UK law requires employers to manage the risks faced by lone workers. The check-in process is the most visible part of that: the mechanism by which someone in the office knows the engineer is safe. This guide covers what the law requires, what the options are, and where WhatsApp-based check-in fits versus dedicated lone worker systems.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places a duty on employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all employees so far as is reasonably practicable. That duty applies whether the employee is in an office or working alone at a remote site.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. For lone workers, the risk assessment must consider the specific hazards the worker faces: the nature of the work, the environment, the likelihood that something could go wrong, and how the worker would raise the alarm if it did.
The HSE's guidance on lone working (INDG73) advises employers to consider supervision arrangements, check-in procedures, and emergency contacts. It does not mandate a specific technology or system. The obligation is to address the risk: the mechanism is for the employer to determine based on the nature of the work.
These are two different things and the distinction matters.
A check-in system requires the worker to actively confirm their safety at defined intervals. The worker messages, calls, or responds to a prompt. If no response is received within the defined window, someone investigates. The system is active: it depends on the worker doing something.
A lone worker alarm system monitors the worker continuously. A man-down (no-movement) alert triggers if the worker stops moving for a defined period. A panic button sends an immediate alert to a monitoring centre. GPS tracking shows the worker's location. The system is passive from the worker's perspective: it monitors them without requiring action.
For office-based or lower-risk field work, an HVAC engineer visiting a commercial property, a plumber doing a domestic call-out, an inspector walking an industrial site, a check-in system is usually sufficient. For higher-risk lone working, a utility worker entering a confined space, a social worker visiting an unknown address, a lone security guard, a dedicated alarm system is more appropriate.
The simplest approach. The worker calls the office (or an on-call number) at defined intervals. Low friction, no technology beyond a phone. The weakness: it depends on someone answering and the calls being logged. A missed call that goes unrecorded is not evidence of a check-in.
Products like StaySafe and Peoplesafe provide scheduled check-in prompts, GPS tracking, man-down alerting, and connection to a 24/7 monitoring centre. These are appropriate for higher-risk work. They require the worker to install an app and the employer to pay a per-user subscription, typically £5-15 per user per month. They are designed specifically for lone worker protection and carry that risk profile.
A manager sends a scheduled WhatsApp message at the start of the job: "Confirm you're on site at [address] safely." The engineer replies. Non-response is flagged and escalated according to the documented procedure. The conversation history is a record. This works for lower-risk work where the primary concern is a verifiable check-in record rather than emergency alerting.
Quickler can run a scheduled WhatsApp check-in workflow. The engineer receives a WhatsApp message at the start of their first job and at defined intervals. They respond to confirm they are safe and on site. Non-response surfaces on the dashboard so a manager can follow up. The check-in time is timestamped and the record is exportable.
This covers the check-in record layer. It does not replace a dedicated lone worker alarm system for higher-risk work. Quickler does not provide 24/7 monitoring, GPS tracking, man-down alerting, or a connection to emergency services. For engineers doing standard field work at commercial and domestic premises, the check-in record is what most risk assessments call for. For work in confined spaces, remote locations, or environments with a physical assault risk, a dedicated system is more appropriate.
Whether you use WhatsApp, a phone call, or a dedicated app, the check-in policy must address the following: who the worker checks in with and by what method; the check-in interval (start of job, hourly, end of job); what constitutes a non-response; the escalation steps if a check-in is missed; how the record is kept; and how the policy is communicated to workers and reviewed when risks change.
A policy that exists in a folder but has never been communicated to the workers it covers provides no practical protection. The check-in is only as effective as the person on the other end acting on a missed response.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all employees, including those who work alone. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. For lone workers, this must consider how to raise the alarm if something goes wrong and how to verify the worker's safety. The specific mechanism is not prescribed in law.
It can satisfy the check-in record requirement if the process is documented in a risk assessment, the check-in interval is defined, and a non-response escalation procedure exists. WhatsApp does not provide emergency alerting: it is a communication channel, not a monitored alarm system. For higher-risk work, a dedicated lone worker system with 24/7 monitoring is more appropriate.
A check-in system requires the worker to actively confirm their safety at defined intervals. A lone worker alarm system continuously monitors the worker and can raise an alert without action from the worker, for example via a man-down (no-movement) alarm or a panic button connected to a monitoring centre. The right choice depends on the risk level of the work.
The procedure should be defined before the worker goes out alone. A typical escalation: attempt phone contact, attempt secondary contact method, contact the site or location the worker was expected at, and escalate to emergency services if contact cannot be established within a defined timeframe. The procedure must be documented in the risk assessment and communicated to workers.
Copy and paste this into the workflow description when you sign up at app.quickler.co/signup:
Lone worker check-in — copy and paste this at signup: Workflow name: Lone worker check-in Questions: 1. Worker name? 2. Job location and address? 3. Expected time on site? 4. Any known hazards at this location? 5. Emergency contact name and number? 6. Check-in confirmed — worker on site? (yes/no) End of visit: 7. Job complete and leaving site? (yes/no) 8. Any incidents or concerns to report? (yes/no + details) 9. Check-out confirmed? If check-out is not received within 30 minutes of expected finish, manager is alerted automatically.
Quickler reads your description and builds the WhatsApp question sequence. Your engineers answer on site. PDF produced automatically.
Set up lone worker check-ins →Quickler runs through WhatsApp. No app install for engineers. Setup to first workflow in under a week.