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Lone-working policy template
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A risk assessment template and a check-in and escalation checklist are on our resources page.
The legal duties behind it
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2. Employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. Read the section.
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3. Every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to their employees at work (and to others affected by the business). Read the regulation.
- HSE guidance. HSE states that employers must manage health and safety risks before people work alone, including self-employed people contracted to work for them, and that lone working is not prohibited. See Lone working: protect those working alone and the leaflet Protecting lone workers (INDG73).
- Other sites. When a worker is at another employer's premises, HSE says you must ask that employer about the risks and control measures there.
HSE guidance is advice rather than law, but it is the benchmark an inspector will use. Your sector regulator may add expectations of its own.
What a lone-working policy should cover
1. Purpose, scope and responsibilities
Say who the policy applies to (employees, agency staff, contractors, volunteers) and what counts as lone working in your organisation: working at a fixed base alone, working away from base, working out of hours. Name the roles responsible: the director who owns it, managers who apply it, and workers' own duties to follow it and speak up.
2. Risk assessment
Describe how each lone-working activity is assessed and who does it. HSE points to risks such as violence, stress and mental health, a person's medical suitability to work alone, and the workplace itself, for example if it is rural or isolated. Record the result, and review it after any incident and at least annually. Our risk assessment walk-through shows how.
3. Who may work alone, and who may not
Set out any work that must never be done alone, and any worker (new starters, those with certain medical conditions, those still in training) who needs closer supervision first. HSE says new workers will usually need to be supervised at first, particularly while training. It also lists a few kinds of high-risk work that need at least one other person present, such as work in a confined space, near exposed live electricity conductors or with fumigation, so check your own list against its page on managing the risks.
4. Keeping in touch
Define the arrangement: scheduled check-ins, how often, by what channel, and who is told when a worker finishes. State what counts as a valid check-in and what happens if the worker has no signal. See designing check-in schedules and choosing a channel.
5. Missed check-ins and escalation
This is where most policies are vague. Write down the order: reminder, a call to the worker, then named contacts in sequence, each with a stated time to respond, and what the last person in the chain must do. Name deputies for when people are on leave. Our page on what to do when a lone worker misses a check-in gives a worked procedure, and building an escalation ladder goes into detail.
6. Emergencies
Anyone who believes there is an immediate threat to life should call 999. A check-in system or app is not a substitute.
Also say who calls the emergency services when a worker cannot, and what information they will need (name, last known location, vehicle, job details).
7. Equipment and technology
List the tools you use (phones, alarms, check-in software) and who is trained on them. Include testing: HSE asks employers to test systems and emergency procedures regularly.
8. Violence and aggression
Cover how staff are trained to spot and avoid escalation, how visits with a known history are handled, and how incidents are reported. HSE's page on violence and lone working is a good reference.
9. Training and information
Record what training each group receives and when it is refreshed. Make the policy easy to find and ask workers to confirm they have read it.
10. Privacy and monitoring
If you track, call or record anything, explain what, why and for how long, and keep your data protection paperwork in step. See monitoring, privacy and employee confidence.
11. Incident reporting, review and record-keeping
Say how incidents and near misses are recorded and reviewed, which incidents you must report to the authorities, and how often the policy is reviewed.
Making the policy work in practice
A policy fails when nobody knows how to follow it. Three habits help:
- Test it. Run a drill where a "worker" deliberately misses a check and see how long the right person takes to act.
- Keep contacts current. Names, mobile numbers and cover arrangements go stale quickly.
- Keep evidence. A dated record of each check, each follow-up and each outcome is the best proof that the policy is applied.
If you want the process to run itself, NALW schedules the check-ins, follows up on missed responses and records every step. It does not replace your policy or your judgement, and it is not a BS 8484 service; see standards. Plans start at £49 a month for up to 3 workers; see pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Do I legally need a lone-working policy?
No law says you must have a document with that title. You do have to assess and manage the risks of lone working, and if you employ five or more people you must record the significant findings of your risk assessment (regulation 3(6)). A policy is the usual way to set out the controls.
Can I just copy the template?
Treat it as a draft. A policy that does not match what your people actually do is worse than none, because it creates an obligation you are not meeting.
Who should sign it off?
A director or senior manager with authority over health and safety, after talking to the people who do the work. Talking to the people who do the work is good practice.
Should the policy mention BS 8484?
Only if you use a service that claims it, or your insurer or client asks. Most policies simply describe the controls in use.
How often should it be reviewed?
At least yearly, and after any incident, change of work pattern or change of system.
Sources
- HSE, Protecting lone workers (INDG73); Lone working: employers; Violence
- legislation.gov.uk, HSWA 1974 s.2; MHSWR 1999 reg. 3