Lone Working and Remote Site Safety Management

Course overview

Course outline

1. 1Day One: Understanding Lone and Remote Working

   • Defining Lone Working: Who works alone, when and where across different industries
   • Remote and Isolated Sites: Distance, terrain, climate and limited emergency access
   • Legal Duties and Good Practice: Employer responsibilities, employee duties and recognised guidance
   • Learning from Incidents: Analysis of serious events involving lone and remote workers
   • Mapping Lone Working Activities: Identifying roles, tasks, schedules and locations at risk
   • The Role of Leadership: Setting expectations and resources for lone worker safety
   • Group Activity: Creating a lone working inventory for a sample organisation
2. 2Day Two: Risk Assessment for Lone Workers

   • Hazard Categories: Task, environment, equipment, health, travel and violence hazards
   • Individual Factors: Medical conditions, experience, training, age and new or expectant workers
   • Tasks That Must Not Be Done Alone: Confined spaces, live electrical work, work at height and similar high-risk activities
   • Violence and Aggression: Assessing risks for staff dealing with the public or handling cash and assets
   • Driving and Travel Risks: Journey planning, fatigue, breakdowns and adverse conditions
   • Recording and Reviewing Assessments: Keeping assessments current as conditions change
   • Practical Exercise: Completing risk assessments for three realistic lone working scenarios
3. 3Day Three: Safe Systems of Work and Monitoring

   • Hierarchy of Controls for Lone Working: Eliminating, reducing and managing isolation risks
   • Safe Systems of Work: Permits, method statements, pre-task checks and authorisation to proceed
   • Check-In and Check-Out Procedures: Buddy systems, scheduled calls and missed-check escalation
   • Lone Worker Devices and Applications: Alarms, man-down detection, GPS location and satellite options
   • Communication in Poor Coverage Areas: Radio, satellite and planned contact points
   • Monitoring Centres and Control Rooms: Roles, response times and record keeping
   • Workshop: Designing a monitoring and escalation process for a remote maintenance team
4. 4Day Four: Emergency Preparedness and Response

   • Emergency Scenarios: Injury, sudden illness, vehicle incidents, fire, extreme weather and assault
   • Emergency Response Planning: Roles, contact trees, response times and coordination with external services
   • First Aid and Survival Provision: Kits, training and equipment for isolated locations
   • Search and Recovery Arrangements: When a lone worker cannot be contacted
   • Medical Evacuation Considerations: Remote sites, offshore and desert environments
   • Post-Incident Actions: Investigation, support for affected staff and learning
   • Table-Top Drill: Responding to a missed check-in at a remote installation
5. 5Day Five: Human Factors, Wellbeing and Policy

   • Fatigue Management: Shift patterns, long drives and recognising impaired alertness
   • Psychological Wellbeing: Isolation, stress and maintaining connection with remote employees
   • Supervising People You Cannot See: Engagement, trust and performance conversations
   • Training and Competence: Preparing lone workers for decision-making under pressure
   • Developing a Lone Working Policy: Structure, responsibilities, procedures and review
   • Auditing Lone Working Arrangements: Inspection checklists and performance indicators
   • Final Workshop: Drafting a lone working policy and action plan for participants' organisations