What is the definition of a lone worker and how to identify them
What is a lone worker? Businesses are often confused as to whether they employ or engage lone workers or not.
A lone worker is someone who performs an activity that is carried out in isolation from other workers without close or direct supervision. This includes all employees, contractors and self
employed staff who are working for you.
Establishing a healthy and safe working environment for lone workers can be different from organising the health and safety of other workers.
Lone workers can be found in a wide range of sectors and situations including those who:
- work alone at a fixed base for example factories, warehouses or from home
- work separately from other people or out-with normal working hours for example, security staff, maintenance workers
- mobile workers working in different locations each day including healthcare workers, engineers, construction workers, environmental, agricultural and forestry workers, delivery drivers
- services workers including postal teams, estate agents, sales or service representative
By the nature of their roles, lone workers may be exposed to a variety of risks such as:
- Using dangerous machinery/equipment
- Climate risks for example being exposed to extreme temperatures for extended periods
- Hazardous materials
- Environmental threats such as wildlife/animal attacks, falling trees, difficult terrain
- Natural disasters including flooding and landslides.
Advances in technology enabling more remote working and the continued impact of Covid-19 on the way people work has increased the number of people considered to be lone workers. This trend highlights the need for lone working policies to be put in place and risk assessments to be undertaken for your lone workers.
How can Trackplot help?
In our article ‘Do you have a lone working policy?’ you can read about why you need a lone working policy and we advise what you should include when writing one.
You may decide that a control measure you need to put in place is lone worker monitoring to help keep your lone workers safe. We know it can be difficult to understand the differences between the various lone worker solutions on the market and what they offer. To help your decision making read our top 5 reasons why you would consider Trackplot for your lone worker solution.
You can also check out our assessment criteria to appreciate the benefits in detail of the Trackplot system.