Wellbeing: Working alone

Feature - Issue 30

Working alone is common in some industries and it’s up to employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare in the workplace of all staff, including contractors, volunteers, self-employed people and those working alone.

In many cases it is perfectly safe for people to work alone, however, the law requires employers to consider and resolve any potential health and safety risks before staff are allowed to do so.

Establishing a healthy and safe working environment can be different for lone workers. For example, employers need to consider:

assessing areas of risk
requirements for training
systems for keeping in touch and responding to incidents.

Managing risks

The law states that employers must assess and control the risks in their workplace to see whether they are doing all they can to prevent problems. If there are five or more workers, employers must record their findings, including:

hazards
how they may harm people
what is being done to control the risks.

Employers are required to review and update these records.

According to the HSE, employers have a duty to include risks to lone workers in their general risk assessment and take steps to avoid or control risks where necessary. This must include:

involving workers when considering potential risks and measures to control them
taking steps to ensure risks are removed where possible, or putting in place control measures
instruction, training and supervision
reviewing risk assessments periodically and updating them after any significant changes
when the lone worker is working at another employer’s workplace, consulting with that employer to identify any risks and required control measures.

Employers should take account of normal work and foreseeable emergencies, such as fire, equipment failure, illness and accidents. Consider how to control risks by thinking about who will be involved, where the work will happen and what triggers might have more impact on lone workers.

The lone worker and other people

Employers should consider lone workers, the people they may come into contact with, the work they are carrying out and how this may impact on the risk:

How experienced is the worker in their role and in working alone?
Has the worker received relevant training?
Are there any reasons why the worker might be more vulnerable, for example are they young, pregnant, disabled or a trainee?

Environment and equipment

Consider the environment the worker is in and the equipment they are using:

Does the workplace present a specific risk to the worker, such as operating equipment alone or lifting objects too large for one person?
Is the work in a rural or isolated area?
Is the worker going into someone else’s home or premises?
Is there a safe way in or out for one person working outside normal hours?
Does the worker have adequate and reliable means of communication and a way to call for help?

“One way to ensure the safety of lone workers is to place beacons throughout the site to serve as location markers,” says Chris Potts, marketing director at ANT Telecom. “Whenever a worker walks past a beacon it automatically updates their handset with its position. In the event of an alert, this provides more accurate location data. This information is then displayed on a site map for the response team to easily identify.”

Stress, mental health and wellbeing

Working alone can increase employees’ work-related stress levels and harm their mental health. Being away from managers and colleagues can also make it more difficult to offer support. If contact is poor, employees may feel disconnected, isolated or abandoned, which can affect performance and potentially stress levels or mental health.

Direct contact between the lone worker and their manager can help. Managing work-related stress relies on understanding what is standard behaviour for an employee and recognising abnormal behaviour or symptoms at an early point.