CONTENTS
1. Introduction
A ‘lone worker’ is a member of staff who, whilst carrying out their work duties, is at distance from the immediate help and support of their colleagues. This will include staff:
- working out in the community, including with customers;
- working alone in work premises (for example ‘out of hours’ or in a location away from other staff);
- driving for work purposes;
- home workers.
Working alone is not inherently unsafe and in most situations is perfectly acceptable. It does require that risks be carefully considered and that plans are put in place to support lone workers to keep them safe.
It is important to remember that even two people working out in the community will be separated from the support of their work base and so will still be ‘lone working’ to some extent. ‘Going in pairs’ is not always a sufficient precaution, depending on the people involved, the environment of the work and the task to be carried out.
2. Important Actions to Take
Risk assessment is a legal requirement for work activities and is an important part of keeping everyone safe. With this in mind, it is important that ASC staff take the following action:
- ASC team managers whose staff work alone (or with the public generally) must ensure that they have a lone working, violence and aggression risk assessment in place. This should outline the activities being carried out by their teams and the precautions in place. For every precaution, it should be possible to demonstrate a working process that everyone understands and follows;
- ASC staff who perform duties as lone workers (or with the public generally) are required to contribute to the development of their manager’s team risk assessment and to comply with the precautions outlined, including carrying out dynamic risk assessments before each activity.
The council’s policy, guidance and tools are available via the staff Intranet: MyCentral. These contain practical advice for managers and staff on how to assess risk and potential precautions to consider:
- Violence, Aggression and Lone Working;
- lone working and personal safety training is also available via Corporate Learning and Development. For more details, please see Success Factors Learning.
3. Further Reading
3.1 Relevant chapters
3.2 Relevant information
Protecting Lone Workers: Health and Safety Guidance from Health and Safety Executive
