NHSScotland 'Once for Scotland' Workforce Policies - Managing Health at Work - Public Consultation

9. Lone Working Policy

9.1. Aim

9.1.1. The policy aims to provide a framework to:

• increase staff awareness of safety issues relating to lone working
• appropriately support staff who have to work alone
• assess and manage the risks relating to lone working
• encourage full reporting and recording of all adverse incidents relating to lone working
• reduce the number of incidents and injuries to staff related to lone working.

9.2. Scope

9.2.1. This policy applies to all employees. It also applies to bank, secondees, agency, sessional workers, volunteers, contractors, and those on placement, such as trainees, students, or individuals undertaking work experience.

9.2.2. Reference to employees applies to all these groups unless otherwise stated.

9.2.3. This policy complies with current legislation and meets the aims of the Public Sector Equality Duty of the Equality Act 2010

9.3. Definitions

9.3.1. Lone workers are defined by the Health and Safety Executive as “Those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision”.

9.3.2. Lone working can occur anywhere, at any time and within any group of staff.

9.3.3. Some examples are:

• working alone from a fixed base including home working
• working separately from other colleagues on the same premises or outside normal hours, for example, security and domestic staff
• working away from a fixed base, for example, agile and community health care workers
• mobile workers, for example, drivers
• those who travel for work activities.

9.4. Roles and responsibilities

9.4.1. There is a range of standard expectations which underpin all policies. Read more about standard roles and responsibilities. In addition, the following specific responsibilities apply to this policy.

9.4.2. Employer

9.4.3. The chief executive has overall responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of staff, and as the accountable officer, has a duty to provide sufficient resources to allow implementation of the Lone Working Policy.

9.4.4. The employer will

• Make sure that there are arrangements for identifying, evaluating and managing risk associated with lone working
• Provide resources for putting the policy into practice
• Make sure that there are arrangements for monitoring incidents linked to lone working and that the Board regularly reviews the effectiveness of the policy

9.4.5. Manager

9.4.6. The manager will:

• Make sure that all employees are aware of the policy
• Make sure that risk assessments are carried out and reviewed regularly
• Put procedures and safe systems of work into practice which are designed to eliminate or reduce the risks associated with working alone
• Make sure that employees identified as being at risk are given appropriate information, instruction and training, including training at induction, updates and refresher training as necessary
• Make sure that appropriate support is given to employees involved in any incident
• Manage the effectiveness of preventative measures through an effective system of reporting, investigating and recording incidents.

9.4.7. Employee

9.4.8. The employee will:

• Take reasonable care of themselves whist lone working
• Follow procedures designed for safe working
• Report all violence or aggression incidents and risks
• Take part in training designed to meet the requirements of the policy
• Report any hazards or any concerns about working alone.

9.5. Assessing risk

9.5.1. Suitable and sufficient risk assessments should ensure areas have effective control measures in place for lone worker safety issues. The risk assessment should take account of both normal work and foreseeable issues be reviewed regularly, based on the level of risk, and communicated with employees.

9.6. Managing risk

9.6.1. Risks should be reduced to the lowest level that is reasonably practicable. Each type of lone-working situation will need to be assessed with a person-centred approach to inform the necessary action.

9.7. Reporting and recording

9.7.1. Employees should report all incidents, including near misses, to their manager at the earliest opportunity. These should be reported on the appropriate system and the manager should investigate all reports. In order to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of this policy and associated local protocols, local statistics and incident reports should be reviewed regularly.

9.8. Monitoring and review

9.8.1. Procedures must be put in place to monitor lone workers as effective means of communication are essential. These may include:

• Supervisors periodically checking and observing staff following lone working protocols
• Pre-agreed intervals of regular contact between lone workers and supervisors
• Use of lone working technology e.g. manually operated or automatic warning devices which trigger if specific signals are not received periodically from the lone worker
• Implementing robust systems to ensure that a lone worker has returned to their base or home once their task is completed.

9.8.2. Audits should be carried out on a regular basis or before any significant changes of the local Lone Working procedures to ensure they are still suitable and sufficient to minimise the risk to staff, visitors and contractors who may require to work alone.

9.9. Supporting documentation

It is proposed that the supporting documents listed below will be developed to support the policy. Supporting documents are not part of the consultation. These will be drafted following the consultation when responses have been analysed and the policy is developed in a final draft.

• Employee guide
  Descriptor: guide to help employees use and understand the Lone Working Policy.

• Manager guide
  Descriptor: guide to help managers use and understand the Lone Working Policy.

• Lone Working Policy Risk Assessment
  Descriptor: assess and manage the risks relating to lone working. The lone working and work-related driving risk policy will be amalgamated to cover both scenarios

9.10. Consultation questions

We are inviting responses to this consultation using the Scottish Government’s consultation hub. The following questions are set.

In your response, all questions have the option to answer yes or no. You are invited to provide further comment in a free text box. If you wish to make specific reference to a section of the policy, please quote the relevant numbered line in this consultation document.

1. Do you feel there are any gaps in the policy?

2. Do you feel there are any gaps in the proposed list of supporting documents?

3. Do you have any other comments to make on the policy?

4. Do you have any views on the potential impacts of this policy on equalities groups?

It is against the law to discriminate against someone because of: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. These are protected characteristics under the Equality Act, 2010.