Posted By carol hanks How about entry into confined spaces Carol

Posted By J Knight Hi Folks, Sorry to be a pedant here, but if there is no likelihood of harm then its not a confined space as defined; it might be an enclosed space, or a small space, or whatever, but its not a confined space. It is possible to decide to enter a confined space without back-up, but there does need to be a rescue plan, and its hard to see how that would work in a true lone-worker situation. Likewise, working at height where rescue might be needed (such as work involving harnesses) is not advised for people working on their own. Neither of these is 'banned', very little is, but in both cases I would need to have a very good reason indeed for sending somebody out on their own, John

Posted By Chris Jerman Ah, JK - not so fast my friend. Unfortunately, there are more things that can befall you than exposure to external hazards. Taking the wider picture, we have at the very least a moral duty to cater for those situations where someone may suffer a health problem (stroke, CA, etc etc) whilst in an enclosed space where self recovery would be very difficult. Lone working is of course totally permissible and widespread. Security guards for example. We do not have to cater for their every health need, but a caring employer may wish to provide a 'man down' system even thought the employee is merely watching screens. So before we rule out going into non-hazardous confined spaces as a non issue, we have to consider what else may occur in there. This is not a debate over the definition of confined space. Let's not forget that the original question was about LW in general and not purely about Conf Spaces - before we all get carried away and answer the question that we'd like to have been asked. Fair? C

Posted By J Knight I'd be interested in what sparked the original query. I've had people tell me that working alone where there's a threat (or perceived) threat of violence is 'banned', and yet as Chris points out there's hundreds of lone workers in the security industry, not to mention police etc etc. Its often useful to try and unpick people's anxieties when they pose questions or make statements about lone working; what's really bothering them, and what's the most effective thing to do about it? For example, home-care managers often assume that where there's a risk of violence the best thing to do is send two workers in; I've known this to result in nothing more positive than a doubling of the casualty figures. Its better to offer effective training, proper planning and so on, John

Posted By J Knight Mark, In that situation you were right, your boss has been misled, John

Posted By Descarte from an ex environmental consultancy viewpoint, we used to disallow lone working near open water such as lakes and rivers

Posted By Shane J There is more than likely legislation regarding requirements for emergency procedures to be in place. Most of the normal emergency procedures require someone to alert the emergency services in the event of an accident, this would be impossible to apply to a lone worker situation.

Posted By Shane J I think Marc should elaborate on the "lone work" being carried out for anything useful to be suggested. Other wise it's like shooting fish in the dark.

Posted By Chris Jerman Shane, a tragic example indeed. I'd urge people to go back to my first posting and the example tests for lone work. In this case, "is an incident more likey to occur?" the answer with hindsight would be yes, as if it had been a two person job, the driver would not have left the cab. As to whether or not it is reasonable to anticipate someone (presumably competent) being run over by their own vehicle, we'll leave the authorities to determine given the facts. We know that it CAN happen, but the assessment of such an instance would be a very local one - slopes, customary practice etc etc. A very well known supermarket had a similar event where a driver was run over when trying to get back into his runaway lorry. All of the controls were in place - but at the end of the day, he did not apply the parking brake as instructed under the SSOW. Lone working was allowed and there was no good reason why not. How far do we have to go - well ask your Mum "What do you know about parking your car on a slope?" I bet the answer includes something about the handbrake. We have to draw a line when there is clearly a professional skill dependancy involved.

Posted By Paul Hi Mark, make sure you get the procedures in place, you don't want a Paul Burns case on your hands and conscience? go to www.cbsafetyserviceltd.co.uk