All work carries its own risks. But lone working is often particularly dangerous, especially when it takes workers to locations that are far away from other people or emergency services.

The Health and Safety Executive tells employers that they’re responsible for their lone workers’ safety. But in order to protect lone workers properly, employers need to understand what issues can be in play.

In this article, we’ll run through six core challenges of working in isolation – including some examples of real incidents that have made the news.

1. No-one to provide assistance when needed

The most obvious problem with working alone in remote places is a lack of people around to offer help if things become tricky. A situation that could be a minor or moderate problem when someone else is around to assist could easily spiral into disaster if there’s no-one nearby.

One example of this is a situation where a worker is feeling the first impacts of a health episode like a heart attack or even a fainting spell. In a workplace where co-workers are near, a person feeling ill could quickly get the attention of colleagues who could help them to lie down safely or call an ambulance if needed. But without anyone around to give that early help, a lone worker could find themself in serious danger.

In careers that are more physically risky, having no-one nearby to give quick assistance can be even more serious. In 2013, a lone worker died after falling into a water tank at a water treatment plant. According to the inquest, the man was alive in the water. He just needed help getting out, and if a co-worker had been nearby, they might have been able to provide it.

2. No way to call for help if an emergency strikes

Making matters even more difficult is the fact that lone workers in isolated locations are often doing tough labour like construction or farming – work that carries a greater risk of accidents. This means that if no-one is nearby, workers must have the ability to call for help if a crisis occurs. And they also need a system that can call for help if they’re unable to.

For example, in 2022 a lone worker on a wind farm was cleaning a skip alone when a piece of equipment fell on his chest, trapping and crushing him. His co-workers found him and tried to administer aid, but he sadly died.

Workers undertaking these kinds of tasks alone need wrist-worn personal alarms with one-touch SOS buttons and automatic fall detection. The SOS button provides a way to call for help that works even for people who aren’t well enough to reach for and dial a phone. And the fall detection function works as a backup layer of protection – it will call for help all by itself if it believes it has sensed a fall.

3. No-one to notice a problem

If no-one is nearby to help a worker and they have no way to call for help, then the tragic outcome is that they will not be helped until another person notices that something is amiss – which may be hours later.

In 2023, a farm worker died after her quad bike overturned. Tragically, no-one knew it had happened until several hours afterwards, when a jogger came across her. And this is all too common a story when it comes to accidents in agriculture. Farm workers are often working independently with dangerous equipment across large areas. It’s not surprising that others often don’t realise they need assistance until it’s too late.

In medical emergencies, minutes and even seconds can make all the difference – which is why workers need a system that lets them call for help or actively raises an alert through automatic fall detection if they’re unable to do it themselves.

4. Helpers may not even know where a person is

In lone worker accident situations, companies or colleagues sometimes do not even know where a missing lone worker is. This factor, combined with the time delays involved when a person cannot call for help, can prove fatal.

In 2004, a gamekeeper suffered injuries when his vehicle, also a quad bike, overturned. But he was alive – he walked 200 yards toward help before collapsing. Sadly, no-one noticed something was amiss until a shocking 52 hours later, and then helpers had to search for him across the country estate where he worked.

This worker needed a personal alarm with GPS tracking. A one-touch SOS button or fall detection could have raised the alarm that something was wrong, and GPS tracking would have allowed him to be found more quickly within his large area of work.

5. Psychological stress

Of course, not all workers operating in isolation are doing physical labour outdoors. Retail workers in petrol stations or betting shops may be at work alone during late hours with no-one else around.

Unfortunately, violent retail crime is on the rise, and that means workers need a way to call for help if they suffer assaults.

There are too many occurrences to list of retail workers in vape shops, petrol stations or similar locations being robbed or attacked while alone. In early 2025, for example, a man robbed a petrol station while holding the lone worker running it at knifepoint.

In this situation, the lone worker was female – and, in fact, women may feel especially unsafe when operating shops alone.

Personal alarms can let lone retail workers call for help fast. Alarms can also offer some peace of mind, easing the psychological stress of being a lone worker in a shop late at night.

6. Inadequate alarm systems

There’s one more crucial point to consider when it comes to lone worker safety in remote locations.

Sometimes alarm systems are in place, but they are inadequate. The water treatment plant worker we mentioned did have an alarm issued by his employer, and he activated it. But, according to the BBC, “a slow response meant he was not found for four and a half hours.”

His widow said that her husband’s employer called her to ask whether he was home.

After the man’s death, a different lone worker safety system was implemented.

It’s easy to see that not all lone worker alarm systems will do the job properly. Personal alarm systems for lone workers need specific functions to provide the best protection.

GPS tracking

Firstly, as we’ve seen, GPS tracking is essential to ensure workers are found as soon as possible.

Contact choices

Moreover, companies have choices about who their alarm contacts in an emergency. With SureSafe’s lone worker alarms, they can choose to have their alarms contact an internal team, or they can opt for alarm calls to go to an expert response centre run externally. An organisation that can’t provide a speedy response with internal monitoring can go for external monitoring.

SOS buttons

It's also important to note that not all alarms allow workers to explain what’s wrong. Some SOS buttons only ping an alert saying that something is amiss. But the best lone worker protection alarms allow workers to speak through the alarm to a helper and explain exactly what’s wrong. That allows for proper triage of emergencies and an appropriately urgent response to grave danger.

Get more protection and peace of mind with SureSafe’s lone worker alarms

At SureSafe, we’ve provided tens of thousands of personal alarm devices, with over 170,000 in operation today. We know that our clients need alarms that are simple to use, affordable, and effective. And that’s exactly why we’re rated so highly on Trustpilot and other review sites.

If you’re considering getting a lone worker alarm, there’s no better option than SureSafe’s. Our lone worker alarms come in the form of a watch or pendant and have all the features we’ve mentioned above.

Our alarms’ one-touch SOS buttons put workers in contact with an internal response team or an external response centre. And after the button is pushed, the worker can speak directly through the alarm and explain what’s wrong.

Automatic fall detection provides a backup. Our lone worker alarms have three sensors that feed into an algorithm that’s constantly assessing whether it’s sensing a fall. If the device believes it has detected a fall, it will call for help all by itself.

Moreover, our alarms have GPS tracking that can easily be monitored through an app. So, employers never need to question where an employee in distress is.

Curious to know more about how our lone worker alarms could protect you or your employees? Our expert team is here to talk. Just call us on 0808 189 1671, get in touch through our live chat or request a call back.