Safetyline newsletter winter edition

Winter Edition Send a panic signal to a supervisor if you have an emergency in 3 seconds. 4

How to use check worker status on any device. 4

SafetyLine Newsletter What’s Inside Work Alone Definition and Categories: How many employees do you have that are defined as “working alone”?

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5 Steps for Improving Your Hazard Assessments.

With winter come more hazards prepare with a hazard assessment.

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Winter Driving Tips

Could You Be Breaking The Law and Not Realizing It? What you need to know about Work Alone Safety Legislation in Canada The Criminal Code in Canada has been amended such that organizations and even individuals may be criminally liable for failure to take reasonable measures to protect employee safety. But what exactly are “reasonable measures”?

Are you actually taking those measures?

In this article, you will learn what liabilities you have as an employer, work alone

Avoid driving hazards this winter by following these 3 P’s!

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safetylineloneworker.com

Traditional vs Automated Work Alone Solutions 4

legislation specific to your own province, and what measures you need to be taking to keep your workers – and your company – safe.

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SafetyLine Newsletter - Winter Edition

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Canadian work alone regulations have a purpose to ensure those who work alone can do so safely, since having at least two workers at job sites is not always practical or effective. Seven provinces and two territories in Canada regulate working alone: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan.

4.

Check-ins must take place at intervals

appropriate to the hazards in the worker’s environment.

Some jurisdictions stipulate more in-depth safety policies from their employers. Find more details of your provincial regulations at safetylineloneworker. com/regulations.

LIABILITY EVERY EMPLOYER HAS FOR THEIR EMPLOYEES WORKING ALONE

REGULATED SAFETY MEASURES FOR EMPLOYERS

It is the responsibility of the employer to minimize In the jurisdictions listed above, employers must risk associated with their workers who works alone. adhere to specific safety measures to ensure their If reasonable measures are not put in place to help employees working alone are safe. Below are four mitigate risk, companies and individuals may be held criminally liable under Canadian law. safety precautions that all jurisdictions require: 1.

Conduct a hazard assessment to identify existing or potential hazards that may affect the workers

2.

Implement appropriate measures to control those hazards

Even beyond that, without proper safety precautions in place, a company may be exposed to risks such as lawsuits, higher premiums on insurance, employee replacement costs, or even damaging media attention. It is therefore of utmost importance to take preventative action to mitigate risk and enact the safety measures listed above in your company.

3.

Establish an effective system of

communication between the worker and first responder

Winter Driving Tips Winter driving can sometimes be a daunting task, especially when conditions are snowy or icy. Remember these 3 P’s when driving this season!

Prepare: Get your vehicle ready for the season by having a tune-up, replacing your wiper blades, and changing to winter tires. Keep a safety kit in your car including blankets and water. A safety vest is good to have in case you need to exit your car around traffic.

Plan: Check conditions before heading out on the road, plan your route in advance, and give yourself extra time to arrive. Check-in with people before you leave, or use an automated safety monitoring system so responders can locate you in case you get stuck.

Perform: When you are out on the road, perform safe driving tactics.

Slow down, always use headlights, and never use cruise control.

Remember these 3 P’s to avoid driving hazards this winter!

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5 Steps for Improving Your Hazard Assessments With cold and icy working conditions, come more hazards in the workplace. Therefore, winter is a great time to reassess hazards and risks in your work environment. Here are 5 steps you can take to ensure your Hazard Assessment is as comprehensive as possible.

(3) INVOLVE YOUR EMPLOYEES

(1) WORK IN A TEAM

(4) AVOID ASSUMPTIONS

Form a group of at least two people for your hazard assessment team. One person may not be aware or notice certain things another person might. For this reason it is important for employers in different positions or in different sectors of your company be involved. As people currently working in your company may habituate themselves to hazards, it is also a good idea to hire an outside consultant for a completely fresh pair of eyes.

Just because no one has been injured doing a certain task yet, do not assume it is safe. Ask yourself “what if” questions for each task that may illuminate possible hazards and risks, especially those risks that may only be present seasonally, such as black ice.

(2) REVIEW PAST ACCIDENTS

Look at any incident reports that have been filed and determine their cause. It is also important to talk to your employees to find out if there have been any near-misses or undue risks taken on the job. This information can help you mitigate hazards in the future.

Ask staff for input on hazards and how they may be controlled.

People working in the most hazardous areas of your business can point you toward risky practices and will offer useful tips in mitigating these hazards.

(5) PLAN YOUR ASSESSMENT WORK FLOW

Determine how you will organize your hazard assessment in advance. Whether it centers around tasks, equipment, job roles, or physical locations, being consistent in your approach will help you be as thorough as possible.

Although accidents in your company may still happen, being as conscientious as possible in your hazard assessments can help lessen the seriousness of those accidents, helping everyone to have a safer, more productive winter season!

Do You Know How Many Workers You Have That Are Defined As “Working Alone”?

WORK ALONE DEFINITION AND CATEGORIES

A worker is considered to be working alone if the worker works by himself or herself at a work site in circumstances where assistance is not readily available when needed.

There are 5 general categories of employees who work alone: 1.

Workers who do hazardous work away from the public such as field service operatives.

2.

Workers who travel away from the office and interact with their customers, such as home care workers and social service workers.

3.

Workers who travel alone but have no interaction with customers, such as truck drivers.

4.

Workers who handle cash, such as taxi drivers, and gas station attendants.

5.

Workers alone in at an isolated site, such as security guards.

Consider your staff – do you have any workers that could fit into one of these five categories? If so, a work alone safety plan is necessary!

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Traditional vs Automated Work Alone Monitoring Although many organizations have implemented some kind of safety monitoring system for their employees who work alone, the vast majority of systems in use may not be compliant with safety legislation, and can be a wasteful drain on resources.

Traditional systems for work alone safety monitoring can be defined as systems that fail to leverage advances in technology to discover and respond to an incident proactively. These can include systems such as internal safety protocols within a company that enforce physical or phone check-ins from worker to supervisor after a set period of time, or phone checkins to a call center.

Automated, cloud-based monitoring is emerging as a new best practice in work alone safety. These systems can be integrated with all existing devices, and even future devices to provide instant and active safety awareness for workers alone in the field. These systems leverage the latest advances in technology to: • Automatically prompt workers to check-in

and record voice messages without

needing costly call centers or cumbersome

manual processes.

• Keep a record of all check-ins, even across a

large fleet of work alone employees

Automated work alone systems give you the flexibility to check-in or monitor from any device.

• Proactively send

alerts to

supervisors when

check-ins are missed • Send alerts to a list of emergency

contacts when the worker sends a

panic signal, or has been detected to have

fallen or been immobilized • Give real-time GPS location, work history,

and Emergency Response Procedure

prompts for supervisors when an incident has occurred.

Automated, cloud-based work alone safety monitoring solutions, like SafetyLine, are easy to implement, making it an ideal successor to traditional methods. In addition, they provide the greatest level of compatibility for your existing computers and mobile devices, and ensure critical information can be accessed from any location by any authorized personnel. They are designed to facilitate rapid adoption by management and employees alike, and can quickly reduce the internal burden of monitoring upon current personnel.

SafetyLine User Tip Press and hold the red “Emergency” button on your smartphone app for 3 seconds to trigger a panic alarm - all your supervisors and coworkers will be notified you are in trouble by automated calls, emails, and text messages.

SafetyLine ensures you get the help you need from the right people right away!

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