The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 impose a duty on employers to care for the health and safety of their workers while they are working. This includes all lone workers, including people working from home.
As part of this duty, employers must conduct risk assessments. They must act on the assessments’ outcomes, for example, by avoiding or controlling risks. If you have 5 or more employees, you must write down the significant findings of your risk assessments. Employers aren’t required to perform a separate risk assessment for lone workers, but they must consider health and safety risks for all employees, which means they must consider the risks associated specifically with lone working. Conducting separate risk assessments for lone workers can be an effective way of achieving this.
Employees have a corresponding duty under health and safety law to care for their own health and safety while at work, and for that of others. They must also cooperate with their employer as the employer endeavours to meet their health and safety obligations.
For more information on these responsibilities, read Health and safety.