Lone Workers and Out-of-Hours Working: Fire Safety Considerations

How a lone-worker fire risk assessment is usually approached

An assessor looking at out-of-hours working typically starts with a simple question: if the alarm sounded at 6am or 9pm with one person on site, what would that person actually do, and could they do it? The answers usually come from walking the building at the times it is used, not from the daytime plan on the office wall.

Common things to look at include:

• Who is on site, and when. Cleaners, security staff, early openers, maintenance contractors and staff catching up at weekends are all lone workers in practice, even if nobody calls them that.
• How the alarm is raised. If the fire alarm is not monitored, a lone worker may be the only person who can raise it. Are call points easy to reach and is a phone signal or landline available in every area where people work?
• The route out when the building is secured. Locked shutters, key-operated doors and keypad exits that work well in the day can become a problem when one person has to deal with them alone. Our article on fire exit doors, locks, panic bars and keypads covers this in more detail.
• Lighting and signage. Escape routes should be easy to follow if the main lights are off, which is where emergency lighting and exit signs matter most.
• Higher-risk areas. Kitchens, workshops, plant and server areas and stores where work is done alone deserve extra thought, as a small fire there can cut off the route out. See our guide to plant rooms and boiler rooms.

A short out-of-hours checklist you can use today

1. Write down every regular out-of-hours activity in your premises, including cleaning and deliveries.
2. Walk each lone worker’s route from the entrance to their work area and from there to the nearest exit, in the dark if possible.
3. Check that every exit on that route opens from the inside without a key.
4. Agree who is told when someone starts and finishes, and what happens if they do not check in.
5. Make sure the person knows where the assembly point is. Our guide to choosing and managing fire assembly points explains what makes a good one.
6. Record what you find and any actions, then review it when working patterns change.

Keeping it in the written fire risk assessment

Lone and out-of-hours working is easy to miss because most fire risk assessments are completed during a normal working day. If your premises are used early, late or at weekends, it is worth making sure your fire risk assessment says so, and that the actions reflect it. Our guide on how often to review a fire risk assessment explains when a change in working pattern should trigger a review.

If you are in Dublin, Cork, Limerick or Galway we can help you look at how your premises are used across the whole day. See our pages for Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.