> Disclaimer: SiteKiln gives you plain-English information, not legal or health and safety advice. Always follow your site-specific risk assessments and talk to a qualified professional.
The short version
The Management Regs say your employer (or the firm in charge) must assess and control the risks before anyone works alone -- on site, on the road, at home, anywhere.
HSE's INDG73 guidance makes it clear: lone workers face the same hazards as everyone else, but with higher consequences if something goes wrong, so they need training, supervision, monitoring and a way to get help.
Why it matters
In construction, lone working is common: first-in setting up, last-out locking up, small jobs in empty buildings, call-outs, weekend work, remote sites.
If you have a fall, an electric shock, a medical event, or you run into violence or abuse, there might be no one to raise the alarm -- that's exactly what the law is trying to avoid.
Done properly, lone working can be safe; done badly, it's you lying on the deck with no one coming because nobody even knows you're there.
What the law actually says about lone working
There's no law that bans lone working, but there are clear duties:
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, employers must ensure their people's health, safety and welfare so far as reasonably practicable -- that includes lone workers.
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must:
- Do suitable and sufficient risk assessments for work activities, including where people work alone.
- Put in place measures to eliminate or control those risks before lone working goes ahead.
- Provide appropriate training, supervision, monitoring and support for lone workers.
HSE's INDG73 and lone-working webpages spell this out in plain terms: you must manage the risk to lone workers, keep in touch with them, and have a way to respond if something happens.
What employers should do before letting you work alone
HSE say employers should systematically look at:
Is lone working suitable at all?
- Some high-risk tasks should never be done alone -- e.g. confined spaces, certain hot works, high-risk work at height, some work with hazardous substances or complex lifting operations.
- Risk assessment should decide where another person must be present, not you on the day.
The hazards and tasks
- All the usual construction hazards -- height, plant, electricity, manual handling, violence, remote locations -- but with "nobody else there" added in.
The worker
- Skills, experience, training level and ability to cope with foreseeable emergencies.
- Any medical conditions that might make lone working unsafe (e.g. epilepsy, serious heart conditions) -- medical advice can be needed.
Supervision and monitoring
- How you'll be supervised (especially if new to the job or the risks).
- How and how often you'll check in -- phone, radio, lone-worker device, regular calls, site visits.
Emergency arrangements
- How you get help if you're injured, feel unsafe or something goes wrong.
- How the employer will respond if you miss a check-in or your device triggers an alarm.
The key point from INDG73: lone workers must not be put at greater risk just because they work alone, and it's the employer's job to organise safe working -- not your job to decide whether it's safe enough on the day.
Your rights and responsibilities as a lone worker
From HSE's guidance and the Management Regs:
You should reasonably expect:
- That your job has actually been risk-assessed for lone working, not just assumed safe.
- Training that covers both the task and how lone working changes it (e.g. what to do in an emergency, violence risks, breakdowns).
- A clear way to keep in touch -- check-ins, phone/radio contact, or a lone-worker system -- and clear rules on how often you use it.
- Basic emergency arrangements that make sense for where you are (access to first aid, knowing where you are if you need 999, someone who will come if you don't respond).
You're expected to:
- Follow the safety procedures, training, and check-in system -- don't skip calls because you're "busy".
- Use any equipment or lone-worker devices provided properly, and keep them charged/working.
- Raise concerns if you think the lone-working setup doesn't match the actual risk (e.g. high-risk tasks with no backup).
If the risk assessment shows it can't be made safe for one person, the employer should change the job or add people -- you shouldn't be leaned on to "just get it done" solo anyway.
When lone working should be a red flag
Situations where alarm bells should ring if you're asked to work alone:
- High-risk work at height, especially where a fall is possible and rescue would be difficult.
- Confined spaces, or suspect confined spaces (tanks, voids, ducts, sewers).
- Hot works in high-risk areas (voids, timber frames, roof spaces) with no one else around.
- Working with volatile customers or in areas where violence is a realistic risk (some domestic jobs, security work, isolated locations).
- Remote sites with poor phone signal and no clear check-in or rescue plan.
Those are the kinds of tasks INDG73 and HSE's guidance highlight as needing extra controls or a second person -- sometimes lone working just isn't appropriate.
Lone working -- quick check
Before you agree to work alone, ask yourself:
Signal and contact: Do I have a reliable way to contact someone (phone/radio/device) that actually works where I'll be?
Check-ins: Is there a clear check-in system (who I call, how often, and what they do if I don't respond)?
Task risk: Has this actual job been thought through for lone working -- and is it the kind of work HSE says should not be done alone (confined spaces, high-risk height, etc.)?
Emergency plan: If I'm hurt or threatened, do I know exactly what I'm supposed to do and how help will get to me?
If you can't tick yes to all four, lone working on that job probably isn't being managed properly.
What to do next
- Set up a simple check-in system for any job where you or your team work alone -- even a timed phone call every couple of hours is better than nothing.
- Before your next lone-working job, run through the quick check in this guide: signal, check-ins, task risk, emergency plan.
- Make sure your phone is charged and you've got signal where you'll be working -- if not, consider a lone-worker device.
- Tell someone exactly where you're working and when you expect to finish -- every time.
- Never do confined space entry, high-risk height work or complex lifting alone, no matter how straightforward it seems.
Sources
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 -- duty to risk assess and manage lone-working risks.
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 -- general duties of employers.
- HSE -- INDG73 "Protecting lone workers: How to manage the risks of working alone".
Disclaimer
This guide is general information for small UK construction businesses and trades, not formal legal advice.
SiteKiln is not a law firm and this page is not a substitute for getting advice on your specific situation.
Health and safety law and HSE guidance on lone working are updated from time to time, and how they apply will always depend on the exact facts of the job, the tasks involved and your role.
If you're being pushed into unsafe lone working, or there's been a serious incident while you were working alone, get specific advice from a competent health and safety professional or solicitor before you make big decisions.
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