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.
Healthcare assistant killed at the end of a night shift
She was attacked at 07:30 on a mental health ward, in the window where one shift hands over to the next. The trust said the attack was neither…
His leg broken over a parking ticket
A parking officer working alone warned a man to back off and called for police back-up. Then he walked back to the car, and the second approach broke…
Night carer killed after asking a resident to turn his television down
A care worker alone on site overnight was killed after asking a resident to turn his television down, and no public source examines the employer's system.
Pulled out of her car after a home visit
A community mental health worker was dragged from her car and beaten on the walk back from a home visit. The visit was over, and the risk was…
Sent alone to a house where the violence was already known
A community psychiatric nurse with thirty years' experience was attacked from behind on a home visit. Her team had no risk assessment for the visit, no emergency system,…
Shot on an eviction, with a colleague beside her
A housing income officer and a court bailiff were shot as they tried to evict a tenant in Brixton. Two staff attended, and two staff were hit.
Six ward staff barricaded in an office as patients took the ward
Five patients armed with broken glass took control of a medium-secure ward in the early hours, and six staff spent the night behind an office door until police…
Stabbed in a kitchen she should not have been alone in
A support worker was left alone with a resident whose care plan required two carers and described violence. The resident stabbed her in the neck.
Care worker locked in a medication room on a night shift
The only member of staff on duty was trapped in a small lockable room with a service user, and nobody had recorded that room as a confinement risk.
Held down in a flat by the people she had come to see
She was 23, on placement, and alone with three teenagers who discussed what to do with her.
Nurse held at knifepoint in a client’s home on a routine visit
A community psychiatric nurse on a routine lone visit had her bag, phone and car taken by a client with a knife, and was let out about half…
Support worker held behind a door for nine hours by a patient she was not warned about
A night-shift support worker was attacked, told by her manager to stay in the room until morning, and held the door shut with her body until the handover.
A community nurse attacked by the patient in her passenger seat
A learning disabilities nurse was driving a patient to the shops when the woman began punching her head and face. She could not stop the car and defend…
A nurse bitten on a home visit, with nobody to complain to
A community nurse was attacked by a dog in a patient's home. A nursing journal cites the case to show why bites behind a private front door go…
A shopkeeper refused a knife robber at her own counter
She refused three times, with a knife of her own in her hand and a child in the shop. It worked. It is not a script.
Assaulted for asking a customer to use the right skip
A recycling centre operative was assaulted by a customer he had asked to put his rubbish in the correct skip. The man was arrested and cautioned, and that…
Shop assistant held a sword raider until police arrived
Two minutes after opening, a shop assistant faced a teenager with a sword. His family were upstairs, and that is the only reason he was not alone.
Stabbed on the sales floor by a man she had never seen
A shop worker was stabbed in the abdomen in a busy department store on a Wednesday afternoon. Nothing gave anyone in the store a warning.
Support worker killed on a lone visit he had already flagged
He rang his client's GP that morning because the man had deteriorated. Two hours later he was dead in the same house, on his own.
Thirty stitches after a tenant opened the door wide
A housing officer was bitten in the face on a doorstep she had stood on many times before. The dog got out because the tenant knew her.
A mob came through the doors of a parked ambulance
He was working alone in the back of a parked ambulance when a gang fight arrived at the door. He got out. The man who climbed in for…
A nurse took a colleague, and the knife came from the street
The risk assessment was right and the visit still went wrong. The weapon came from a neighbour, not from the client.
A social worker stabbed at a school meeting after a threat nobody passed on
He told a psychiatrist he would kill her on the spot. Two days later he was at her meeting with a knife.
A supermarket worker beaten in the car park he was clearing
He walked over to a group of teenagers on his own. The attack came from behind as he turned back.
Care worker killed in a flat where a sex offender was living
A care agency sent a worker alone to a client's flat. The client had been killed days earlier, and the man still living there had raped before and…
Paramedic grabbed by a bystander as a crowd pressed in
A paramedic treating a woman collapsed at a bus stop was grabbed and sworn at by a man in the crowd who thought the crew was too slow.
Security guard killed in the back office over a stolen CD
He challenged a man he suspected of stealing a £15.99 CD and took him to a small office at the back of the store. He was alone, and…
Stabbed in the neck on a housing eviction
He had told police station staff he would defend his home with boiling water and knives. Six people still went to the door.
Support worker killed delivering a letter on her last day
A 22-year-old support worker was sent alone to a man's flat with a letter about a damaged payphone. His own nurse had said staff should not visit him…
Youth worker killed in a studio by a stranger who walked in
A man under community mental health supervision was allowed out of his hostel alone, bought a knife and walked into a council-run studio. He had never met the…