What happens when one person is alone with someone dangerous: home visits, live-in care, night shifts, hostel work and lone security.
Each entry is built from the record of what happened: the inquest, the prosecution, the regulator’s notice or the employer’s own investigation. Every page says why the person was working alone, what the employer’s system did or did not do, and where the evidence stops.
If a case involved a crime in someone’s home rather than a lone worker at work, it is not on this shelf.
94 case entries and 0 publications.
A knife at the till and a panic button under the counter
A lone shop assistant was robbed at knife-point at a Tesco Express in Hull. The control that worked was a button she could reach while the till was…
A nurse in uniform struck with a stone on her way home
A Nigerian nurse was hit on the head by rioters while travelling home in her uniform, during disorder that also chased a colleague into her own hospital.
A social worker killed at a level crossing between visits
She was driving alone on a road she used for work, at a crossing the investigators say gave no warning.
A housing officer spat at in the street months after an eviction
A man evicted in 2024 recognised the officer who handled it during a chance walk with councillors, followed him, and spat in his face.
A paramedic attacked with a claw hammer as the crew left
A two-person crew inside a Bristol property was attacked with a hammer the patient picked up in the room. It narrowly missed a paramedic's head.
A support worker stabbed at a hotel used to house asylum seekers
A support worker was stabbed at the Stanwell Hotel in Staines and taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. No source records who else was on duty that evening.
An enforcement officer kicked to the ground in Hereford
A Herefordshire enforcement officer was kicked to the ground and kicked again while down. The people who stopped it were members of the public.
Paramedic punched and kicked in the back of an ambulance
A paramedic was attacked by her patient in the space behind the cab, where there is one door, no way to step back, and no second clinician within…
Probation officer stabbed four times in a routine appointment
A man brought two knives and an imitation gun to a scheduled meeting and attacked the officer he had come to see. Colleagues were in the next room.
Refused emergency housing, then a threat to burn the office down
A man refused emergency accommodation threatened to set fire to the housing officer handling his case and to the office where that officer worked.
Shop worker shut an armed robber inside his own shop
Attacked at knifepoint on Christmas Eve, the worker left the store, pulled the shutter down and called police from the pavement.
Three council workers assaulted on a city street after midnight
A team of three Belfast City Council workers was attacked at 00:40 on a Saturday, and no public source says what lone-working arrangements covered the shift.
A trainee probation officer stabbed in an office, months after the last one
The second stabbing of a probation officer in a year produced knife arches within weeks. The first had produced a training pilot, an unpublished report and no estate-wide…
Caretaker stabbed in the back after confronting a resident over stolen food
A caretaker at a shared house checked the CCTV himself, then went alone to challenge the resident it caught. The man left, came back, and stabbed him.
Housing officer savaged by two dogs at the garden gate
A housing officer on a routine visit saw two dogs, felt something was wrong and started to leave. Both dogs attacked before he reached the gate.
Nurse hit from behind with a metal bar at a hospital vending machine
A district nurse was struck on the head from behind while standing alone at a hospital vending machine, and survived by getting a door between herself and the…
Nurse stabbed three times from behind by a patient asking for medication
She asked him to wait. He got out of bed with a pair of scissors and attacked her from behind, at about half past ten at night.
Paramedic sexually harassed while treating a patient at a bus stop
Two paramedics answered a 999 call for an unconscious man. He abused them from the moment they arrived, and the law treated it as a crime against them…
Two dogs mauled a housing officer, then the owner’s partner
The same two Staffordshire bull terriers attacked a man who had come to speak to their owner, then her partner five months later. No sentence appears in the…
A hotel worker followed from her night shift and killed at a station
She finished at eleven and walked to the station alone. The man who had been staring at her in reception all evening followed her onto the platform.
A lone engineer electrocuted after the check on him never happened
His method statement said he should ask a colleague to look in on him. He did not ask, the colleague was busy, and nobody owned the control.
Attack alarms that did not work in part of an NHS autism unit
Staff at an inpatient autism service were assaulted at a rate the trust's own board papers recorded. The HSE found the alarms they relied on were not working…
Threats to firebomb social workers’ homes, then a baseball bat
Three social workers were assaulted and threatened over three months, in a home, outside a court and at a solicitor's office. The threats named their homes.
A crew who left the house were attacked at their ambulance
The crew did the right thing and withdrew. They withdrew to a parked ambulance, and the patient followed them out with a cleaver.
A nurse was attacked at the end of a ward assessment
A psychiatric assessment has a defined end. The nurse who delivered the next dose at that point was on her own with the patient.
A support worker killed by a man who had been her client
The coroner found recruitment, risk grading and boundary support all failed before a support worker was killed by a man she had been paid to help.
Care worker died after running from a gang she had reported twice
A care worker walking home at the end of a 12-hour shift ran from a gang and died days later. She had been attacked in the same streets…
Foster carer killed by the 12-year-old placed with her
An emergency placement, approved for six days on a verbal conversation, put a boy with a knife caution and gang involvement in a home the council's own team…
Parking warden thrown to the ground over a ticket
Two wardens ticketed a van. The driver came back, shouted at both and threw one to the ground. The council counted 129 reports of abuse that year.
Punched on a Mental Health Act assessment after police declined to attend
An approved mental health professional asked for police support before a high-risk assessment, was told to ring 999 if something happened, and was punched during the visit.