RPAS (Drone) Workplace Safety Awareness
Awareness-level training: certificate of completion included. This course does not certify you to perform regulated work.
About RPAS (Drone) Workplace Safety Awareness Training
RPAS (Drone) Workplace Safety Awareness : Course Details
Duration: 35 minutes
Format: Online course with interactive content and assessments
Certification: Certificate of completion provided upon successful course completion
Access: Lifetime access to course materials and updates
Course Modules
- Introduction
- Module 2: What Is an RPAS, and Why It's a Workplace Safety Topic
- Module 3: The Federal Aviation Rules Ground Crew Must Recognize
- Module 4: Site Hazards Around Drone Operations
- Module 5: Two Tracks, One Worksite — Aviation Law and OHS Law
- Module 6: Vendor Vetting and Site Integration
- Module 7: Incident Response, Reporting and Documentation
- Module 8: Worker Rights and Responsibilities
- Course Conclusion
- Final Assessment
Who Should Take RPAS (Drone) Workplace Safety Awareness
This RPAS (drone) workplace safety training is essential for anyone whose work brings them into contact with drone operations:
- Ground Crews: Working near active drone launch, flight, and recovery zones
- Construction Supervisors: Coordinating with drone operators for site surveys and inspections
- Utility and Pipeline Inspectors: Using or working alongside RPAS for infrastructure inspection
- Surveyors and Site Coordinators: Integrating drone operations into daily work plans
- Site Safety Coordinators: Vetting drone vendors and managing dual aviation/OHS obligations
Relevant for any Canadian worksite where third-party or in-house RPAS operations occur.
RPAS (Drone) Workplace Safety Awareness : Canadian Regulatory Compliance
Canadian RPAS Regulatory Framework
This training addresses the two-track regulatory reality of workplace drone operations:
- Transport Canada, Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) Part IX: Governs RPAS pilot certification, aircraft registration, and flight operations
- Provincial OHS Acts (general duty clause): Governs the worksite hazards created around drone operations, separate from aviation law
- Canada Labour Code Part II: Applies to federally regulated worksites using RPAS
Employer Obligations
Employers must vet drone vendors for valid RPAS certification and coordinate site hazard controls; aviation law regulates the aircraft, OHS law regulates the ground.
What You'll Learn in RPAS (Drone) Workplace Safety Awareness
- Recognize how Transport Canada RPAS rules and provincial OHS law both apply to worksite drone operations
- Identify site hazards created by drone launch, flight, and recovery around ground crews
- Understand vendor vetting steps before allowing a drone operator onto a worksite
- Apply incident response and reporting procedures for RPAS-related worksite events
- Know worker rights and responsibilities when working near active drone operations
Your Instructor
HSE Advisor Canada is a credentialed Canadian health & safety consulting firm. Our courses are developed and delivered by CRSP-certified practitioners and COR & ISO 45001 Lead Auditors with field experience across construction, oil & gas, mining, and industrial manufacturing.
The same team builds compliant safety programs and guides Canadian businesses through COR certification, so every course reflects current provincial and federal OHS requirements rather than generic theory.
Training your team on this course?
Assign it to your whole crew, track completions, and get one company invoice with a corporate account.
Need more than training?
Our CRSP-certified, COR & ISO 45001 Lead Auditors help Canadian businesses build compliant safety programs and earn COR certification.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does drone safety training let someone legally fly a drone at work?
No. This course does not grant a Transport Canada pilot certificate and does not certify anyone to fly an RPAS. Anyone who will personally operate a drone between 250 g and 25 kg on a Canadian worksite must pass Transport Canada's own exam and hold a valid drone pilot certificate under Part IX of the Canadian Aviation Regulations. This course is built for the people on the ground around the operation, not the pilot.
Who regulates drones on Canadian worksites - the province or the federal government?
Both, on separate tracks. Airspace and drone-pilot certification are exclusively federal under the Aeronautics Act and CARs Part IX - no province or territory regulates who may fly a drone or where. Protecting the workers on the ground remains fully governed by the applicable provincial, territorial, or federal OHS law through the general duty clause, since no Canadian OHS statute names RPAS specifically. The course keeps both tracks straight so neither is mistaken for the other.
How close can a drone fly to workers on a site?
Under Basic Operations, a drone must keep a minimum 30 metres horizontal distance from any bystander at any altitude - and any worker not part of the drone crew counts as a bystander under that rule. Advanced Operations pilots may legally fly closer, down to 5 metres or even directly overhead, with the required authorization. That is exactly why a site should confirm the operator's actual certificate level before the first flight rather than judging by how far away the drone looks.
What should a supervisor verify before allowing a drone vendor to fly?
Five things: the pilot's Transport Canada certificate (the only accepted proof of legal authority to fly), the drone's registration marking (required at 250 g and over), liability insurance, airspace authorization for the location, and a site-specific flight plan. The operation should then be folded into the site's job hazard analysis and coordinated like any other subcontractor - the course uses Ontario's constructor-coordination model under O. Reg. 213/91 as its design pattern for site integration.
Which workers should take drone workplace safety awareness?
Ground crew, site supervisors, safety coordinators, and project managers who schedule, host, or approve RPAS operations - plus any worker who may be present while a drone operates nearby. The hazards covered are the ones that reach people on the ground: struck-by and flyaway events, laceration, distraction, and lithium-battery thermal-runaway fire, which is a dangerous-goods and WHMIS issue as much as a flight-control one. It is explicitly not intended for anyone who will pilot the aircraft.
