Working Alone in Canada: What Your Province Actually Requires
Seven workers died in Alberta between 2010 and 2019 in incidents connected to working alone. That number is almost certainly low — these incidents often get classified differently. What isn't disputed: most of the employers involved either had no written working-alone procedure, or had one that nobody had read. Not because they were reckless. Because they didn't know they were required to have one.
That's the part that keeps coming up. Most employers assume that if something isn't posted on a safety board, it probably doesn't apply to them. Working alone legislation is different. It's often buried in OHS codes, described in general terms, and enforced only after something goes wrong.
Most employers assume that if something isn't posted on a safety board, it probably doesn't apply to them. Working alone legislation is different — it's buried in OHS codes, described in general terms, and enforced only after something goes wrong.
What counts as "working alone"?
Working alone means any situation where a worker cannot get help from a co-worker if something goes wrong. That includes working in a separate building, working after hours in an otherwise-occupied workplace, working in a vehicle on a remote route, or working at a remote site. It does not require literal solitude — it requires the absence of immediate assistance.
A retail worker closing up alone at 11pm counts. A maintenance tech in a mechanical room while the rest of the building is occupied counts. A delivery driver on a rural route counts. The question isn't "is anyone else around?" — it's "if this person needed help right now, would they get it in time?"
A stat worth knowing
According to WorkSafeBC, incidents involving workers in isolation are consistently underreported because many don't get categorized as "working alone" incidents at the investigation stage. The actual exposure across most industries is significantly higher than records suggest.
Which provinces have specific working alone laws?
This is where most employers get tripped up, because the rules vary significantly depending on where you operate — and the absence of an explicit "working alone" section in your province's OHS act doesn't mean you're off the hook.
Alberta — Part 28 of the OHS Code (under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 2017) has explicit working alone provisions. Employers must prepare a written working alone procedure, conduct a hazard assessment, and implement a check-in system. Alberta's rules are among the most prescriptive in the country.
British Columbia — WorkSafeBC's Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, Part 4, sections 4.20 through 4.22, requires employers to have a written working alone or in isolation procedure. BC specifically requires the check-in intervals to be based on the identified hazards — not arbitrary.
Saskatchewan — Part 28 of Saskatchewan's OHS Regulations mirrors Alberta's structure fairly closely. Written procedure, hazard assessment, defined check-in system. If you have sites in both provinces, the requirements are similar enough that one solid procedure can cover both with minor adjustments.
Manitoba — The Working Alone Regulation under The Workplace Safety and Health Act requires a written working alone safety plan. Manitoba's regulation is explicit about the requirement to contact the worker at intervals and to follow up if contact fails.
Ontario — Here's the one that surprises people: Ontario does not have a standalone working alone regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The general duty clause (section 25(2)(h)) requires employers to take every reasonable precaution, which courts and the Ministry have interpreted to include working alone scenarios. Some sector-specific regulations go further — O.Reg. 67/93 for health care and residential facilities has more explicit language. But for most Ontario employers, this is a gap that gets exposed during inspections.
Federal workplaces — The Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, Part XIX, requires a written procedure and a monitoring system for federally regulated workers who work alone. This covers banks, rail, telecom, interprovincial transport, and federal government employees.
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island all have working alone provisions in their OHS legislation. Quebec addresses it through Act R-15.1 and associated regulations. Newfoundland has OHS code provisions covering lone worker situations.
What your procedure actually needs to include
The specific language varies by province, but a procedure that would satisfy most Canadian OHS requirements has five components. Missing any one of them is usually what causes a procedure to fail an inspection or an investigation.
Working alone procedure — what it must cover
- Hazard assessment specific to the working alone situation — not a generic job hazard assessment, but one that addresses what happens if the worker is incapacitated and no one knows
- Check-in schedule with intervals based on identified risk level — the riskier the work, the shorter the interval; "every 8 hours" won't pass for high-hazard work
- Emergency response steps that activate automatically if a check-in is missed — not "call 911" but a specific internal escalation procedure that someone is actually responsible for following
- Documented worker training showing the worker received and understood the procedure before working alone
- Written format — verbal procedures don't satisfy most provincial requirements; it needs to exist as a document
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View H2S Courses →The check-in system question
The check-in requirement is where most procedures fall apart in practice. Employers set up a system, workers use it inconsistently, and nobody follows up when a check-in is missed. That's not a working alone procedure — that's the appearance of one.
That's not a working alone procedure — that's the appearance of one.
What actually satisfies the regulation comes down to two things: the interval is appropriate for the risk, and someone is assigned to act if a check-in fails.
On the interval question: a property manager doing routine walk-throughs in an occupied building at 2pm is different from a maintenance worker in a confined space-adjacent area at midnight. The OHS codes use language like "intervals appropriate to the nature of the hazard," which means an inspector can challenge your intervals if they don't match the actual risk. Document your reasoning.
On the follow-up question: "Call 911 if you don't hear from them" does not satisfy the requirement in most provinces. There needs to be a specific person responsible for checking in with the worker, a defined waiting period before escalation, and a documented response protocol. If the person responsible for check-ins isn't reachable, who's the backup?
Technology helps here but doesn't replace the procedure. Lone worker apps, GPS tracking, and automated check-in systems can make the process more reliable. But the tool needs to be embedded in a written procedure — the technology alone isn't compliance.
Five mistakes we see every time
After doing working alone assessments across construction, retail, oil and gas, and property management, the same problems come up over and over. None of them are surprising in hindsight. All of them are fixable before something happens.
The five most common gaps
1. The procedure exists, but nobody's been trained on it. The document is in a binder or a shared drive. The workers doing the actual alone work have never seen it. This fails the documentation requirement and creates a liability gap the procedure was supposed to close.
2. Check-in intervals don't match risk. A cleaning company with workers in buildings alone overnight has check-ins every 4 hours. The regulation says intervals must match the hazard. For anyone working in a building with access control issues, health risks, or physical demands, 4 hours is hard to defend.
3. The emergency response step is "call 911." 911 is the end of the chain, not the chain itself. Who at the company checks on the worker? When? What do they do if the worker doesn't answer? These questions need answers before something happens, not during.
4. The procedure wasn't updated when the work changed. A procedure written for one site doesn't automatically cover a new location, a different shift structure, or a changed job scope. Procedures need to be reviewed when the work changes — not just annually.
5. Seasonal and part-time workers aren't covered. The working alone requirements apply to every worker in every working alone situation. A seasonal employee working a closing shift alone has the same legal protection as a full-time employee. If your training records don't include them, your procedure has a hole.
Where to start if you have nothing in place
The gap between having nothing and having something compliant is smaller than most employers expect. A working alone procedure doesn't need to be elaborate. It needs to be accurate, specific to your work, and actually used.
The gap between having nothing and having something compliant is smaller than most employers expect.
Start by identifying every role in your organization that regularly or occasionally works without a co-worker present who could respond in an emergency. You'll probably find more than you expect. Delivery, maintenance, security, property management, retail closing shifts, field sales — all of these have working alone exposure.
For each scenario, document the specific hazards, decide on a check-in interval that matches the risk, and assign a specific person responsible for following up if a check-in is missed. Put it in writing. Train the workers before they work alone. Keep the training records.
If you operate in Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, or Manitoba, your province has published guidance documents that describe exactly what's required. Alberta's OHS website has a working alone guide. WorkSafeBC has a template. Start there, adapt it to your workplace, and get it in front of the workers who need it.
For most employers, the safety program gaps that show up in working alone situations are the same gaps that show up everywhere else: procedures that exist on paper but not in practice. The fix is the same too — make it specific, make it known, and make sure someone's actually responsible for it.
Sources & Regulations
