5 Essential Working Alone Safety Tips

Why is Safety Important When Working Alone?

No matter the industry, working alone is a high-risk activity. Employees who work alone are exposed to a greater risk of experiencing serious incidents. The United Kingdom’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states that these risks particularly affect lone and isolated workers:

• the workplaces themselves (for example, if located in an isolated or remote area)
• physical violence
• stress and mental health
• workers’ medical fitness to work alone

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), other high-risk incidents include transportation accidents, trips, slips, and falls. In fact, 2.7 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported by private-industry employers in 2020, according to BLS.

However, high-risk does not have to be synonymous with unsafe. By taking practical precautions and mitigating risks wherever possible, organizations can help ensure that lone, isolated, and mobile workers are safe on the job. Conducting regular lone worker risk assessments can help your organization identify and analyze common hazards and risks facing your lone workers.

Additionally, the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Part 1915 offers the following lone worker supervision guidelines to keep lone workers safe:

Whenever an employee is working alone, such as in a confined space or isolated location, the employer shall account for each employee:

• throughout each work shift at regular intervals appropriate to the job assignment to ensure the employee’s safety and health; and
• at the end of the job assignment or at the end of the workshift, whichever occurs first.

The employer shall account for each employee by sight or verbal communication.

Similarly, the US National Institutes of Health explains that supervisors’ duties should include enforcing safe work practices, preventing unsafe or unhealthful workplace conditions or hazards, and correcting unsafe conditions.

Many other countries have similar laws and provisions in place as well. In addition to the UK and US, Safe Work Australia has regulations and references readily available for ensuring the safety of lone workers tailored to their specific weather conditions and cultural circumstances.

5 Working Alone Safety Tips

Even though businesses are typically legally required to do their best to ensure the health and safety of workers, lone worker safety is still a team effort. Here are the top 5 tips businesses and their employees can follow to ensure the safety of lone workers:

#1: Implement a dedicated lone worker safety policy

A carefully crafted lone worker policy helps outline the right safety measures to follow to ensure lone worker safety. It helps empower lone and isolated workers to take responsibility for their own safety and ensure that everyone is prepared to respond in the event of an emergency.

An effective lone worker safety policy should clearly define the following:

• Safe work procedures and processes
• Every worker’s roles and responsibilities
• Identification and mitigation of lone worker hazards and risks
• Proper communication practices and reporting procedures
• Efficient lone worker supervision practices and periodic check-in procedures

#2: Conduct regular hazard and risk assessments

It is the responsibility of both workers and employers to conduct regular risk assessments both for lone workers and the community or organization as a whole. One of the leading causes of workplace deaths, injuries, illnesses, and other incidents is failing to identify (and mitigate) hazards that are present or that could have been anticipated.

According to the UK’s HSE, “reviewing risk assessments periodically and updating them after any significant changes, such as new staff, processes or equipment” can help employers avoid and control risks.

In particular, before and during work, employees who work alone, in regularly changing environments, or in high-risk environments should conduct dynamic risk assessments.

A dynamic risk assessment is the continuous safety practice of quickly identifying and analyzing risks and hazards on the spot and making quick yet informed decisions to mitigate hazards and proceed with work safely.

#3: Create an emergency response plan

Creating a detailed emergency response plan will ensure that everyone knows what to do in a calm and organized fashion if something goes wrong.

The plan should outline how to respond to an emergency—from start to finish. Answering these questions can help you get started:

• How will a lone worker alert you of an emergency?
• Are lone workers equipped with a lone worker device or lone worker app that includes a duress or panic alarm? How about man-down functionality?
• Who is in charge of monitoring duress or panic alarms?
• What if the person in charge of monitoring is unavailable? Who is next in the escalation chain?
• How will an emergency response be coordinated? Will police, an ambulance, or some other emergency service be dispatched?
• Are workers active after normal working hours? Who monitors them?
• Does your organization require a 24/7 security monitoring center to coordinate responses?

#4: Encourage open communication

Open communication channels enable managers to stay aware of lone and isolated workers’ activities and workplace environments, making it much easier to protect them. It also helps ensure all proper safety measures are in place and being observed across all levels, regardless of location or status.

It’s important that lone workers can talk freely about their safety concerns. They must also have means to report risks and hazards, share incident details, and discuss their health and safety needs (such as if they have any pre-existing medical conditions) without fear of discomfort or reprisal. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) states that employers should: “Talk to workers about their work. Get their input about the work they do and possible solutions.”

Deploying a digital lone worker solution that enables employees to stay in contact – via wellbeing check-ins, 1:1 messaging, safety audits, and hazard/incident reporting – can help keep them safe. Watch this video to learn how safety can be managed with a digital app:

#5: Provide appropriate training and retraining

No matter the industry, it is always the employer’s duty to ensure that employees have the appropriate qualifications to carry out the work – and to continue to train and retrain them as necessary.

It is a good idea to create a training program that makes training, refreshing, and up-leveling easy, accessible, safe, and enjoyable. Regular training also helps with the following:

• Identifying points for improvement
• Addressing safety issues
• Orienting workers on changes in safety measures