Lone Working - What you should know

“Under the Health and Safety at Work Act employers must ensure the health safety and welfare of employees so far as is reasonably practicable. This includes providing a safe workplace, safe access and a safe system of work." (GMB)

Legal argument

Organisations seek protection from the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (April 6th), to meet the management of the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and to meet the regulations of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 employers have a duty to ensure as far as it is reasonably practical the health, safety and welfare of their employees. The Management of of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 also require employers to consider the risks to employees, including protecting staff from exposure to reasonably forseeable violence. Employers must:

  • Assess the risk and potential level of violence and aggression
  • Identify what can be done to prevent or control the risk
  • Produce a clear management plan to achieve this

Click here for an example of the consequences of not having a lone worker system in place

Financial issues

If you do not proactively assess and manage the risks to your lone workers, it can become very expensive for your organisation. Costs include:

  • Increased sickness absense
  • Deceased staff morale and productivity
  • Loss of key personnel
  • Damage to comapny reputation
  • Legal costs
  • Post incident investigation costs

Proactively managing the risk to your lone workers cannot only reduce the likelyhood of expensive payouts, but also save money for organisations in the case of reduced insurance premiums.

Click here for an example of what a company can be fined for not implementing a safe system for lone workers

Moral Argument

Feeling valued by your employer by simply protecting basic needs such as safety and security results in feeling valued and motivated to perform tasks more effectively. Staff may also lack confidence to be ascertive during their work

Employers should make a commitment to reduce and manage the risks of lone working to improve personal safety and create safe working environments, fee for uncertainty and fear for their employees. Violence, agreesion and lack of support from employers can increase absenteeism and loss of self esteem. individual loneworkers.

For more information about lone working from the HSE and other bodies please click here

To read some current news stories that illustrate why you should protect your lone workers  please click here