Free Lone Working Risk Assessment Example

Lone workers are employees who perform their duties alone. Common examples include on a night shift at a petrol station, remote engineers, and paramedics.

Due to the unique workplace Health & Safety hazards they face, it’s good business practice to perform a risk assessment of their working environment. So it's vital you have a lone working policy template available to use when you require someone to work by themselves.

You can call us on 0800 158 2313 for immediate support with your assessment.

Peninsula provides total support on any HR or Health & Safety issue you have. From unlimited advice to our full documentation and risk assessment services, we'll ensure compliance at all times, contact us today.

You can also download a free lone worker risk assessment template, which provides guidance across the steps you need to take when it comes to control the hazards of lone working.

What is a lone working risk assessment?

A lone working risk assessment process where your business assesses and identifies the hazards present for your lone workers.

This’ll help you to establish suitable Health & Safety procedures, reducing the risks the individual will face.

Working alone poses a number of potential risk. And these can become serious if there are no colleagues about to assist or rescue staff members who become injured.

So, your assessment can establish a plan of action to avoid issues. But also to provide effective assistance in the event of an accident.

What is lone working?

The definition of lone working is someone working alone with the presence of close supervision of their colleagues. Situations where this is common is working in a remote location, undertaking a task alone in a specific part of a building or site, and working at home.

Example of jobs where lone working is prevalent are:

• Health visitors.
• Repair technicians.
• Delivery drivers.
• Security guards.

What are the risks of lone working?

Lone workers could have a higher risk of harm because they're not working alongside anyone - and if something happens they may not be visible to receive help.

The main risks of lone working are:

• Accidents and injuries: Slips, trips, and falls may occur during lone working, as well as manual handling injures from lifting heavy objects.
• Medical emergencies: If a lone worker suffers a medical emergency, such as a heart attack; there can be a delay in medical assistance from reaching them - meaning they could go totally unnoticed until it's too late.
• Violence and aggression from members of the public: Lone workers who regularly communicate with members of the public, can be at greater risk of abuse from the government - either verbal, physical, or harassment.
• Mental health: Lone workers can often spend large parts of their days by themselves, which could lead to a feeling of isolation, and anxiety. These issues can escalate quickly and remain unsolved for longer periods.

The best way to manage the risks of lone working in your business it to conduct a working alone risk assessment, download our lone working risk assessment template and ensure you're conducting yours effectively.

What is the law around lone working risk assessments?

There are many legal requirements surrounding a lone working risk assessment, such as employers being legally required to conduct a working alone risk assessment.

Others include:

• Duty of care: employers have a duty to fully ensure the health, safety, and welfare of all their employees during work.
• Performing a risk assessment: a sufficient risk assessment is mandatory for all working conditions, such as lone working.
• Fully protecting lone workers: employers have a legal duty to ensure lone workers face no greater risk because they're working alone.
• Regularly review risk assessments: ensure any lone working risk assessments are reviewed regularly, especially when circumstances changed - such as a new location of work.

Our experts have put together a lone working risk assessment template ready for you to download and use within your business to keep your employees safe. Access your working alone risk assessment sample now.

Is a lone working risk assessment a legal requirement?

Yes. It’s a requirement to assess employee exposure to risk and examine if staff could suffer harm. If so, then you’ll need to have a risk assessment.
You have a duty of care to your staff, as The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 outlines.

But you may also wonder, “Is a lone working risk assessment required when working from home?” Again, it’s not a legal requirement. But it’s good business practice to conduct one to promote employee Health & Safety.

Because this form of risk assessment is a legal requirement, our lone working risk assessment template gives you the perfect foundation to improve your lone worker safety. So your employees are protected from injuries.

Download our free lone working risk assessment template today and keep your employees safe at all times.

How to carry out a lone working risk assessment

You’ll need to inspect each employees’ working environment to determine what the potential hazards are.

There are five steps of a risk assessment, HSE states these are (as part of a lone working risk assessment checklist):

1. Identify the hazards.
2. Decide which individuals may face harm—and how.
3. Evaluate the risks and then make decisions on the precautions you’ll use.
4. Make detailed recordings of what you find.
5. Regularly review and update your assessment (if you need to).

Ultimately, you should look for hazards—such as the possibility of violence and aggression towards the employee.

Or the chance of an accident or injury while they’re working.

Download our free lone working risk assessment template

The nature of the assessment will depend on the type of job your employee has. Your inspection will depend on the working environment they’re in.

To help you understand a generic risk assessment for lone working, you can download our free working alone risk assessment template by clicking on the on this page.

It’s a lone working risk assessment form example that includes:

• A template that highlights the individuals at risk and who the assessor will be.
• The hazards that are present.
• The control measures for providing greater Health & Safety.

This working alone risk assessment template is applicable across all working environments for your employees working alone.

After completing the inspection, you may need to make reasonable adjustments to the working environment to make it safer.

Our team of experts have also created a free RAMs template ready to use in your business.

Need our help?

If you’ve downloaded our lone worker risk assessment template but need further support, get in touch and we’ll talk you through your business’ Health & Safety requirements: 0800 158 2313.

Contact us today for more information, and access your risk assessment for lone workers template now and keep your employees safe.