Reducing the stress of solitary work

Solitary work can be both stressful and dangerous for employees. But the risks can be reduced if you work systematically. The risks exist in many industries and it is important that you as an employer examine your activities and prevent all risks.

What is solitary work?

Solitary work is work that involves physical or social isolation.

  • Physical isolation means that an employee can only make contact with other people in the workplace by using some form of technical communication such as a mobile phone.
  • Social isolation means that the employee is among other people, but still cannot count on help in a critical situation.

Risks with solitary work

Common risks to consider with solitary work

  • lack of planning
  • lack of consideration for the different circumstances of different employees
  • strong psychological strain on employees
  • too little contact with colleagues
  • insufficient training and experience
  • lack of work management
  • accidents

Reducing risks with solitary work

As part of systematic work environment management, it is important to investigate the risks involved in solitary work and work to prevent them.

  • When planning solitary work, as an employer you must investigate the work environment, assess the risks and plan appropriate measures to reduce them. Sometimes it can be enough to create opportunities for the employee to quickly and safely contact other people by telephone or via other means of communication. In some cases, the employee cannot perform the work alone due to the risk of ill health.

    When planning new work situations, it is important that you as an employer actively strive to increase the opportunities for contacts at work. There must be compelling reasons for creating isolated work situations.

  • Take into account the employees' capability of performing jobs alone. Even if the requirements in the regulations on solitary work are met, solitary work may involve physical or mental stress for some workers.

  • Inform employees about solitary work, so that they already understand what solitary work means upon employment.

  • When solitary work is performed over a long period of time, the mental stain can be severe. This strain can be eased if the employee can have direct contact with other people.

    As an employer, you must investigate whether working alone in your business may involve particularly mentally stressful work. If solitary work involves considerable mental strain, you can, for example, ensure that employees

      • switch between solitary work and tasks that involve contact with others
      • have sufficient breaks that give the opportunity for contact
      • are visited by others during the work.

    If the solitary work is carried out at night, it is important to ensure that the employee can, if necessary, contact someone to get support in how a work task should be carried out.

  • A solitary employee can be exposed to complicated and stressful events that require quick and correct decisions. This occurs, for example, in home care, social services, the power industry or in alarm centres. In such situations, it is important that the employee can consult with someone who has sufficient knowledge of the work and can assess the consequences of different courses of action.

  • As an employer, you must ensure that employees have the training and experience needed to perform the work alone. You must ensure that they have received and understood the instructions required for the solitary work to be carried out in the safest possible way.

  • Work management is needed to reduce both acute and more long-term risks with solitary work. If the work is not planned and managed, unsuitable procedures can be created over time that can lead to unnecessary risks of accidents or occupational diseases

  • Take the risk of accidents into account when you plan solitary work.

    • Avoid solitary work if this would involve a greater risk of accidents and ill health than if the work was performed by several people together.
    • Ensure that vehicles can get through so that a person performing solitary work can get help in the event of accident or illness.
    • Make sure that anyone working alone can raise the alarm and get quick help, and that acute risk situations can be sorted out. Employees must be able to receive an immediate response to a call or alarm and you must be prepared to give quick assistance.

    Assess the possible course of events and plan accordingly

    As an employer, you must assess possible courses of events with solitary work and the risk of injury. This means that you must assess how quickly an injured employee can get help. Remember that injuries can get worse before help arrives.

    If you judge that the injuries that may occur are not severe enough to prevent the injured person from calling for help themselves, it may be sufficient that there are contact options in the form of, for example, a telephone, communication radio or alarm device.

    If you judge that the injuries may be so severe that the employee cannot raise the alarm themselves, you must arrange other possibilities for contact with the employee. For example, another person could visit the employee at regular intervals. The employee could also report to a designated person at agreed intervals. Camera surveillance of risk zones could also be a possible alternative.

Minors must work under supervision

As an employer, you must assess whether minors can perform solitary work at your workplace. If you judge that this can be done, you must ensure that

  • a suitable person thoroughly reviews the tasks and risks with the minor employee
  • a suitable person ensures that the minor carries out the work according to the instructions
  • someone supervises the minor employee
  • if needed, the minor employee can contact someone with questions or to get help with the working tasks.

Achieve a better work environment by adopting a systematic approach

As an employer, you must manage the work environment systematically, so as to improve it. Our provisions for systematic work environment management apply to all employers – regardless of the activities or the risks that you and your employees could be exposed to.

The employer is responsible for the risks involved with solitary work

As an employer, you are responsible for reducing the risks in solitary work, just as you are responsible for all aspects of the work environment. You must be familiar with the Work Environment Act and other work environment regulations.

Employees and safety representatives are important for a good work environment

Employees and safety representatives have an important role in work environment management. As an employer, you must give all employees the opportunity to participate in work environment management. For example, you can let employees suggest measures or provide feedback on measures you have implemented.

Employees' participation in work environment management

As an employee, you must participate in work environment management and participate in implementing the measures needed to achieve a good work environment. You must follow the employer's instructions. You must also report to your employer or your safety representative if the work involves immediate and serious danger to life or health.

Collaborate with a safety representative when planning risky solitary work

As an employer, you must notify the safety representative if you plan to introduce solitary work in the workplace and you judge that the work is risky or mentally stressful. You should assess the risks and plan appropriate measures together with the safety representative. If there is no local safety representative, contact the regional safety representative.

 

Last updated 2025-04-14