Lone Workers Health & Safety: Employer Guide to Lone Working

Identifying Lone Working Scenarios

A lone working risk assessment must be carried out to pinpoint locations or areas where lone working is likely to occur. The assessment should determine which tasks are unsuitable for a lone worker and outline steps to mitigate any risks they may encounter.

Understanding Lone Working Risks

It is important to note the lone working risk assessment must consider that lone working itself is not inherently hazardous; however, it can exacerbate certain risks, either by increasing the likelihood of an incident or the severity of its consequences. These risks include, but are not limited to:

• Road Traffic Incidents: Particularly when driving long distances or during unsociable hours.
• Physical Violence and Verbal Aggression: When working alone with members of the public, including visiting clients or customers at their premises.
• Handling Valuable Items and Money
• Slips, Trips, and Falls: Including falls from height.
• Manual Handling Activities
• Working on Electrical Systems: Especially high voltage or live working.
• Access to and from the Workplace: Including the safe use of any provided access equipment.
• Confined Spaces: Particularly where rooms are fitted with automatic gas fire protection systems.
• Sudden Illness or Medical Emergency

Evaluating Task Suitability

The risk assessment must consider whether a single individual can adequately control the lone working risks associated with a task. If an unacceptable level of risk is identified, lone working on that particular task must not be undertaken.

Ensuring Lone Worker Competence and Training

All persons engaged in lone working activities must be competent and appropriately trained in the risks and the controls needed, dependent on the level of risk, the work location and the work equipment used.

Lone workers must be sufficiently experienced and fully understand the risks and precautions, including limits regarding what can and cannot be done while working alone.

Employees must be competent in dealing with new, unusual circumstances that change suddenly, know when to stop work and seek advice from management teams about how best to proceed. Training must consider routine work and foreseeable emergencies, which may impose additional physical and mental burdens on the lone worker.

Designing and Monitoring Safe Practices for Lone Working

Safe lone working must be designed, implemented, and monitored if working alone is unavoidable. The findings from the risk assessment should inform the control measures implemented and how the continuing effectiveness of those measures can be verified and documented records maintained.

Prioritising Risk Elimination for Lone Working

Wherever possible, priority should be given to eliminating lone working risks. If elimination is not feasible, engineering controls should be applied. If these controls are insufficient, administrative measures should be considered to manage the remaining risk.

Considering the Individual Capabilities of a Lone Worker

When planning lone working activities, consider whether certain employees may be unsuitable due to individual capability or limitations, such as young persons, new and expectant mothers, employees with pre-existing medical conditions, etc.

Determining Supervision Levels for Lone Working

The level of supervision required should be determined by the lone working risk assessment findings. Higher risks necessitate greater supervision. Lone workers mustn’t decide on their own whether they need assistance.

Accurate records of lone workers’ locations (e.g., via diaries, whiteboards, data files) should be maintained and accessible to relevant personnel.

Coordinating with Other Employers

In shared workplaces, the employer responsible for the premises must ensure that the risk assessment identifies any risks associated with workplace features or activities. The risk assessment should be made available to all other employers to ensure that safe systems of work and the control measures that are adopted are commensurate to the risk.

Management teams must consider compiling and maintaining a database of locations/ persons that must never be visited at any time by just one employee. This information should be communicated to all employees, contractors and sub-contractors.

Where investigations of accidents, near-misses and dangerous occurrences show that lone working is inappropriate this must initiate a review of the relevant risk assessment and lone working procedures.

Lone Worker Communication and Monitoring

Arrangements should be made for lone workers to stay in contact and receive updates on potential changes to the risk profile of certain tasks or locations. Lone workers should be provided with relevant work equipment, including devices designed to raise the alarm if an emergency does occur.

Automated communication devices or a lone working ‘buddy system’ prompts the employee and raises an alarm in the absence of a response should be considered. The frequency of checks should be based on the risk assessment findings.

Periodic telephone contact may be sufficient for low-risk lone-working situations (e.g. where individual homeworking arrangements are deemed to be lone-working by the risk assessment).

A lone working buddy must have up-to-date contact details for the lone worker including next of kin, details of any vehicle that the lone worker may be using, know the lone worker’s movements during their working time including when their rest breaks will be and if the lone worker does not get in touch at agreed intervals, then there should be an agreed escalation process.

Lone Working Emergency Procedures

In locations where employees handle money or high-value goods, consider installing fixed panic alarms that allow a lone worker to alert their management team or an emergency response centre when assistance is needed.

Reviewing and Updating Lone Working Procedures

If investigations of accidents, near-misses, or dangerous occurrences reveal that lone-working is inappropriate, this should prompt a review of the relevant risk assessment and lone-working procedures.

If you are uncertain about whether all necessary control measures are in place for lone working, now may be the time to seek further support for your workplace to ensure the safety and well-being of lone workers, minimise risks and maintain a secure working environment. Simply click here: Avensure Contact!