Guide
Lone working risk assessment
A lone working risk assessment asks what happens if the person is hurt and nobody else is there. Cleaning a closed building, and working in a void where the exit could be blocked, are different problems from a busy site.
There is no lone-working regulation
The library says this plainly, and it is right to repeat it: there is no lone-working regulation. The duty to assess the risk sits under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3. A policy that says “avoid lone working” without saying how this person checks in has not assessed the job.
Do not treat a cupboard or a floor void as a confined space unless there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of serious injury from the enclosure. The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 apply when that test is met. Ordinary restricted access still needs light, a check-in, and a second person if the exit could be blocked.
No law requires a document called a RAMS. The duty is to assess risk under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3, and to plan the work safely.
Every hazard below is from the RAMSPack library and is marked draft – awaiting competent review. Change it for the site. It is not HSE approved.
Lone working in a closed building
From the cleaning library, task: Commercial office clean. Who might be harmed: Cleaners
Before controls: 8 Medium. After controls: 4 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- There is no lone-working regulation. Assess it under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
- Agree a check-in with a supervisor. Know how to leave the building.
- Do not work at height alone. Report anyone who should not be in the building.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992; Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981.
Working in a cupboard, loft, or floor void with poor access
From the plumber library, task: Leak repair. Who might be harmed: Operatives
Before controls: 12 Medium. After controls: 6 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- A floor void or cupboard is not automatically a confined space. Apply the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 if there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of serious injury from the enclosure, such as fume, oxygen deficiency, or drowning.
- If it is a confined space, do not enter until a separate confined-space assessment and a safe system are in place.
- For ordinary restricted access, provide light, agree a check-in, and do not work alone if the exit could be blocked.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981; Confined Spaces Regulations 1997.
Draft the office-clean RAMS, including lone working