Lone Working in Facilities Management: Risks and Practical Controls for Maintenance Engineers

Facilities management (FM) relies heavily on mobile service and maintenance engineers. Every day, engineers attend commercial premises, plant rooms, compounds, rooftops, utility areas and remote locations to inspect, service, maintain and repair equipment.

For experienced engineers, many of these activities are routine.

But there is an important question that can easily be overlooked:

“What happens if something goes wrong when nobody else is there?”

Lone working does not necessarily make an otherwise safe activity dangerous. However, it can significantly increase the consequences of an incident because immediate assistance, supervision or emergency support may not be available.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines lone workers as people who work by themselves without close or direct supervision and specifically identifies engineers as one of the groups commonly affected. HSE also recognises that lone workers can face greater risk because there may be nobody immediately available to help if something goes wrong.

Why Lone Working Is Particularly Relevant to FM

Facilities management engineers rarely work in one predictable environment.

An engineer may start the morning servicing equipment within an occupied commercial building and later attend an isolated plant compound, vacant property or rooftop installation.

The technical task might be identical, but the working environment can be completely different.

This is why lone-working risk should not simply be assessed by looking at an engineer's job title or normal activities. Consideration also needs to be given to the location, time of attendance, accessibility, communications, foreseeable emergencies and the availability of other people.

HSE guidance requires employers to manage risks before people work alone and specifically highlights the workplace itself, including rural or isolated locations, as an issue that should be considered. Where a lone worker attends somebody else's workplace, HSE also advises employers to obtain information about risks and control measures from the organisation responsible for that workplace.

The Task May Be Routine: The Circumstances May Not Be

Familiarity can sometimes create a false sense of security.

An engineer may have serviced the same type of pump, air-conditioning unit, electrical panel or mechanical system hundreds of times.

That experience is valuable, but it does not necessarily account for the conditions at today's location.

Imagine an engineer arriving at an isolated plant room late in the afternoon.

Mobile signal is poor. Access is through an unfamiliar building. Nobody from the client is present. The plant room contains mechanical and electrical equipment, lighting is limited and the engineer needs to use steps to reach part of the installation.

The maintenance task itself may be routine.

The overall risk profile is not.

This is where effective lone-working arrangements need to extend beyond simply giving an engineer a mobile phone.

Lone Working Risk Assessment for FM Service and Maintenance Engineers

The risks will depend upon the type of activity, but servicing and maintenance engineers can potentially encounter isolation, difficult access and egress, work at height, electrical or mechanical hazards, slips and trips, hazardous substances, unexpected plant conditions, poor lighting, extreme temperatures and unfamiliar premises.

Travel between sites is also part of the working day for many mobile engineers. HSE notes that many lone workers are exposed to work-related road risks.

Out-of-hours working can introduce additional concerns. Buildings may be unoccupied, security arrangements may differ and assistance that would normally be available during the working day may no longer be present.

There may also be circumstances where engineers interact with members of the public, occupants or customers. HSE advises that working alone can make employees more vulnerable to workplace violence because immediate support may be unavailable.

Most importantly, employers need to consider foreseeable emergencies.

If an engineer falls, receives an electric shock, becomes trapped, suffers a medical emergency or is otherwise unable to telephone for assistance, how will anybody know?

And how quickly would somebody respond?

Lone Working Is Not Suitable for Every Activity

An important part of lone-working management is recognising that some activities should not be undertaken alone.

HSE identifies certain higher-risk activities where another person may be required, including some confined-space activities and work near exposed live electrical conductors.

For FM organisations, this means engineers should have clearly defined boundaries.

It should not be left entirely to an engineer arriving on site to decide whether an activity that has developed beyond the original scope remains suitable for lone working.

For example, a routine inspection may identify a fault requiring access to an area, equipment or system that introduces significantly greater risk.

The correct decision may be to stop, make the system safe where appropriate, report the issue and return with additional people, equipment or controls.

Giving engineers genuine authority to make that decision is an important part of an effective safety culture.

Practical Lone-Working Controls for Service and Maintenance Engineers

Good lone-working arrangements do not need to become unnecessarily complicated. They do, however, need to work in practice, practical arrangements could include:

• obtaining sufficient site and task information before attendance, including known access restrictions and significant hazards;
• confirming where the engineer will be working and the expected duration of the visit;
• using effective check-in and check-out procedures, with predetermined escalation arrangements where contact is missed;
• considering whether mobile coverage or other communication methods are reliable at the location;
• providing lone-worker devices, personal alarms or location technology where justified by the level of risk;
• ensuring engineers understand which activities are prohibited or restricted when working alone;
• using a point-of-work or dynamic risk assessment process where conditions differ from those originally anticipated;
• giving engineers clear authority to stop, withdraw or postpone work where suitable controls cannot be maintained;
• ensuring appropriate first aid and emergency arrangements are available;
• providing suitable information, instruction, equipment and training; and
• periodically testing lone-working and emergency-response arrangements rather than simply assuming that they work.

HSE states that employers must monitor lone workers and keep in touch with them. Suggested methods include agreed periods of regular contact, systems for knowing where employees are, alarm devices and reliable arrangements for confirming that a worker has completed their task or returned safely. HSE also recommends regularly testing monitoring systems and emergency procedures.

The Missed Check-In Is Only Useful If Somebody Responds

One weakness with some lone-working procedures is that they concentrate on the worker checking in but give far less thought to what happens when they don't.

A procedure stating that an engineer should telephone the office at 4:00pm is of little value unless somebody is actively expecting that call.

• What happens at 4:05pm?
• What happens at 4:15pm?
• Who attempts to contact the engineer?
• Who knows their exact location?
• Does the organisation have the client's contact information?
• At what point is the situation escalated?

An effective system needs to address the response as well as the check-in.

HSE expects employers to keep in touch with lone workers and to have arrangements for responding to incidents.

Emergency Arrangements Need to Reflect the Location

For engineers attending remote or unfamiliar premises, simply instructing somebody to "call 999 in an emergency" may not be sufficient.

An engineer also needs to know where they are.

That sounds obvious, but engineers can work within large industrial sites, sprawling commercial developments, roof areas, remote compounds or facilities where the postal address does little to identify their actual working position.

Organisations should consider whether an engineer could clearly communicate their location and whether emergency services or colleagues could physically reach them.

HSE advises employers to put emergency procedures in place and train lone workers in their use. Depending upon the risk assessment, this may also include access to first-aid equipment or appropriate first-aid training.

Training and Competence Matter

Lone workers frequently have to make decisions without immediate supervisory support.

For that reason, technical competence alone is not enough.

Engineers should understand the hazards associated with their work, the limitations of the controls available and, importantly, when the situation has moved beyond what they are authorised or equipped to manage alone.

HSE advises employers to set limits on what can be undertaken by lone workers and ensure employees are competent; understand any technical solutions provided and recognise when they need to seek advice. Levels of supervision should reflect both the risk and the individual's ability to identify and manage health and safety issues.

What Does UK Health and Safety Law Require?

There is no single piece of UK legislation called the "Lone Working Regulations".

Instead, lone working is managed through the wider health and safety framework.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 establishes the general duties employers owe to employees, while the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess and manage risks to employees and others arising from their work activities. HSE's lone-working guidance (INDG73) confirms that employers must manage risks to lone workers under the Management Regulations.

Depending upon the maintenance activity, other legislation may also apply.

For example, maintenance activity falling within the definition of construction work can bring duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM). HSE confirms that not every maintenance activity falls within CDM, so the nature and scope of the work need to be considered.

The objective is therefore not to produce a lone-working document simply for compliance purposes. It is to establish proportionate arrangements that reflect how engineers actually work.

A Simple Test of Your Lone-Working Arrangements

There is one question FM organisations can use to test whether their arrangements are really effective:

“If one of your engineers failed to check out from their next service visit today, how long would it take before somebody noticed and exactly what would happen next?”

If the answer is clear, understood and regularly tested, the organisation is likely to have the foundations of an effective lone-working system.

If the answer depends on somebody eventually noticing that an engineer has not returned home, there may be a significant gap.

Lone working is a normal part of modern facilities management.

It does not need to be avoided where it can be properly managed.

But neither should it be taken for granted simply because an engineer is experienced or the maintenance task is considered routine.

Plan the visit. Understand the location. Maintain communication. Set clear limits. Have an escalation process. And make sure engineers know that stopping the job when circumstances change is a legitimate safety decision.

Our comprehensive service packages provide access to an experienced Principal Adviser, who can offer support and guidance on the development of your health and safety needs, including reviewing the effectiveness of your lone working arrangements. Contact a member of our team.