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📋 Toolbox Talk  ·  Health & Safety

Lone Working:
Safe When You're on Your Own

Risk assessment for lone workers, check-in procedures, personal safety devices, employer duty of care and what to do in an emergency.

✅ Verified August 2026📚 HSE · HSWA 1974 · Management Regs 1999🇬🇧 Applies across the UKukworkrights.co.uk
Who lone works

What counts as lone working?

  • Anyone working without close or direct supervision — either alone at a fixed location or in the field
  • Common examples: home workers, delivery drivers, community nurses, estate agents, cleaners, security guards, engineers, care workers
  • Around 6 million people in the UK lone work at some point in their working week
  • Lone workers face the same risks as other workers — plus the additional risk of having no immediate help available
  • Employers must carry out a specific risk assessment for lone working
  • Some jobs should never be done alone — where the risk is too high even with controls (e.g. confined space entry, live electrical work)

⚠ Your employer must assess the risk

A general risk assessment is not sufficient. Lone working must be specifically assessed — who, where, when, what could go wrong, and how will it be managed.
Controls

Keeping lone workers safe

1
Check-in system

Regular check-ins by phone, app or radio at agreed intervals. If a check-in is missed, a pre-agreed escalation procedure must kick in.

2
Personal safety devices

Lone worker devices with GPS tracking, panic button, man-down detection and automatic escalation to a monitoring centre.

3
Mobile phone with signal check

Confirm adequate mobile coverage at the work location before sending a lone worker. Provide a satellite phone or radio where coverage is poor.

4
Safe travel and location sharing

Workers should share their location and expected return time. A supervisor should always know where a lone worker is.

5
Training for violence and aggression

Lone workers in customer-facing or domiciliary roles face higher risks of violence. Training in de-escalation and safe exit is essential.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Can I refuse to lone work if I think it's unsafe?
Yes. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, you have the right to refuse work you believe poses a serious and imminent risk. If adequate controls for lone working are not in place, raise it with your supervisor or through your safety rep before refusing — but your right to refuse remains.
Is my employer responsible for my safety when I work from home?
Yes. Working from home is a form of lone working. Your employer must assess the risks of home working — including your workstation, electrical safety and stress — and take reasonable steps to control them. This applies even if the home working is informal.
Do I have to be contactable at all times when lone working?
You must be able to contact and be contacted in an emergency — this is a safety requirement. However, your employer cannot require you to be contactable 24/7 beyond reasonable working hours without additional working time protections in place.
Who pays for lone worker safety devices?
Your employer must provide them — a lone worker device is PPE for the purpose of personal safety. You should not be expected to fund your own lone worker protection.
For whoever runs this talk

Delivery notes & attendance record

Suggested length: 10 minutes. A toolbox talk is a short briefing on one hazard, given by a supervisor to the crew doing the work.

Before you start

Lone working is not illegal — unassessed lone working is the problem. Cover what happens if someone does not check in, because that is usually the gap.

Questions to ask the team
  1. Who works alone here, and does everyone know when they do?
  2. What is our check-in arrangement and what happens if a check-in is missed?
  3. What would you do if you felt threatened while working alone?
  4. Is there anywhere on our sites with no phone signal?
The law behind this talk

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (regs. 3 and 10); Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 s.2(2)(c)

Employers must give workers comprehensible information, instruction and training on the risks they face — Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 s.2(2)(c) and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 reg. 10. Keep the record below as evidence that you did.

Attendance record
TopicLone Working: Safe When You're on Your Own
Date
Site / location
Delivered by
Actions agreed
Next talk due
Attendees
NameSignature

Use the Print handout button to print this record. General guidance only, not legal advice.

Free H&S guidance

Lone Working
free guidance

Get plain-English guidance on your rights and your employer's legal duties.

HSE Infoline
0300 003 1747
hse.gov.uk
ACAS
0300 123 1100
acas.org.uk
Citizens Advice
0800 144 8848
citizensadvice.org.uk
UK Work Rights
Lone Working
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-loneworking.html

General guidance only — not legal advice · Verified August 2026 · © UK Work Rights Ltd · Company No. 17228507 · ICO registered · Registered office: 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ
Written and maintained by Matt Thompson, founder