What Lone Working Is and Who Does It

A lone worker is a person who works by themselves without close or direct supervision. This is the meaning used in much safety guidance, for example the guidance on lone working published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the safety regulator in Great Britain. Many other countries use a similar idea.

Being a lone worker does not mean you are always far away from people. A cleaner working alone on one floor of a busy office building can be a lone worker. So can a security guard on a night patrol, or a sales representative visiting customers. What matters is that nobody from your team can see you or help you quickly if something goes wrong.

Who this course is for

The course is for people who work alone some or all of the time, and for the supervisors who plan and support their work. It teaches you how to recognise the risks of working alone, how to plan lone work, how to stay in contact, what to do when something goes wrong, and how to work safely from home.

When you finish, you receive a certificate of completion from iCompetent. This is awareness training. It is not a regulated qualification, and it does not replace the training your employer gives you for your own tasks, equipment and site.