Higher-risk situations, lone encounters, and working away from base

Some patient-facing pharmacy work takes place away from the counter or off-site. Deliveries, visits to care settings, pop-up clinics, consultations in isolated rooms, opening and closing duties, and work in unfamiliar locations all make it harder to control personal-safety risks.

Situations that need extra caution

• Deliveries to unfamiliar or previously difficult addresses
• Care-home, clinic, or home-setting contact where local risks are not well understood
• Late evening, early morning, or quieter periods when fewer staff are nearby
• Patient-facing work in isolated rooms or rear areas of the pharmacy
• Any task where the worker is new, unsupported, or unsure of the local arrangements

At other sites, ask before you go.

HSE requires employers to check the risks and control measures at another workplace before sending a worker there. For pharmacy staff this applies to care homes, GP surgeries, outreach clinics and similar sites where access, local alarms, security, or emergency arrangements affect safety.

Some tasks should not normally be done alone if adequate controls cannot protect the worker.

• First-time visits or deliveries where the risk profile is unclear but concerning
• Addresses or settings linked to known aggression, threats, or repeated unsafe behaviour
• Patient-facing work after dark where lighting, parking, access, or escape are poor
• Consultations in badly designed rooms with no practical way to summon help
• Any situation where the worker does not know the route out, the help system, or the agreed stop point

Patient-facing work away from the main pharmacy counter needs clear limits, check-in arrangements, permission to withdraw, and practical control measures for unfamiliar or higher-risk settings.