Working alone policy in Canada: make the check-in and rescue plan work

A working-alone policy should say which solo tasks are permitted, what hazards must be assessed, how the worker and designated contact will communicate, and exactly what happens when a check-in is missed. Its value is the response it produces during a shift, not the length of the document. A lone worker can be a cleaner in a closed building, a driver on a remote route, an electrician attending a service call or a home-care worker entering a client's property. Those situations need different controls.

This guide helps Canadian employers design and run a policy. It is not a uniform national legal checklist: federal, provincial and territorial workplace regimes differ. CCOHS's working-alone guidance recommends assessing each situation and checking the local regulations; some tasks may require a second person, an attendant or a different permit under their own rules. Start with the work, the site and the governing jurisdiction. The companion working-alone policy template is intended to be a fillable form, but its route must be verified before cross-linking at publication.

What counts as working alone?

The practical question is whether the worker can get effective help when an injury, illness, threat or other emergency occurs. Physical separation matters, but being the only person on a site does not tell the whole story. A worker in a building with people in another area may still be isolated by locked doors or no communications. A remote crew member may be outside immediate sight but within reliable radio contact and rescue range. Assess the actual time to assistance, the task hazard and the communication path.

Do not collapse every Canadian definition into one sentence. For example, Alberta OHS Code Part 28 applies where a worker is alone at a work site and assistance is not readily available if there is an emergency, injury or illness. WorkSafeBC's guidance on working alone or in isolation points to its separate regulation for assigned solo or isolated work. Apply the legal definition and duties for the actual site.

Make an allow, change or stop decision before scheduling

The policy should require a task assessment before solo work begins and whenever conditions change. Ask:

1. Can the task be scheduled with another competent person? This is especially important where a fall, electric shock, entrapment or violent encounter could leave the worker unable to call for help.
2. Is solo work lawful for this task? Confined space entry, hazardous-energy work, certain lifting, first aid and other high-risk activities may have independent attendant, rescue or permit requirements. Check those rules separately. A check-in phone cannot replace a legally required attendant.
3. What could prevent self-rescue? Consider the machinery, height, substance, environmental exposure, violence, traffic, fatigue, travel and the delay before a missed contact would be detected.
4. Can the chosen communication work here? Test signal, device battery, language, noise, protective equipment, dead zones and the worker's ability to reach the device if injured.
5. Can a responder actually reach the worker? Confirm location, site access, keys, route, weather, rescue equipment and who is available outside normal hours.

If these questions cannot be answered with effective controls, the correct policy result may be to change the task, add another person or defer the work. CCOHS identifies heights, confined spaces, electricity, hazardous products, dangerous equipment and public-facing work as examples of higher-risk activities. It also advises avoiding lone work for recognised risks where possible.

Define a check-in system that fits the hazard

For each approved task, record the assigned worker, primary contact, backup contact, location, planned start/end, route if mobile, communication method, frequency and escalation steps. Set the interval from the hazard assessment and local law. A once-per-shift email is not a sensible universal rule; a high-risk remote task may need much more frequent contact. An interval that looks reasonable at a desk can be too long if a worker could be incapacitated immediately.

The contact person must know the job and be able to act. “The manager has the worker's number” is not a check-in system if the manager is off duty, unable to receive alerts or does not know how to locate the worker. Designate a trained backup. Decide whether the worker initiates contact, the contact person calls, an automated system prompts a response, or a visual check is required. Define what counts as a successful contact: a sent message is not necessarily a received and understood response. Keep a record where local law requires it and where it is needed to prove the response happened.

In Alberta, Part 28, sections 393–394 of the OHS Code requires an effective communication system with regular contact at intervals appropriate to the hazard. It allows radio, landline, cellular or another effective electronic means; if effective electronic communication is impracticable, the employer must arrange visits or worker contact at risk-appropriate intervals. This is an Alberta rule, not a default national interval.

In British Columbia, WorkSafeBC's section 4.21 guideline quotes the regulation requiring a written procedure for workers assigned to work alone or in isolation. It includes intervals, missed-contact and emergency-rescue steps, a designated person recording checks, an end-of-shift check, and consultation about intervals with the worker and committee or representative as applicable. A generic national policy without these BC details would be inadequate for that assignment.

Write the missed-contact escalation, not just the check-in time

The most important part of the policy begins when an expected response does not arrive. State a short, risk-appropriate sequence that the designated contact can follow without improvising:

1. Check whether the worker is merely delayed and try the agreed primary and backup methods immediately within the defined grace period.
2. Check the last known location, route, task and any known communications outage. Do not interpret an unanswered phone as proof of safety.
3. Escalate to the named supervisor or backup contact at the policy's trigger time. If the hazard assessment indicates immediate danger, call emergency services without waiting for a routine period to expire.
4. Send a competent person to the last known location only if it is safe, authorised and useful. Provide site access details and warn them of the original hazard; do not create a second casualty.
5. Confirm the outcome, account for the worker, record the response and review why the check failed.

Name who can call emergency services and who can authorise a site visit. In a remote location, the policy should say how location coordinates, keys, gate codes and access instructions are available to responders. If the phone network fails, the backup system might be a radio, satellite device, staffed control point or another practical method. CCOHS recommends a named primary and backup contact, a daily work plan and an emergency plan for a missed check-in. Do not treat a monitoring app as a rescue service unless the provider's actual service and response agreement demonstrate that function.

Train both sides of the contact

Train workers to decide when the policy applies, check the device before work, report changes to route or hazard, make the agreed contact, use an emergency code if needed, and stop or change work when communications fail. Train the designated contact to know the planned task and location, log the check, recognise a missed response and execute the escalation without waiting for permission that will not be available. Include contractors or temporary staff where their assignment and employer responsibilities require coordination.

Ask each person to demonstrate the process. A worker who can recite “check in every hour” but cannot get a signal in the basement has not completed an effective test. A manager who never receives the prompt cannot be the only response contact. CCOHS's off-site working-alone guidance is useful for mobile and home-visit variations; include travel plan and changing destinations where they matter.

Example: after-hours plant inspection

A technician is asked to inspect a pump at a closed industrial site. The supervisor checks the task and learns that the inspection itself is visual, but the route crosses a poorly lit area and the pump room has weak cellular reception. The worker will not open guards or isolate equipment. The original plan of a text at shift end is rejected. The company assigns a radio-tested route, a staffed contact and a backup, records the room and access code, sets a risk-based contact schedule and defines an immediate missed-contact escalation. If the technician discovers a repair is needed, the solo permit does not cover it; the technician leaves the area and the repair is separately assessed and scheduled with the required people. The policy changes an actual decision instead of merely documenting the task afterwards.

Review the policy after real events

Review a working-alone assessment when the worker, task, location, hours, equipment or threat changes; after a missed check-in, near miss, injury, violence event or communication failure; and at the interval required by the governing law or employer program. Look at the log, not only the policy document. If checks are consistently late because the contact person has other duties, change staffing or the method. If workers cannot be located precisely, update the route plan and site access record. If repeated calls are false alarms, adjust the design without making the safety interval unjustifiably long.

Keep the policy linked to other controls. A workplace violence program may address public interaction or home visits. Emergency planning must include first aid and rescue. Equipment, confined-space or electrical work can have separate permit and attendant requirements. This guide does not replace those systems, and it does not claim that the same risk controls fit a shop, road vehicle, care setting and remote construction site.

Questions employers ask

Is a written working-alone policy mandatory everywhere in Canada?

The precise requirement depends on the jurisdiction and work. British Columbia's section 4.21 requires a written procedure for the workers it covers. Alberta's Part 28 requires an effective communication system with risk-appropriate contact. Do not cite either as an identical Canada-wide written-policy rule. Even where a named standalone policy is not prescribed, recording the risk assessment, contact and rescue plan is a sound way to make the arrangement operational.

How often should workers check in?

There is no single safe or universal Canadian interval. The frequency should follow the hazard, travel distance, possible injury mechanism, communication reliability and applicable law. Alberta expressly ties intervals to the nature of the hazard; BC requires consultation on intervals for the workers its rule covers.

Can GPS or an app replace a person?

Technology can support a check-in, but it does not replace an effective response. Test coverage, battery, alerts, worker privacy, the designated monitor, backup and rescue arrangements. Do not advertise automated detection or emergency dispatch unless the actual service demonstrably provides it.

Next step

Choose one real solo assignment and run a tabletop test: can the worker contact someone, can that person locate the worker, and can the emergency plan be activated before the risk becomes unacceptable? Use the results to write the local policy and train both participants. For a wider Canadian compliance discussion, see Complys Canada. The proposed /ca/ohs-compliance-software money route and any claim that Complys monitors lone workers or dispatches help require route and implementation verification before publication.

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