Although working alone is not against the law in the UK, as an employer, it’s your duty to carefully consider and deal with any health and safety risks that your employees may experience when working alone – and implement the appropriate risk control procedures to deal with them.
To help you do so – here’s some simple steps on how to avoid the potential risks that lone working can hold.
Step 1: Ask – Get input from your employees that work alone regularly and ask them what they believe the potential risks to be.
Step 2: Check – Take time to review all current risk control procedures in place – identify what is still working and regularly review them following any significant workplace changes or alterations.
Step 3: Assess The Risks – Identify and record the risks of your workplace, manual handling of items, potential violence and medical conditions of individuals working alone.
Step 4: Consider – Factor in the impact of the work location and type of work involved.
Step 5: Evaluate – Assess and monitor levels of employee experience and training and ensure this is regularly refreshed.
Step 6: Keep Up To Date – Make sure you are always in regular contact with your staff that are working alone – this is invaluable when helping to manage the stress of lone workers.
Step 7: Document – If you have more than 5 employees in your workplace, it’s a legal requirement to document risk assessments. Although not legal for under 5 employees, it is very good working practice to keep a record regardless.
Step 8: Annual Risk Assessment – Avoid putting yourself and your lone workers at risk by carrying out an annual risk assessment review.
Step 9: Create A Safety Guide – Having a safety guide in place is a really important and valuable resource for you and your employees – it can help employees to understand the risks that they may face, especially when lone working.
Step 10: Ensure You’re Insured! – Finally, one of the most important steps – make sure you have the correct commercial insurance policy in place for your business, that it covers the complete range of risks that your business encounters.
If you’re looking for advice on finding the best insurance package for your business, get in touch with us here at Omni Davis. One of our business insurance specialists would be more than happy to help.
Tel: 01403 785775 Email: info@omnidavis.co.uk
