Record scheduled check-ins for employees who work alone, and what to do when one is missed.
Night clerks, security guards, cleaners and field technicians often work alone. If something goes wrong, a missed check-in may be the first sign.
Decide the escalation steps in advance and make sure the contact person can act on them at any hour.
15 items. Keep it on a tablet, or print a copy for the clipboard.
A night gas station clerk checks in every two hours by text. At 2 am no message arrives; the contact calls twice, then the supervisor drives over and finds the phone dead. The station adds a backup landline check.
Employers have a general duty under OSHA to protect workers from recognized hazards, and working alone makes it harder to get help after an injury or assault. A timed log with escalation steps means a missed check-in is noticed and acted on quickly.
| Worker and phone | Ben, property inspector, Greenfield Rentals, Tulsa |
|---|---|
| Location and route | 3 vacant units, Elm St, then Oak Ave |
| Shift | 1 pm to 6 pm |
| Check-in interval | Every 60 minutes |
| 2 pm check-in | 2:03 pm, OK |
| 3 pm check-in | Missed; called 3:10, answered 3:12, OK |
| End of shift | 5:48 pm, safe finish, log closed |
The missed 3 pm check-in is recorded with the call time and the answer, which shows the escalation step worked before it reached the supervisor stage.
Based on risk; every one to two hours is common for higher risk.
A named contact, supervisor or monitoring service.
Follow the escalation plan immediately.
Yes, many apps automate check-ins.
It depends on the risk: higher-risk work, such as night retail or work at height, usually needs shorter intervals, while lower-risk office tasks can be longer. Set the interval before the shift and write it on the log so the contact person knows exactly when a check-in is late. Shorten it if the worker moves to a riskier task mid-shift.
Choose someone who will be awake, reachable and able to act for the whole shift, such as a supervisor on call or a monitoring service. Give them the worker’s location, route and the escalation steps. Record a backup contact in case the first one cannot be reached.
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Use the lone worker check-in log for the record you need today. To see who clocked in, and when, book a demo of EZTime.