Lone Working

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The Health and Safety Executive, (HSE), defines lone workers as ‘those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision.’ Such people tend to be those who are:

An employee who work as the sole occupant of a room, floor or building;
An employee located in a remote part of an otherwise occupied building, e.g. someone whose office is located away from other colleagues;
An employee working outside core hours (09.00-17.15), e.g. working late or arriving early such as cleaners, catering staff, security staff; and
An employee who work outdoors in remote parts of the campus or have no fixed location.
Homeworkers/Hybrid/Remote: persons working from home for an employer (unless in low-risk, office-type work).

Another definition which applies to many workers is people who spend a large part of their working time in situations where there are no other workers or supervisors for them to interact with.

What should a Risk Assessment address

Different types of work will present different hazards, ranging from low to high risk, and each situation will require different levels of control measures.

Higher risks might include:

Access to and from the workplace - can a person working alone safely use the access equipment provided?
Entry into confined spaces, for example silos, deep inspection pits, drains or sewers.
Handling biological substances e.g. human waste.
Handling flammable substances, e.g. organic solvents.
Travelling alone late at night.
Working alone and directly with members of the public.

Work with toxic substances e.g. cyanides, fumigants.
Working outdoors in extreme weather conditions.
Those with a medical condition/disability which may cause them to be more at risk.
Those who may be more vulnerable because of age, pregnancy or inexperience.

Activities which may present lower risks include:

Working alone out of hours in an office occupation.
Homeworking.

The risk assessment should contain:

Details of the risk to the health and safety of the employer’s staff.
Any risk to others that may be affected by the work.
Identification of any preventative and protective measures that are needed (as far as reasonably practicable) to remove or adequately control the risk.
Evidence of a review of the assessment when it may no longer be valid.

Once the risks have been assessed, a safe system of work should be developed and, ideally, written down. This should contain as much relevant information as possible, both for the lone workers and their Managers. The risk assessment should build in the general company health and safety policy, and should reflect all potential types of lone working roles.

The risk assessment should contain details of:

emergency procedures
name, address and workplace location
risks faced by each lone worker
suitable control measures type of undertaking.

Role and Responsibilities

Managers
- Consider where lone working may occur within their areas of responsibility and if it is required;
- Consider what hazards may arise in relation to lone working in their areas of responsibility;
- Consider any wellbeing issues which may arise due to lone working;
- Check lone working risk assessment completed by their staff and ensure they are suitable and sufficient.
- This requires checking that the risk assessment identifies any hazards and that the control measures put in place are appropriate to minimise the risk/likelihood of harm;
- Ensure the risk assessment receives appropriate sign off, and; Monitor instances of lone working for which they bear responsibility and ensure risk assessments are reviewed as and when appropriate.
Staff
- Alert line management when they identify instances of lone working with respect to themselves or their colleagues;
- Complete a lone working risk assessment as and when appropriate ensuring that the risk assessment identifies any hazards and that the control measures put in place are appropriate to minimise the risk/likelihood of harm;
- Abide by any control measures identified within any lone working risk assessments;
- Report any accidents or incidents which occur during periods of lone working, through the University’s accident and incident reporting procedure; and
- Alert line management in the event of any changes to the environment, activity or personal circumstances that may change the levels of likelihood or severity identified in the lone working risk assessment.