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Health and Safety Directorate
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Lone Working

Background

Establishing a healthy and safe working environment for those working alone / out of hours can be different from organising the health & safety of others at work. It will often be safe to work alone however, the law requires QMUL to think about and deal with any health and safety risks before people are allowed to lone work.
Consideration should be given to:-

  • Assessing possible areas of risk (such as manual handling, threat of violence etc.)
  • The suitability of the individual to work alone
  • Whether the workplace itself presents a risk to them
  • Having control measures in place to keep in touch and be alerted to any issues from lone workers

Queen Mary Documents

Lone Working Out of Hours Working H&S Policy describes the requirements that must be adhered to for all staff and students and explains the procedures that all Faculties and Directorates must apply in order to achieve compliance with the policy.

Guidance for Lone and Out of Hours Working document aims to provide user friendly information that can be used in order to manage risks to lone and out of ours workers. The document provides a guide for identifying lone and out of hours workers and the types of hazards they may be exposed to. This information can then be used to identify control measures which can be built into the risk assessments relating to the tasks that may be carried out within your schools, institutes or directorates by lone / out of hours workers. Example control measures are provided in the guidance document. 

The Lone Worker Identification Tool - this is a standalone version of the document included within the above guidance document. 

Points to consider

It is essential that lone workers understand the policy and guidance and abide by the local rules in force for the control of lone working in their area. Before seeking consent to lone work individuals should consider the following:

  1. Do you really need to lone work or can working practices be altered so as to avoid it.
  2. Have you confirmed that the lone working activity is not prohibited either within the policy or within your Faculty or Directorate?
  3. Has the risk assessment covering lone working been completed?
  4. Are all control measures identified within the lone working risk assessment in place before lone working begins (such as emergency contacts, lone working alarms, the use of buddy systems etc.?)

References

HSE Guidance on Working Alone: - http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg73.pdf
http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/workalone.htm

For Advice and Assistance at QMUL, contact the H&S Manager / Advisor for your Faculty / PS or the subject lead at http://www.hsd.qmul.ac.uk/contact-us/

All H&S staff can be contacted via the help desk at hs-helpdesk@qmul.ac.uk

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