Introduction
People working alone, especially outside of normal working hours, may be at additional risk because of the potential for increased difficulty in summoning assistance in case of injury or emergency. This risk may be increased if lone workers are carrying out difficult or complex or hazardous tasks or processes or where there is an inherent significant risk of injury. This would also include lone working with individuals or groups whose behaviour may be unpredictable or who are known to be violent or abusive. The risk of injury when lone working may be increased if the lone worker is new to a task or is inexperienced or has not received appropriate training to dynamically risk assess situations and lacks the resources and confidence to respond appropriately. Lone working is not in itself unlawful, and it will often be safe to work alone. There are, though, certain high-risk tasks defined in legislation which require at least two people to be present. These include work:
in a confined space, where a supervisor may need to be there, along with someone in a “rescue role”
near exposed live electricity conductors
in diving operations
in vehicles carrying explosives
with fumigation
Lone working is undertaken by a range of University employees and students either by virtue of their working hours, remote location, or methods of working. Some common examples include:
security, librarians, and ground staff
cleaning and portering staff
maintenance staff and service engineers
individuals who work on their own in a laboratory or workshop or similar facilities
members of staff or students carrying out fieldwork or research within the UK or abroad, including research based in the community
home workers
members of staff travelling alone on University business.
Health and safety law requires employers to consider whether there are significant risks posed by lone working and to implement, so far as is reasonably practicable, suitable and sufficient control measures to reduce those risks to a tolerable level. The results of these risk assessments must be recorded.
Definitions
Lone workers are people who 'work by themselves without close or direct supervision.' (The Health and Safety Executive).
Lone Working covers work tasks where individuals are knowingly and foreseeably placed in circumstances in which they undertake work activities without direct or close supervision or support. In practical terms, persons are working alone if they have neither immediate visual nor direct audible communication with someone who can provide direct assistance in the event of an accident or illness.
Normal working hours are defined as normally being between 08:00 and 19:00 hours, Monday to Friday. N.B. This definition does not preclude individual departments setting different working hours where operational needs dictate. At certain periods throughout the year, such as University closure days or at weekends, workers may be on site carrying out lone working tasks that would otherwise be acceptable during normal campus opening, but which are not appropriate at other times. Any tasks carried out during these periods should be risk assessed to ensure that any lone working implications are properly identified and controlled.
Scope
This policy applies to lone working activities undertaken by employees when carrying out work for the University. This will include work at the University or at other locations, including when people are homeworking under recognised arrangements (e.g. Hybrid Working).
The policy is not intended to apply generally to workers who are the sole occupiers of an office during normal working hours unless for some reason they are at particular risk when lone working. In the case of undergraduate and post-graduate taught students and students on distance learning programmes, this policy covers only that work or study which it is necessary to carry out within an academic department. Studying alone in one’s accommodation (whether on or off campus) or in other low risk areas of University property, such as the library or in “Student Commons”, is not included within this policy, although the University takes all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of students while they are on University premises.
For health and safety purposes, PGR students undertaking activities related to their research are classified as workers and as such their work-related activities fall within the scope of this policy.
Policy statement
The University is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for all members of the campus community. As part of this commitment, the University will take reasonable and practicable steps to manage risks associated with lone working. This will include risks to employees carrying out lone working tasks in the course of their employment and to students when carrying out activities associated in any way with their studies in University academic departments. The University aims to achieve this by:
carrying out suitable and sufficient risk assessments of all lone working activities
implementing control measures identified by risk assessments to reduce risks to the lone worker to a tolerable level
not allowing any activities, including any research activities, to be carried out by lone workers where the risk assessment for that activity identifies that there is a significant risk of injury that can only reasonably practicably be controlled by having two or more people in attendance when that activity is performed. This applies regardless of where or when that work is to be carried out
Responsibilities
Council has delegated the day to day responsibility for health and safety matters to the Vice-Chancellor (VC). The VC delegates responsibility for undertaking aspects of these duties through line management and identified roles. The following people are identified as having responsibility for managing lone working issues in those areas, and for those relevant persons, that fall under their control:
Deans (including Head of School of Management)
Deans are responsible for ensuring that health and safety policy is implemented within their Faculty. Responsibility in individual departments is delegated through line management chains to Heads of Department. Deans should establish arrangements
Heads of Department and Directors of Professional Services
Heads of Department and Directors of Professional Services are responsible for ensuring that:
lone working activities are risk assessed and that significant risks to lone workers are identified. Risk assessments will take into account the task or activities that are to be carried out and the capability of the individual to carry out the lone working task safely
sufficient resources are made available to ensure risks to lone workers are reduced to a tolerable level. This could include providing resources for equipment, training or supervision as necessary
arrangements are put in place to reduce risks to students who may be required to work alone in their department to a tolerable level
significant lone working risks to staff or students that cannot be reduced to a tolerable level other than by having two or more people present are not permitted to be carried out as lone work
Chief Operating Officer
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for ensuring that health ad safety policy is implemented with the professional services areas that fall under their control. Responsibility in individual departments is delegated through line management chains to directors of professional services. The COO should establish arrangements to ensure that directors have fulfilled their responsibilities under this policy.
Heads of Department and Directors of Professional Services are responsible for ensuring that:
lone working activities are risk assessed and that significant risks to lone workers are identified. Risk assessments consider the task or activities that are to be carried out and the capability of the individual to carry out the lone working task safely.
sufficient resources are made available to ensure risks to lone workers are reduced to a tolerable level. This could include providing resources for equipment, training, or supervision as necessary.
arrangements are put in place to reduce risks to students who may be required to work alone in their department to a tolerable level.
significant lone working risks to staff or students that cannot be reduced to a tolerable level other than by having two or more people present are not permitted to be carried out as lone work.
Line Managers
Line Managers are responsible for ensuring that:
lone working activities carried out by members of their team are risk assessed in accordance with the University’s risk assessment procedures and that suitable and sufficient control measures are identified and implemented to reduce risks to lone workers to a tolerable level
risk assessments include consideration of any individual factors that might affect the capability of specific individuals to carry out lone working tasks
where activities are assessed as posing intolerable risks then these are not permitted to be carried out by lone workers
lone working activities are monitored to ensure that control measures are effective and that risks have been reduced to a tolerable level
Employees with responsibility for supervising students
Employees with responsibility for supervising students will ensure that those students are not put at unnecessary risk while carrying out lone working activities falling within the scope of this policy. They are responsible for ensuring that lone works falling under their control are:
risk assessed in accordance with the University’s risk assessment procedures and that suitable and sufficient control measures are identified and implemented to reduce risks to lone workers to a tolerable level
individual factors that might affect the capability of specific individuals to carry out lone working tasks are considered in those risk assessments and suitable control measures implemented
where lone working activities are assessed as posing significant and foreseeable risks then these are not permitted to be carried out by lone workers
lone working activities are monitored to ensure that control measures are effective and that risks have been reduced to a tolerable level
Employees, workers and students
Employees, workers and students are responsible for:
cooperating with their line manager or supervisor by complying with any lone working risk assessments or local rules or arrangements that apply to the work that they will be carrying out
carrying out, where appropriate, dynamic risk assessments when working alone to ensure that they do not put themselves in a position which may subject them to additional risk when lone working
reporting to their line manager or supervisor anything they consider to be unsafe or likely to lead to ill-health
Further information and resources
Working Off Site and Personal Safety Resources
Health and Safety Executive Lone Working Guidance
Suzy Lamplugh Trust – Training and Resources
Monitoring
University Health and Safety Committee will be responsible for monitoring and reviewing this policy.
The Policy was reviewed at UHSC in September 2024. The next review by UHSC is scheduled for September 2026.