Reading List

A curated Reading List to support and extend learning from Lone Working Safety for Pharmacy Staff.

This course draws primarily on Great Britain HSE and GPhC guidance because lone working in pharmacy is governed by general health and safety duties alongside pharmacy service standards. Scotland and Wales follow the same Great Britain framework. Learners in Northern Ireland should apply HSENI and PSNI arrangements alongside the principles here.

1. Core Pharmacy Standards

• GPhC - Standards for pharmacy professionals
  The core Great Britain standards for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Useful for the professional context of safe care, communication, judgement, partnership working, and speaking up about concerns.
  https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/standards_for_pharmacy_professionals_may_2017_0.pdf

• GPhC - Standards for registered pharmacies
  Relevant for owners and managers because lone-working safety links to governance, service standards, premises, staffing and everyday risk control.
  https://inspections.pharmacyregulation.org/standards

2. Core Lone-Working Guidance

• HSE - Lone working: protect those working alone
  The main Great Britain overview for employers, covering risk management, violence, stress, training and examples such as delivery drivers.
  https://www.hse.gov.uk/lone-working/employer/

• HSE - Protecting lone workers: How to control the risks of working alone (INDG73)
  A concise official leaflet explaining risk assessment principles, supervision, monitoring, support, violence prevention and when higher-risk tasks may need another person present.
  https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg73.htm

• HSE - Training, supervision and monitoring
  Useful for pharmacy managers because it covers competence, limits on what staff can do alone, extra supervision for new workers and practical systems for keeping lone workers in touch.
  https://www.hse.gov.uk/lone-working/employer/training-supervision-monitoring.htm

3. Violence, Journeys, and Emergency Arrangements

• HSE - How employers can protect workers from violence and aggression at work: assessing the risks
  Highlights that lone workers can be at increased risk, that staff experience and incident records matter, and that assessments should lead to practical control measures.
  https://www.hse.gov.uk/violence/employer/assessing-the-risks.htm

• HSE - Workers who drive or ride for work
  Official guidance for delivery drivers and other staff who travel for work, covering journey planning, training, health and fitness to drive, and worker responsibilities.
  https://www.hse.gov.uk/roadsafety/worker/

• HSE - First aid legislation
  Explains that employers must assess first-aid needs and that vehicle-based or road work may justify personal first-aid provision as part of the risk assessment.
  https://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/legislation.htm

4. Northern Ireland Signposting

• HSENI - Lone working
  The main Northern Ireland signpost on lone working, covering risk assessment, examples of lone workers and situations where lone working may not be advisable.
  https://www.hseni.gov.uk/articles/lone-working

• Pharmaceutical Society NI - The Code, Standards and Guidance
  A Northern Ireland regulatory signpost for pharmacists, reflecting the separate pharmacy framework that applies alongside HSENI duties.
  https://psni.org.uk/the-code-standards-and-guidance/

Use this Reading List to deepen your knowledge of lone-working risk assessment, supervision and monitoring, violence prevention, delivery safety, first-aid planning and the pharmacy standards that frame those duties.