Lone Working Risk Assessments Explained

At Access Personal Safety we are aware of how important lone worker safety is to keep them safe, improve wellbeing in the workplace, provide reassurance, and improve workplace productivity.  

Without conducting a lone working risk assessment these outcomes cannot happen. We want to make sure all businesses are aware of what should always be included in a lone worker risk assessment to help reduce risks and ensure the safety of your lone workers.  

This article will review what a lone worker risk assessment is and how it differs from ‘typical’ working risk assessments, guidelines companies must follow to ensure lone workers’ safety and how that should be embedded in a risk assessment, as well as provide examples and templates to make your next lone worker risk assessment process as simple as possible.   

Lone Worker Risk Assessment – What is it?

In general, a risk assessment is a systematic process of identifying, analysing, and evaluating potential risks associated with a particular task, scenario, or process. Risk assessments therefore are the first step in efficiently managing risks within the workplace.

A lone working risk assessment, however, is a specific type of risk assessment that solely concentrates on the risks of individuals working on their own.

Lone worker risk assessments are different from general risk assessments as often lone workers’ environments and situations can change regularly so risks can change daily as well as throughout the day too.

Here a lone worker risk assessment acknowledges these risks and puts measures in place to minimise risks as much as possible to ensure lone workers’ safety and wellbeing. One of the most important categories addressed is emergency procedures, including how they will start and how an alarm will be raised.

It is clear therefore, the main difference between a typical working risk assessment and a lone working risk assessment is the focus and consideration of the risks identified. Whilst a normal risk assessment addresses general risks associated with an activity or process, a lone working risk assessment specifically examines the risks and hazards related to lone workers.

Risk Assessment for lone working – Why is it important?

Risk assessments for lone workers are important for many reasons including:

1. To improve personal safety
2. To ensure all legal guidelines are being followed
3. Reduce incidents, illnesses, and injuries
4. Enhance emergency response planning
5. Have better and more efficient resource planning and allocation
6. Reduce mistaken alarms raised
7. Promote and protect lone worker’s mental health
8. Improve communication between employers and employees
9. Improve training
10. Demonstrate a duty of care
11. Offer opportunities for continuous improvement

In general, risk assessments for lone workers are vital for employers to deploy a proactive and preventative approach to safeguarding their employees and ensure both their mental and physical wellbeing is looked after and protected.

Lone Worker Risk Assessment Steps – What do you need to do? 

To conduct lone working risk assessments numerous steps should be followed. Arguably, one of the most important steps, depending on your company, is to acknowledge who your lone workers are. Some companies will only have lone workers, whereas others will have a mixture. It is vital to acknowledge who your lone workers are so you can categorise them in terms of risks to ensure the right measures are put in place for each worker, especially if risks vary between them.  

Once you have acknowledged who your lone workers are there are several steps to follow to ensure your lone working risk assessment is complete. 

1. Identify hazards  

This first step allows employers to identify all potential hazards and risks specific to the lone working activity. Once all hazards are identified they then need to be evaluated to classify which risks are low, medium, and high.  

After this stage, it is important to note that if there are any specific hazards these should be assessed separately in more detail in another risk assessment and cross-referenced accordingly.  

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recorded that some of the most common risks for lone workers include slipping, tripping, falling, using faulty machines, electrocution, not wearing protective gear, not using protective equipment, and unattended medical conditions.  

Lone working hazard examples 

• Workplace e.g. the environment, confined spaces, workshops  
• Equipment e.g. electrical, manual handling, emergency controls  
• Violence e.g. is there a threat to staff? 

2. Describe existing control measures  

Acknowledge and explain what control measures are already in place, the effectiveness of them, and what measures need to change and improve, as well as well what measures are no longer relevant.  

3. Implement new control measures  

Put in place new measures to control and mitigate the identified risks.  

Some examples include implementing technology, providing protective equipment and clothing and offering training sessions. 

4. Plan emergency procedures and communication plans  

Even though the purpose of a lone worker risk assessment is to mitigate any risks identified for lone workers, another crucial element of the risk assessment is to ensure emergency procedures are in place.  

Procedures must be put in place, so lone workers know how to access support in case of an emergency. Through this, effective communication plans can be put in place to arrange regular check-ins and what to do if it’s difficult to communicate. 

5. Training 

Another element that is prevalent in all types of risk assessments is the use of lone worker training to ensure all lone workers know how to protect themselves and better manage their safety as well as teach employees and employers what their responsibilities are regarding lone workers’ safety.  

6. Review  

The final step in conducting lone working risk assessments is to put a date in when next to review the risk assessment to ensure the measures in place are the best in mitigating risks and keeping lone workers safe. HSE (The Health and Safety Executive) recommends this review in general should happen annually, but this can differ for lone workers. For more specific advice on how regularly you should conduct your lone worker risk assessments visit the HSE website today. 

HSE Lone Worker Risk Assessment Template 

There are many lone worker risk assessment templates and examples. The HSE states that employers are legally required to safeguard their employees from workplace health and safety risks. Under The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 it is stated that employers must: 

• Identify what could cause injury or illness  
• Decide the likeliness of someone being harmed
• Take action to eliminate the hazard or control the risk 

To make this process easier there are many risk assessment lone worker examples that employers can use. It is very easy to find examples online from risk assessments for lone working home visits, security guard lone working risk assessments, as well as social care risk assessments to name a few. The HSE has published however their breakdown of lone worker risk assessments into a template to ensure nothing gets forgotten. 

It is important to note, however, that some lone working risk assessments will be more complex than others, so more specific research and analysing of specific risks may need to take place depending on an employer’s industry. In general, a typical lone worker risk assessment will include: 

• Company name  

• Job role  

• Department  

• Date of Assessment  

• Employee (s) completing assessment  

• Date of next assessment  

• Background information  

• Hazards  

• Specific associated risks  

• Level of risk  

• Who/what might be harmed? 

• What safeguards are already in place? 

• How can the risks be minimised? 

• Who is responsible? 

• Due date? 

• Date completed? 

Risk Assessments for lone workers – how do they differ? 

As discussed above, all risk assessments can differ depending on the industry and the task or process a lone worker is doing. Below are just a few examples of how risk assessments can differ for lone workers depending on the industry a lone worker is in. 

Health and Social Care: 

Risk Examples 

• Home visits 
• Potential interactions and exposure to infectious diseases  
• Dealing with unpredictable patient behaviours  

Control Measures: 

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) 
• Training on infection control  
• Communication devices  

Construction: 

Risk Examples 

• Working at heights  
• Operation of heavy machinery  
• Potential for accidents in remote locations  

Control measures 

• Fall protection equipment  
• Machinery safety protocols  
• Emergency response plans for remote sites  

Retail: 

Risk Examples 

• Late-night shifts  
• Potential theft or violence  
• Handling of large amounts of cash 

Control measures 

• Surveillance systems  
• Panic buttons  
• Training on conflict resolution  
• Cash-handling safety  
  
  

Transport: 

Risk Examples: 

• Long hours of driving  
• Potential for accidents  
• Communication challenges  

Control measures 

• Fatigue management policies and break policies 
• Vehicle safety checks  
• Communication devices for regular check-ins  

Lone working policy and risk assessments – what are the challenges? 

Despite this article making lone worker risk assessments seem very self-explanatory by breaking down each step and what should be included, it is not always as easy as it seems.  

Below are just some examples of challenges that can occur when employers conduct lone working risk assessments. Often employers do not have issues acknowledging the potential hazards for lone workers, instead, the biggest challenges are putting the control measures in place to mitigate or remove the risks identified. 

1. Diverse work environments  

As discussed previously, lots of lone workers are prone to work in lots of different locations, with many changing their working location throughout the day. This can make it difficult to create a one-size-fits-all policy and risk assessment that will efficiently address the unique risks of each working environment.   

2. Individual Differences

 Lone workers may have different job roles and tasks to complete, and with that, may also come different levels of experience, skill, and health conditions. This can make it difficult to manage and ensure that employers are prioritising their employees’ health and safety 100% of the time.   

3. Communication limitations  

Employers must navigate how to communicate with their lone workers. Some lone workers may work in extremely remote locations with little to no signal making communication difficult which in turn can make it challenging to know how to raise an alarm and follow emergency procedures when an incident occurs. 

4. Faulty and unreliable technology 

One of the ways many employers try to overcome communication problems is by investing in different types of telecommunication devices, but this can also sometimes cause challenges. Some technology solutions can get damaged, be faulty, or have poor network coverage. This can then create more problems than it solves.  

5. Cultural and Behavioural Factors  

A final challenge that can make managing risks difficult is being able to manage individual attitudes toward risks and their adherence to safety procedures.  

An employer can provide all the training they need but ultimately they are then relying on the employee to use the training provided appropriately to ensure that they are doing all they can to remain safe within the workplace.  

Lone Working Risk Assessment Checklist – Benefits of embedding Personal Safety solutions

As discussed, one of the most important steps of a risk assessment, after identifying and classifying the risks themselves, is to put the control measures in place to reduce and mitigate them.  

There are several ways that risks can be mitigated for lone workers which have already been discussed such as training. Equally another way control measures can be implemented, and implemented efficiently, is through using personal safety solutions. Personal Safety solutions use technology to better manage individuals at risk.  

Personal Safety solutions have developed increasingly over the years and now help support individuals across several sectors including lone workers. Using technology when implementing control measures in your lone working risk assessments can offer several benefits for both employers and employees alike.  

The table below demonstrates some of the key benefits of embedding personal safety solutions in your lone worker risk assessments can have on your business: 

Summarising what should a lone working risk assessment indicate – How can Access Personal Safety solutions help? 

Lone working risk assessments can differ on lots of different factors including job type, environment, as well as the  industry or sector a lone worker works in. To make sure your business follows all regulations and guidelines of lone worker’s health and safety, every step of the risk assessment must be followed. 

When planning and implementing your control measures whether you are a large business or small this article has highlighted how there can be different challenges that can occur but through embedding Personal safety solutions your business can better manage risks and provide your lone workers reassurance support will be there when they need it. 

At Access Personal Safety we know how working conditions can change for lone workers regularly, and how it’s vital that risk assessments are updated constantly. We know that if lone workers feel more confident about their safety and know that their employers are doing everything to make their safety a top priority, their production and quality of work will be higher.  

Personal Safety solutions can make managing and mitigating risks for lone workers easier for both employers and employees. Our market-leading easy-to-use devices ensure safety and fast provision of assistance is always consistent. 

We understand that raising alarms isn’t always easy and safe to do for some lone workers and therefore we offer discreet features across our lone worker devices so lone workers aren’t put at any further risk when they could already be in a potentially violent or threatening situation.  

We have made sure it is easy for employers to gain insight on their employee’s health, safety, and welfare, by managing all information through our Assure dashboards (formely Intellicare), regardless of the lone worker device you use. Here managers can see alerts, activity reports, manage devices all in one place, and allow two-way communications to take place through our lone worker apps.  

Find out more about our lone worker technology and how we can help mitigate the risks identified in your risk assessment today.  

Contact us and let’s get the ball rolling on creating happier and safer working environments that avoid putting any of your employees at risk, allows constant communication, and even quicker response times when an incident occurs to always put your employees first.