Section 3:
Lone working
One in three workers are alone — and feel exposed
In our Lone Worker Landscape Report (2024), we found that 15% of surveyed workers in North America now work alone a lot more frequently post COVID. In the same report, around 46% of executives said that they believed that the number of lone workers in their organization would increase over the next 2-3 years.
What is a lone worker?
For the purposes of this survey, we are using the following definition:
When an employee works physically isolated and cannot reach their colleagues without a phone or via radio during all or part of the workday, the employee is considered a lone worker.
Over a third of workers
In this Workplace Safety and Sustainability survey, we discovered that 35% of workers in the US and Canada operated as lone workers, and this figure was the same in the UK.
In a positive turn, 69% of lone workers in the USA and Canada felt that their employer takes great responsibility for their safety, but only 45% ‘Strongly Agree’. We noted that satisfaction was higher among Canada (73%) vs. USA (67%) .
Contrast this with the fact that among ALL workers in the USA and Canada (including those on-site) 81% say they feel safe at work, with 53% strongly agreeing. This would appear to show a clear confidence gap for lone workers.
What are lone workers most concerned about?
One of the key insights in this section of the survey was the risks that most concerned lone workers. For lone workers in the US, ‘Fatigue’ and ‘Stress/mental health issues’ were tied for top concerns, followed by ‘Accidents/falls.’
In Canada, lone workers were most concerned with ‘Fatigue’, followed by ‘Stress/mental health issues’ and then both ‘Environmental risk’ (fire, floods, storms) and ‘Bad health requiring immediate care.’ Chemical exposure was identified by both groups as being of least concern, especially among US workers.
Comparisons with UK and Ireland
Among respondents in our UK/Ireland survey, ‘Fatigue’ was of the most concern, followed by ‘Stress and mental health issues’. Environmental risks and chemical exposure were listed as being of least concern, especially among Irish lone workers.
Summary of Section 3
- 1 in 3 workers in the USA and Canada are lone workers.
- Lone worker concerns differ between the US and Canada, but ‘Fatigue’ ranks first for both countries.