Lone Working Permit: When and How to Use One (UK)

A lone working permit is a formal authorisation used to control higher-risk tasks carried out by someone working alone — confirming, before the work starts, that the risks have been assessed, the right precautions are in place, and there is a reliable way to raise the alarm if something goes wrong. Lone working itself is legal in the UK, and not every solo task needs a permit. The permit is for the situations where working alone meaningfully increases the danger.

This guide covers UK requirements and references HSE guidance. It does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for site-specific assessment by a competent person.

Is lone working allowed?

Yes. There is no law that bans working alone, and there is no single "Lone Working Regulation." Instead, lone working is covered by general health and safety law: the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which places a general duty on employers to protect workers, and Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which requires a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.

HSE's guidance, Protecting lone workers (INDG73), is clear: lone workers face the same hazards as anyone else, but there is a greater risk of those hazards causing harm because there may be no one to help if things go wrong. The employer's job is to assess that increased risk and put proportionate controls in place — not to ban the work.

When does a lone worker need a permit?

Most lone working is low risk and handled through normal supervision, training, and a check-in arrangement. A permit is worth using when the task is one that would already need formal control for a team — and the fact that the person is alone makes it riskier still. Typical triggers:

• A permit-type activity carried out solo — hot work, work at height, electrical isolation, or breaking into a system, done by one person. These need a permit regardless; lone working adds a layer.
• Tasks where rescue depends on someone else noticing — anything where a collapse, shock, or fall would leave the worker unable to call for help.
• Work in remote or unstaffed locations — plant rooms, rural sites, out-of-hours building maintenance.
• Higher exposure to work-related violence — lone visits to unfamiliar premises or members of the public.

Note the hard limits. Some tasks should never be done alone, and a permit is not a way around that. Confined space entry is the clearest example — the emergency arrangements required by the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 effectively rule out solo entry, because rescue needs a second person who is not inside the space.

If you are working out which of your tasks need formal control in the first place, our permit-to-work system guide covers how permits fit together, and the types of permit to work guide lists the main categories.

What goes on a lone working permit

A lone working permit overlaps with a standard permit to work but adds sections specific to the "alone" risk.

Task and location

• What the work is, and exactly where
• Expected start and finish time, and the permit's validity window
• Whether the work is one of the permit-type activities (hot work, height, electrical, etc.) — if so, the relevant permit conditions apply on top

Lone-working risk assessment

The heart of the permit. Drawing on the Regulation 3 assessment, record:

• The specific hazards of the task
• Why it cannot reasonably be done by two people (or confirmation that solo working is acceptable for this task)
• Medical or capability factors — is this task suitable for this person to do alone?
• Whether any hazard takes the task into "never do this alone" territory

Check-in and communication

This is what makes a lone working permit different. Record:

• How the worker stays in contact (phone, radio, lone-worker device or app)
• The agreed check-in schedule, and who they check in with
• What happens if a check-in is missed — the escalation step, and who is responsible for acting on it
• Whether mobile or radio coverage actually exists at the location (a check-in plan that relies on a signal that is not there is no plan)

Emergency arrangements

• How the worker raises the alarm
• How a responder reaches them, and how quickly
• First-aid and rescue provision appropriate to the hazards

Authorisation and close-out

A lone working permit still needs two people involved: the worker, and the person authorising the work and holding the check-in responsibility. At the end, a positive confirmation that the worker has finished safely and left the area — not just an assumption because the shift ended.

Common mistakes

Treating the permit as a substitute for "should this be done alone at all?" The first question is always whether the task is safe to do solo. A permit documents that decision; it does not override a "no."

A check-in plan nobody monitors. "Text me when you're done" only works if someone notices when the text never arrives. The escalation step — what happens on a missed check-in — is the part that saves lives, and the part most often left blank.

Assuming coverage. Basements, lift shafts, rural sites, and steel-framed plant rooms swallow mobile signal. Confirm the chosen communication method works at the actual location before relying on it.

One generic lone-working assessment for everything. A delivery driver and a maintenance electrician working a substation alone face very different risks. Each task needs its own assessment.

A quick starting point

If you want a pre-work checklist to build from, our free safety checklist generator produces one based on the work types you select, which you can adapt for solo work and pair with a check-in schedule.

Key references

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 — the general duty on employers
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, Regulation 3 — the risk assessment duty
• Protecting lone workers (INDG73) (HSE) — how to manage the risks of working alone
• Lone working: protect those working alone (HSE) — employer guidance