monitoring and Keeping in Touch

As an Employer, you must monitor your lone workers and keep in regular contact with them. You should make sure they understand any monitoring system and procedures you use. These may include:

• When supervisors should visit and observe lone workers
• Knowing where lone workers are, with pre-agreed intervals of regular contact, using phones, radios, email etc.
• Other devices for raising the alarm, operated manually or automatically
• A reliable system to ensure a lone worker has returned to their base once they have completed their task

You should regularly test these systems and all emergency procedures to ensure lone workers can be contacted if a problem or emergency is identified.