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Published 29 Aug 2023
One of the leading causes of workplace injuries, illnesses, and incidents is failing to identify hazards that are present or that could have been anticipated. That is why regularly and proactively identifying hazards, assessing risks, and, ultimately, rectifying any issues immediately are critical elements in your workplace health and safety policies. Carrying out lone worker risk assessments is one of the fundamental ways employers can reduce their lone workers’ health and safety risks. This article includes a Lone Worker Risk Assessment Template & Guide to help you keep your lone workers safe.
Carrying out lone worker risk assessments is one of the fundamental ways employers can reduce their lone workers’ health and safety risks. This article includes a Lone Worker Risk Assessment Template & Guide to help you keep your lone workers safe.
Employees who work alone or in isolation face greater safety and health risks than those who do not, because they lack access to immediate back-up support and supervision from managers and other colleagues.
Common examples of lone workers include community nurses and social workers, field workers, plant operators, delivery truck drivers, commercial cleaners, and real estate agents. Each role comes with its own risks, but could include:
In addition, in the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recorded data regarding lone worker accidents and fatalities. Common lone worker risks include slipping, tripping, falling, using faulty machines, electrocution, not wearing PPE, and unattended medical conditions.
Controlling risks in your workplace is a key part of managing workplace health and safety. Risk assessments are the first step in adequately managing risk.
A risk assessment is the process of thinking about what might cause harm to people and deciding whether your organisation is taking reasonable, doable steps to prevent that harm.
Also called a lone working risk assessment, a lone worker risk assessment is the process of identifying and assessing the workplace hazards and risks associated with a specific lone worker’s responsibilities and tasks.
Completing a lone worker risk assessment is different from a general risk assessment, since lone workers’ environments and situations can change often (when compared to a static office workplace, for example). They should be carried out more regularly and involve a variety of different potential scenarios (such as driving to an appointment, parking in a dangerous neighbourhood, and working inside of a client’s home).
Generally speaking, employers worldwide are recommended—and often legally required—to safeguard their employees from workplace health and safety risks. Risk assessments are one of the most basic safety procedures that every employer should carry out regularly.
For example, in Australia, organisations must:
In the UK, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must:
Meanwhile, in the USA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides “Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs” which include guidelines for hazard identification and assessment.
Without completing detailed lone worker risk assessments, complying with these regulations and recommendations is impossible.
Remember: Lone worker risk assessments do not need to be completed alone. They can (and should) involve relevant managers and lone workers so that they can share their insights and first-hand experiences.
There can be many ways to create a lone working risk assessment, even if you follow the 8 steps mentioned above. It will all depend on the industry you are a part of, your daily tasks, and your goals.
However, a typical lone working risk assessment example template will have the following elements:
A detailed version of this lone worker risk assessment example can be found in SHEQSY’s Lone Worker Risk Assessment Template & Guide here.
When it comes to carrying out lone worker risk assessments, using a digital auditing tool like SafetyCulture can help you easily identify, rectify, and monitor occupational hazards via customizable inspection and risk assessment forms, fast reporting, and actionable insights.
With SafetyCulture, you can:
Once you complete your risk assessment with SafetyCulture, you may find that the easiest and most affordable way to safeguard your lone workers is with a lone worker safety solution. Ideally, you should deploy a solution that can be customised to suit your organisation’s unique lone worker policies, management processes, and lone worker procedures.
SHEQSY is the leading lone worker safety solution that protects employees in real-time and makes it easy to manage, monitor and report on lone worker activities from one user-friendly dashboard.
SHEQSY can be simply deployed across your lone workforce as a smartphone app (iOS/Android), protecting employees in real-time with simple and discreet duress activation, periodic check-ins, and overtime alerts.
In addition to the smartphone app, SHEQSY integrates Bluetooth wearables and handheld satellite devices to deliver a truly enterprise-grade safety solution.
Employees can submit near-miss, hazard, and incident reports (accompanied by images and videos) in real-time. Meanwhile, SHEQSY records all historical lone worker data (such as dates, times, locations, work activities, pre-start form responses, location notes, hazard reports, and more) and stores it in the SHEQSY Management Dashboard. The ability to run detailed reports is invaluable when completing lone worker risk assessments.
From quick duress activation and periodic check-ins, to hazard reporting and calendar scheduling, SHEQSY makes lone worker safety easy and effective.
Ready to safeguard your employees? Contact SHEQSY now to schedule a demo and start your 30-day free trial.
Maddy Cornelius
Maddy is a content contributor for SafetyCulture. She has worked as a digital marketer and copywriter in the risk management industry for more than a decade. When she’s not writing for SafetyCulture, Maddy runs a popular travel and food blog and enjoys snowboarding, practicing yoga, hiking, and spending time exploring outdoors.
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