The Legal Lowdown on Lone Working from LegalEdge

Lone working poses unique challenges for employers, from managing health and safety risks to ensuring employee wellbeing. Bridget Green from our trusted partner LegalEdge (the fractional in-house lawyers) explores some key legal considerations around lone working and answers some common questions we regularly hear about how employers can comply with their legal obligations, reduce risks, and ensure staff wellbeing.

Q: What is the legal definition of a “lone worker”?

A: There is no legal definition of “lone worker” set out in any legislation. However, it is generally understood to mean a worker who works by themselves without close or direct supervision some or all of the time.

Q: What type of workers can be lone workers?

A: Any type of worker, in any sector can be a lone worker. Examples include, delivery drivers, field engineers, security staff, shop workers, cleaners, warehouse workers, petrol station workers, peripatetic workers such as sales reps, area managers and healthcare workers.

It’s often overlooked that anyone working remotely (from home or elsewhere) is also a lone worker.

Workers may be lone workers for only part of their working time. For example, a shop worker who is called away from the shop floor to retrieve stock from a storeroom will only become a lone worker while they are away from colleagues.  

Q: As an employer, what specific legal obligations do I have for my lone workers?

A: Your legal obligations are the same for your lone workers and non-lone workers. Health and safety law requires you to take reasonable steps to mitigate the foreseeable risks for all your workers.

Therefore, you have a duty to consider what could go wrong in a particular work environment for each worker and to take reasonable steps to mitigate those risks.

However, you may have to take more steps to protect your lone workers as they may be subject to greater risks because they don’t have anyone to help them if things go wrong.

Remember that your legal duty to keep staff safe extends not just to their physical health but to their mental health as well.

Q: What sort of risks could particularly affect lone workers?

A: Examples include abuse (verbal or physical) or violence from customers, service users etc., stress, mental health or wellbeing risks (because of lack of human interaction), a person’s medical suitability to work alone (e.g. having diabetes or epilepsy) and workplaces in rural or isolated areas.

Risks will also depend greatly on the sector in which your business operates and the role the individual is carrying out, e.g. home-based administrative roles will present less physical risks than manual, industrial roles (but may present different mental health risks).

Q: What are the key risk factors when it comes to workplace violence?

A: Certain public-facing roles, such as those in retail, may present a particular risk of harassment, sexual harassment, aggression, or even violence. Things to look out for include:

• Late evening or early morning work, when fewer workers are around
• Lone workers, such as security staff, who have authority over customers and are enforcing rules
• Dealing with people affected by alcohol or drugs
• Carrying money or valuable equipment

Q: Do employer’s legal obligations only extend to those lone workers who have a contract of employment?

A: No. The same duties apply to all categories of workers, employees, self-employed consultants, freelancers, or agency staff working for your business, regardless of the type of contract they are working under, i.e. whether it’s fixed-term, temporary, or permanent.

Q: What do I need to do to ensure our business is complying with its legal obligations to our lone workers?

A: The first step towards compliance is carrying out a risk assessment. This will enable you to think about which hazards could harm those working alone. Once you have identified potential risks, you must consider how to control those risks.

Q: How do I do a risk assessment?

A: You need to document your identification of the risks and keep the document updated, if anything changes. SoloProtect has helpful template documents.

Risk assessments don’t have to be complex – you are looking out for obvious risks and thinking about how to most easily reduce those risks – you are not expected to totally eliminate risk or spend a disproportionate amount of money or resources trying to, but you must do what it is reasonable to do.

Q: What sort of things might our business be required to do to control risks for lone workers?

A: Once you have identified potential risks, you must then consider how to control those risks.

Lone workers are likely to need extra training because it’s harder for lone workers to get help, and they may also have to deal with unexpected situations. Lone workers need to be carefully monitored and should have regular contact with their manager (who should be responsible for keeping in touch with them).

For low-risk workers, mitigating interventions don’t have to be complicated or expensive. It may be as simple as asking them to fill in a staff engagement survey from time to time about their safety at work and how it could be improved.

Or, it could involve putting in place rules about driving e.g. mandatory rest breaks or putting in place a check-in and checkout system so everyone can be easily accounted for, or simply changing lighting to ensure no blind spots.

In higher risk environments, technology may have a role to play with personal safety devices, panic buttons or CCTV a reasonable response.

Q: Can I ask lone workers about their health?

A: Yes, but you need to make sure that you have appropriate internal systems to collect, store, and monitor staff health information in accordance with data protection laws. Make sure you ask staff to disclose any relevant information before allowing them to work alone.

If you are unsure whether someone has a health condition (or whether their condition means they are safe to work alone), always get medical advice. You need to think about both routine work and possible emergencies, which may put extra physical and mental burdens on them.

Q: Where can I get more information about carrying out a risk assessment and health and safety requirements for lone workers?

A: The HSE website has lots of information on health and safety, which is regularly updated.

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HOW CAN LEGALEDGE HELP?

LegalEdge provides a fractional in-house legal service to fast-growth companies with flexible access to experienced lawyers who have all worked inside businesses. They cover everything from day-to-day legal support to strategic operations – using people, processes and tech to set up and manage the legal function, whilst prioritising what’s important, reducing risk, and ensuring legal strategy is aligned with your growth plans.

They can help with drafting, implementing and enforcing your lone working policy, as well as your more standard employment processes and needs. They can also help train managers to deal with HR issues through their Fractional Head of People Service, and assist your day-to-day legal needs through their Fractional In-House Counsel Services. Check out www.legaledge.co.uk for more information or contact info@legaledge.co.uk.