Lone working

If you are planning to or required to work alone (either during normal working hours or out of hours) you must inform your manager if you have a medical condition or disability or are taking any medicines which might affect your safety when working alone so that a risk assessment can be undertaken and if necessary appropriate measures to mitigate any risk put in place.

Relevant medical conditions or disabilities are ones that may:

• Cause loss of consciousness or sudden incapacity e.g. epilepsy, diabetes, some cardiac arrhythmias
• Reduce a person’s awareness of emergency alarms e.g. impaired hearing or vision
• Make it difficult for a person to rapidly evacuate a building without assistance

You do not need to disclose the details of any diagnosis/medical condition which causes the impairment; you should however provide your manager with sufficient information on the nature of the resulting impairment to assess the risk, if any, posed by lone working. No disclosure need be made for medical conditions where there is sound reason to believe the condition will not pose risk e.g. epilepsy that is fully controlled on medication, diabetes treated by diet alone.

If you are uncertain whether to disclose an impairment, you can contact Occupational Health for advice.

If your manager requires medical advice to assist the lone working risk assessment process or to specify measures to mitigate risk so as to safely permit lone working, they will refer to Occupational Health.