Section 3:
Lone working
One in three workers are alone — and face uneven protection
In our Lone Worker Landscape Report (2024), we found that 15% of surveyed workers in the UK now work alone a lot more frequently post COVID. In the same report, 46% of executives said that they believed that the number of lone workers in their organisation 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 UK and Ireland operated as lone workers.
In a positive turn, 68% of lone workers in the UK and Ireland felt that their employer takes great responsibility for their safety, but only 41% ‘Strongly Agree’. We noted that satisfaction was higher among UK vs. Irish lone workers.
Contrast this with the fact that among ALL workers in the UK and Ireland (including those on-site) 82% 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 both sets of lone workers, ‘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.
However, we can see that the level of concern varies between the UK and Ireland for several risk factors.
Broken down to individual countries, the concerns are ranked as follows:
UK
1. Fatigue
2. Aggression/ assaults from others
3. Stress and mental health issues
Ireland
1. Fatigue
2. Accidents/ falls
3. Stress and mental health issues
Fear of aggression/assaults from others was nearly 10% higher in the UK vs. Ireland among lone workers.
Comparisons with North America
Incidentally, this was higher than results we received from our North American- focused survey, of which 41% would prefer digital reporting. Our results also showed that the UK and Ireland as a whole were slightly further ahead in digital adoption than the USA and Canada.
Summary of Section 3
- 1 in 3 workers in the UK and Ireland are lone workers.
- Lone worker concerns differ between the UK and Ireland, but ‘Fatigue’ ranks first for both countries.