Resource Centre
Disclaimer: The information in this resource centre is to be used for general guidance only and it is important you take independent specialise advice that meets your operational needs.
We have links to Health & Safety Executive guides on our links page.
Lone Worker Policy
Make sure your business has a lone worker policy. In larger organisations employees are well accounted for, but in smaller businesses the same legalities apply. In some cases you might be the only person operating in your business, but you still need to ensure your personal safety.
This guide is for the protection of staff, contractors and business owners - working alone, out on appointments and operating out of hours. Make sure that lone workers give details of appointments, contacts, timings, tasks and locations to somebody who is connected with them or their business.
Lone workers can include:
Business owners
Employees who work away from their business base
Contractors for the business
People working outside normal hours
Customer facing people working alone
Mobile workers - such as salespeople
A sole person undertaking a risky or heavy manual task
If you employ lone workers and sub-contractors, you have the same responsibilities for their health and safety as for any other employees. You may, however, need to take extra precautions to ensure that lone workers are at no greater risk than your other employees
If you're self-employed you have a duty to protect your own health and safety. If you're self-employed and you work alone, this means you must identify and minimise any risks that working alone involves. Not doing this and facing an incident could have an immense personal and business impact.
Pre-arrange regular calls or some form of signalling system that might indicate all is well or not well. Do a risk analysis of what could possibly happen, how to mitigate or cope with it, who can help and what can be done. Ask yourself the following questions and perhaps create a template so you can gather information for every lone worker situation.
- Who is the client?
- What is the task?
- Where is the location?
- What is the time intended to be spent at location?
- What element of risk does the task involve and how can these risks be eradicated, minimised or dealt with - and by whom?
- Who are the prime contacts at the location and what are their contact details?
- Who are the ‘safety’ contacts and what are their contact details?
- What is the communication arrangement to ensure the lone worker is safe?
- What is the emergency procedure should the lone worker be unsafe?
- Who are the secondary and/or emergency contacts should something happen to the lone worker? Ambulance/fire/police/supervisor/client/other
Download ‘Working Alone’ – health and safety guidance on the risks of working alone from the Health & Safety Executive
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg73.pdf
© Boommm Consultancy & Training 2010
