Lone Working Policy & Procedure template

2. Policy statement

{{org.name}} will not ask anyone to work alone until the risks of doing so have been assessed and controlled. Where the assessment shows a task cannot be done safely by one person, it will not be done by one person — no deadline or staffing gap overrides that.

Lone workers have the same right to a safe working environment as everyone else, and the same duty to follow the arrangements in this policy, including check-ins.

3. Who counts as a lone worker

For this policy, a lone worker is anyone who works without close or direct supervision, for any part of their working time. At {{org.name}} this includes:

• Staff who open or close [site name] alone, or work a single-staffed shift.
• Staff who visit clients, customers, or patients at their homes or premises: [roles].
• Staff who travel alone for work between sites or appointments.
• Staff who work outside normal hours — early, late, or weekends — when the building is otherwise empty.
• Homeworkers carrying out [types of work] away from a {{org.name}} site.

4. Responsibilities

• [Name/role] owns this policy, the lone working risk assessments, and the check-in system.
• Managers: identify lone working in their team, apply the check-in arrangements to every lone shift or visit, and act immediately on a missed check-in.
• Lone workers: follow the check-in arrangements, carry a charged phone [or lone worker device], report incidents and near-misses, and stop work if they feel unsafe.
• All staff: never treat a missed check-in as "probably nothing" — escalate it.

5. Risk assessment for lone working

Before any role or task involves lone working, [name/role] completes a risk assessment covering three questions: the work (does the task involve machinery, chemicals, cash, working at height, or physical strain that needs a second person?), the person (are they trained, medically fit to work alone, and experienced enough to handle what could go wrong?), and the environment (is there mobile signal, safe access, adequate lighting, and a known risk of violence or aggression?).

The assessment names the controls: check-in frequency, equipment carried, tasks that are prohibited alone, and what the worker does if a situation deteriorates. It is reviewed [frequency, e.g. annually] and after any lone working incident.

6. Check-in and communication arrangements

• Every lone shift or visit has a named contact ([role, e.g. duty manager]) who knows where the lone worker is and when they are due to check in.
• Check-in method and frequency: [e.g. call or message at the start and end of each visit, and every [number] hours during a lone shift].
• Lone workers keep their calendar or visit log up to date so the named contact can locate them: [system].
• If a check-in is missed, the named contact calls the lone worker. No answer within [number] minutes triggers the escalation steps below.
• Escalation: call the worker's emergency contact, then visit or send someone to their last known location, then call 999 if there is reason to believe they are at risk. Log every escalation.

7. Emergency arrangements

• Lone workers carry [a charged mobile phone / lone worker alarm device] at all times and know how to summon help from every location they work in.
• If a lone worker feels threatened by a customer, client, or member of the public, they withdraw first and report afterwards — no task or property is worth an injury.
• First aid arrangements for lone workers: [describe — e.g. travel first aid kit, nearest first aider, what to do if injured alone].
• Accidents, near-misses, and threatening incidents during lone work are reported the same day under our accident and incident reporting procedure.

8. Training and communication

Everyone who works alone receives training on this policy before their first lone shift or visit: the check-in system, the escalation steps, dynamic risk assessment ("does this situation still feel safe?"), and how to withdraw from a deteriorating situation. Named contacts are trained on what a missed check-in requires of them.

Training is refreshed [frequency] and recorded against each person's name.

9. Records and review

Lone working risk assessments, check-in logs, escalation records, and training records are kept in [system/location] and retained for [period].

This policy is reviewed [frequency, e.g. annually], after any lone working incident or near-miss, and whenever roles, sites, or working patterns change materially. Owner: [name/role]. Next review due: [date].