In the United Kingdom, as many as 6 million people work alone. Due to this, it is very important that you know all of the risks of working alone so that you can properly prepare yourself to ensure your personal safety.

Currently, there aren’t any legal restrictions against jobs where people have to work alone and the truth is, this isn’t avoidable. With that said, when it comes to working alone, there are certain risks and hazards that have to be taken into consideration. We will now look at these considerations and tips for lone working safety.

Hazards Of Working Alone & Reducing Risk

In many organizations, especially those that have mobile workers, working alone is a common occurrence. In many cases, this type of lone work is usually repair, investigation, maintenance, site visits etc. Even in the case of fixed workplaces, employees may also have to work on their own. A good example of this are cleaners, workers in offices and workshops etc.

There is no law that prevents lone working. There are many work examples where lone working is unavoidable. However, there is risk involved in this. For example, what if while you’re working alone, something bad occurs? How will anyone else know that it happened and how would you get help?

As mentioned before, there aren’t any laws or legal restrictions preventing people from working on their own. However, there are still health and safety regulations that need to be applied. So, a risk assessment needs to be done for the job and all of the hazards and risks of the job have to be thoroughly considered when it comes to the job planning. These risks have to be controlled or eliminated to a reasonable level.

Working Alone Risks

According to the British Crime Survey statistics, every single day, approximately 150 lone workers are actually either physically or verbally attacked. These type of attacks occur in many different jobs and industries where employees are working alone.

Unfortunately, there are particular roles that have a higher risk. According to the Inside Housing survey done in June 2016, in the housing industry about 69% of the lone workers who took the survey indicated that they were assaulted during their job.

So, no matter what the sector may be, working on your own is definitely a risk. Some of these risks are:

– Verbal threats, physical violence

– Driving accidents

– Intruders, theft

– Illness that occurs suddenly or accidents

Employer Advice

The first thing you should do as an employer is to identify the different workers and types of lone workers you have. Lone workers are usually one of the following:

– Mobile workers

– Workers who deal with the public

– Fixed site workers

As an employer, it is your obligation to ensure the health and well being of all your lone workers. This means undergoing a risk assessment for your lone workers. Some of the things you can do to help protect these workers include:

– Providing proper training

– Having a lone working policy

– Usage of monitoring software and personal safety alarms