It is generally accepted the lone working raised the risk profile of an employee, but what are the risks associated with lone working, and why is this the case?
According to the Health and Safety Executive, a lone worker is classed as anyone working without direct supervision of their supervisor or line manager.
Many people believe that just because a lone worker is paired up with a colleague, or surrounded by clients, they are not, in fact, lone working. However, this is not correct.
It is true that there is safety in numbers, and so a lone worker who is working with another lone worker is less vulnerable than those who are truly alone. Nonetheless, they are still without direct and immediate guidance or support from a senior colleague should they run into difficulty.
So, let’s have a look at what the risks of lone working are and who each one affects.
1) Abuse Or Assault
One of the risks of working alone that most people know of is being subjected to abuse or assault from the public, customers, service users, or sometimes even colleagues.
Lone workers, particularly those who deal with the public regularly are at risk of being verbally or physically assaulted. This is especially true if they are doing a job that involves people with complex or specific needs, or jobs that involve carrying out tasks that make people emotional.
Examples of job roles at risk of abuse or assault:
- Professionals doing home visits, such as midwives, meter readers, or maintenance people
- Probation and prison workers
- Social housing staff
- Hospital staff
- Bus, train, or taxi drivers
- Shop assistants
- Teachers and nursery assistants
- Bailiffs
What Are The Consequences Of Abuse Or Assault Against Lone Workers?
Abuse can take many forms and is a difficult risk to define. What one person finds threatening and upsetting, another may shrug off.
The way the ‘abuse’ is perceived will also be determined by the setting it happens in. For example, a jokey, off the cuff remark from a colleague will be perceived entirely differently from the same words said by an ex-offender on probation.
But whether the abuse was genuine or perceived, a lone worker on the receiving end will still feel the consequences, such as:
- Physical injury
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Difficulty sleeping
- Not enjoying their job
Lone workers are more vulnerable and susceptible to abuse and assault because if it did happen, they might find it difficult to remove themselves from the situation without ‘back-up’.
2) Ill Health
A lone worker isn’t more likely to injure themselves or be ill, but they are more at risk of the consequences of suddenly being taken ill or injuring themselves than anyone else.
This is true especially if the lone worker is truly alone for long periods such as:
- Remote and home workers
- Sales staff off-site
- Field scientists or engineers
- Farmhands
- Warehouse staff
- Haulage drivers
- Security staff
Imagine that one of your team trips and bangs their head hard enough to knock them unconscious in a remote corner of the warehouse or farm. How long might they lie unattended before someone notices they haven’t returned?
Or they fall and sprain their ankle and don’t have a signal on their mobile phone. Unable to summon help, it could be hours before they are found. This leaves your colleague vulnerable to secondary risks.
Or, the worst-case scenario that I have known happen, a colleague has a heart attack and is unable to summon assistance.
Obviously, we all want to hope that nothing this serious ever would happen. But working alone does mean that if it did happen, help might just be too late.
3) The Environment
Some specific environmental hazards might come from:
- Bad weather
- Road accidents
- Machinery
- Remoteness (for example, getting lost or stranded)
- Lack of phone signal
Why Are Lone Worker At Risk From Their Environment?
Lone workers are more vulnerable to their working environment than others because, again, they are less likely to able to call for help. More than this though, it could be a long time before anyone really notices they are not where they planned to be.
You might only check in with your lone worker each morning. If they became lost or stranded with no phone signal, it could be 24 hours before you realise, or at least 8 hours when they fail to return home.
If they did fail to return home, would you know where they had been specifically? Specifically enough to tell the police?
How To Protect Lone Workers?
Lone working is a health and safety issue and, as such, should be risk assessed and the risks controlled.
There is a guide and template to a specific lone worker risk assessment here.
This is the minimum you should do. You could also consider a lone worker policy, a buddy system, or even a lone worker device.
About Alicia:
Alicia has worked in the lone worker sector for over 10 years, helping organisations find the right solution to protect their staff from these types of hazards.
She is the Sales and Operations Director of First2HelpYou, a lone worker solutions provider in the UK.