LONE WORKERS

There is no general prohibition on a person working alone. It is the Company’s policy to ensure, that
where employees have to work alone, that all reasonably practicable steps are taken to ensure their
health, safety and welfare at work.

This system for implementing the Company’s policy on lone working is shown below.

Where lone working is carried out, the Support Leader (assisted by the Customer Service Manager)
ensures that:-

i. the employee is suitable for and able to work alone;

ii. a safe system of work has been set up to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the
health, safety and welfare of the person;
iii. the employee is competent to carry out his/her duties.

LONE WORKING PROCEDURE

INTRODUCTION
Lone workers are people who work by themselves without close or direct supervision and this will
include people doing sleepovers where there is no waking night staff member and those driving from
one support or office to another.

There is no general legal prohibition on people working alone provided general health and safety
requirements are complied with and these procedures are followed.

Where lone working is to take place, Support Leaders and line managers must consider not only the
hazards posed to all staff and ubu’s (the Company) customers, but also what will happen in the event of:

 A serious accident or emergency;

 Fire (see ‘Fire and Explosion Procedure’);
 Violence (see ‘Violence and Aggression Procedure’);
 First aid is required (see ‘First Aid Procedure’) ; or
 Manual handling is required (see ‘Manual Handling Procedure’).

RISK ASSESSMENT
Before allowing lone working to take place, Support Leaders and/or line managers should ensure that
the risks posed by lone working are adequately assessed and that the specific risks posed by the hazards
mentioned above are assessed on the basis that there may be lone working in the support/office.
When assessing the risks posed by lone working, Support Leaders and line mangers should consider:

 Can the risks that have been identified be adequately controlled by one person?
 Does the work environment or the people in (or who have access to) that support/office pose a
special risk to the lone worker?
 Can the staff member safely use any equipment that they are required to operate?
 Can substances or materials that the staff member is required to use in their work be handled
safely?
 Can work which involves lifting or moving objects be safely done by one person?
 Is there a risk of violence?
 Does a staff member have a specific medical condition or are they taking medication that might
place them and the people in that support at risk if they work alone?

SAFE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

Establishing safe working for lone workers is no different from organising the health and safety of other
employees.

Before allowing people to work alone, Support Leaders and line managers need to satisfy themselves
that the employee understands what is expected of them, the standards they have to work to and in
particular, the procedures to be followed (including who to contact) in the event of an emergency.

Other than for sleeping night-staff, Support Leaders and line managers should consider how people who
are working alone will be supervised.

Support Leaders and line managers should ensure that staff members are competent to deal with
circumstances which are new, unusual or beyond the scope of their training, e.g. when to contact and
seek advice from an on-call manager.

SUPERVISION
Although the very nature of the Company’s work means that not every staff member can be under
constant supervision, it does have a system in place for supervising employees who work alone.

Support Leaders and line managers are responsible for determining the extent to which staff members
need to be supervised (based on their risk assessment and the staff member’s ability to identify and
handle health and safety issues).

As a minimum, Support Leaders and line managers should ensure that (unless employees are working a
sleeping night-shift) there are local procedures in place to ensure lone workers are:

 Periodically visited; or
 Checked to ensure they have arrived at an expected destination; or
 in regular contact (e.g. by telephone) with their manager or with other people working alone
(i.e. one support/office contacts another office); or
 devices are fitted in the office/support to raise the alarm in the event of an emergency (e.g. in
the absence of any movement).
TRAINING
Before allowing a staff member to work alone, Support Leaders and line managers should also consider
what training those staff members need to ensure that they are competent to work alone.

The Company’s staff members should not be permitted to work alone unless they have successfully:

 completed an approved Appointed Person emergency aid course;

 undertaken medication training (where applicable);
 undertaken an evacuation (day and if they regularly work night shifts) of the premises;
 completed a lone working risk assessment and all the areas highlighted addressed.

Training is particularly important where there is limited supervision to control, guide and help staff
members in situations where they are uncertain as to what to do. Training may be critical to avoid them
panicking where they are faced with uncertain situations.

Lone workers need to be sufficiently experienced to understand the risks posed to peoples’ health and
safety and be fully conversant with the precautions that the Company has put in place to control those
risks.

Staff members should also clearly understand what work cannot be undertaken by someone working
alone (e.g. climbing steps or ladders).

Requests for training (and re-training) for potential lone workers should be made through the person
managing your work for success appraisal on an annual basis. In the event of changed needs or training
that was not identified at the appraisal, requests should be made to their line manager.

VIOLENCE AT WORK
Support Leaders and line managers are required to immediately report situations which might pose a
risk of violence or aggression to staff who are working alone.

Please refer to the Company’s procedure for managing violence and aggression.

MEDICAL SUITABILITY
Staff members should report any illness or other medical condition that might make pose a risk to the
safety of themselves or customers while they are working alone.

Support Leaders and line managers should assess every staff member’s ability to work alone, including
ensuring that the work they undertake and the people they support will not place excessive physical or
psychological demands on them. Any significant findings of a staff member’s assessments are to be
forwarded to the Customer Service Manager as soon as possible after the assessment.