Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, employers must manage the risk to lone workers.
One of the key risks that affect lone workers is violence – defined by the HSE as ‘any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work’.
Keep reading to learn more about how to protect your lone workers.
What are some examples of lone workers?
A lone worker is defined as “an individual who works by themselves for all or a substantial part of the day without direct supervision or support”. This can include the following job role examples:
- Cleaners
- Taxi drivers
- Laboratory staff
- Research staff.
- Construction workers
- Delivery drivers
- Salespeople
- Social workers
- Care workers
It is the responsibility of an employer to protect their lone workers, which also applies to self-employed and home workers.
This support can include:
- Providing support and training.
- Keeping in contact/establish “check in” procedure.
- Preventing work related violence.
- Completing risk assessments of work to be carried out, considering normal work activities risk and out of hours risks (work location/environment, personal wellbeing, risk of violence).
Employees also have responsibilities to protect their own Health and Safety and others who may be harmed by their actions. They should:
- Co-operate with training provided (personal safety).
- Use equipment provided correctly.
- Report incidents and near misses.
- Be clear and confident on allowed activities and prohibited activities (certain activities are prohibited for lone workers under HSE).
Why are lone workers at risk of violence?
It is important to understand that “violence” does not need to be physical e.g. being struck or injured, but can also include the psychological or verbal, such as bullying, threatening behaviour, fear, insecurity, loss of confidence.
Lone workers are more vulnerable as an individual in the first instance and combined with a potential for lack of access to nearby support to prevent an initial incident occurring.
Areas where risk of violence is increased include:
- Working outside normal hours.
- Isolation from other areas of the building.
- Regularly travelling alone.
- Work alone in a remote location.
- Work closely with people who are not colleagues.
Situations where risk of violence is increased include:
- Handling money.
- Public contact.
- Enforcement/inspection duties.
- Unstable environment e.g. high crime area.
How do you reduce the risk of violence to lone workers?
The best approach to take is to combine several safe working controls and processes together. For example, to prevent an initial incident occurring consider the following:
- Identify known hazards e.g. local area knowledge, emergency local contact numbers, do not enter a building that appears to have been broken into.
- Encourage individual to keep to well-lit and busy areas and carry out regular check in’s with a point of contact.
- Do not “advertise” that you are working alone or have unnecessary valuables on you. Do not allow anybody else access to place of work – unless authorised.
- Carry deterrents or protective measures e.g. personal alarms, resistant clothing if appropriate.
- Know and plan escape routes. Identify security measures available e.g. CCTV.
Should a situation arise, consider the following:
- Stay calm/de-escalate the situation through techniques e.g. hand over requested items, do not attempt to disarm the person.
- Use barriers and other means of separation (coded doors) and keep distance between you and aggressor.
- Keep an eye out for changes to aggressor body language e.g. volume changes, invading personal space.
Employees should always report any experiences of violence to their manager immediately.
How can WA Management help?
As part of our online training shop, we offer a Lone Working online training course which can be accessed 24/7 online via desktop or tablet.
We can also offer bespoke risk assessments to cover lone working situations.
Driving Safely Awareness and Lone Working training courses are essential tools in protecting those who drive for work. Make sure you don’t miss out on our 10% off deal on these courses, available until the end of April. Simply enter the code ‘transport10’ at checkout to save!
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