Quick Facts on British Columbia Legislation

Of all the Canadian Provinces, British Columbia has the strictest wording for legislation around Lone Workers.

Link: WorkSafeBC Regulations, relevant sections. 

It’s clear, explicit language creates a framework of:

• legal requirements around the minimum responsibilities
• the minimum acceptable acts of due diligence
• the minimum ongoing actions a business or organization must take, throughout a Lone Workers shift, to check in and verify the safety of the Lone Worker.
• the specific need for specialized training as a Lone Worker, due to the additional dangers with working alone and without supervision. 

Regulation Highlights

Working Alone or In Isolation

4.20.1 Definition

In sections 4.20.2 to 4.23, “to work alone or in isolation” means to work in circumstances where assistance would not be readily available to the worker

(a) in case of an emergency, or

(b) in case the worker is injured or in ill health.

[Enacted by B.C. Reg. 318/2007, effective February 1, 2008.]

 

4.20.2 Hazard identification, elimination and control

(1) Before a worker is assigned to work alone or in isolation, the employer must identify any hazards to that worker.

(2) Before a worker starts a work assignment with a hazard identified under subsection (1), the employer must take measures

(a) to eliminate the hazard, and

(b) if it is not practicable to eliminate the hazard, to minimize the risk from the hazard.

(3) For purposes of subsection (2) (b), the employer must minimize the risk from the hazard to the lowest level practicable using engineering controls, administrative controls or a combination of engineering and administrative controls.

[Enacted by B.C. Reg. 318/2007, effective February 1, 2008.]

 

4.21 Procedures for checking well-being of worker

(1) The employer must develop and implement a written procedure for checking the well-being of a worker assigned to work alone or in isolation.

(2) The procedure for checking a worker’s well-being must include the time interval between checks and the procedure to follow in case the worker cannot be contacted, including provisions for emergency rescue.

(3) A person must be designated to establish contact with the worker at predetermined intervals and the results must be recorded by the person.

(4) In addition to checks at regular intervals, a check at the end of the work shift must be done.

(5) The procedure for checking a worker’s well-being, including time intervals between the checks, must be developed in consultation with the joint committee or the worker health and safety representative, as applicable.

(6) Time intervals for checking a worker’s well-being must be developed in consultation with the worker assigned to work alone or in isolation.

[Amended by B.C. Reg. 318/2007, effective February 1, 2008.]

Note: High risk activities require shorter time intervals between checks. The preferred method for checking is visual or two-way voice contact, but where such a system is not practicable, a one-way system which allows the worker to call or signal for help and which will send a call for help if the worker does not reset the device after a predetermined interval is acceptable.

 

4.22 Training

A worker described in section 4.21(1) and any person assigned to check on the worker must be trained in the written procedure for checking the worker’s well-being.

[Amended by B.C. Reg. 318/2007, effective February 1, 2008.]

 

4.22.1 Late night retail safety procedures and requirements

(1) In this section:

“late night hours” means any time between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.;

“late night retail premises” means

(a) a gas station or other retail fueling outlet, or

(b) a convenience store or any other retail store where goods are sold directly to consumers

that is open to the public for late night hours;

“violence prevention program” means a program implemented under subsection (2)(b)(iii).

(2) If a worker is assigned to work alone or in isolation in late night retail premises and there is any risk of harm from a violent act to the worker, then, in addition to any other obligations the employer has under sections 4.20.2 to 4.23 and 4.28 to 4.30,

(a) the employer must develop and implement a written procedure to ensure the worker’s safety in handling money, and

(b) when that worker is assigned to work late night hours, the employer must also do one or more of the following:

(i) ensure that the worker is physically separated from the public by a locked door or barrier that prevents physical contact with or access to the worker;

(ii) assign one or more workers to work with the worker during that worker’s assignment;

(iii) implement a violence prevention program in accordance with subsections (2.1) to (2.3).

(2.1) A violence prevention program must include procedures, policies and work environment arrangements necessary to ensure that all of the following requirements are met:

(a) there is a time lock safe on the premises that cannot be opened during late night hours;

(b) cash and lottery tickets that are not reasonably required in order to operate during late night hours are stored in the time lock safe referred to in paragraph (a);

(c) there is good visibility both into and out of the premises;

(d) there is limited access to the inside of the premises;

(e) the premises is monitored by video surveillance;

(f) there are signs on the premises, visible to the public, indicating that

(i) the safe on the premises is a time lock safe that cannot be opened during late night hours,

(ii) there is a limited amount of accessible cash and lottery tickets on the premises, and

(iii) the premises is monitored by video surveillance;

(g) a worker described in subsection (2)

(i) is at least 19 years of age, and

(ii) is provided with a personal emergency transmitter that is monitored by

(A) the employer, or

(B) a security company or other person designated by the employer.

(2.2) By the end of the first year of the implementation of a violence prevention program and by the end of every second year after that first year, the employer must receive a security audit report, in writing, from an independent qualified person confirming that the program meets all of the requirements under subsection (2.1).

(2.3) The written security audit report referred to in subsection (2.2) must be

(a) retained by the employer, and

(b) posted by the employer in the workplace

for a period beginning on or immediately after the date the report is received and ending no earlier than the date on which the next report is posted.

(3) The employer must train a worker described in subsection (2) in

(a) the written procedure referred to in subsection (2)(a), and

(b) if the employer implements a violence prevention program, the procedures, policies and work environment arrangements referred to in subsection (2.1).

(4) A worker described in subsection (2) must

(a) follow the written procedure referred to in subsection (2)(a), and

(b) if the employer implements a violence prevention program,

(i) follow the procedures, policies and work environment arrangements referred to in subsection (2.1), and

(ii) wear, during late night hours, the personal emergency transmitter referred to in subsection (2.1)(g)(ii).

[Enacted by B.C. Reg. 318/2007, effective February 1, 2008.]

[Amended by B.C. Reg. 312/2010, effective February 1, 2011.]

[Amended by B.C. Reg. 230/2011, effective April 15, 2012.]

 

4.22.2 Mandatory prepayment for fuel

An employer must require that customers prepay for fuel sold in gas stations and other retail fueling outlets.

[Enacted by B.C. Reg. 318/2007, effective February 1, 2008.]

 

4.23 Annual reviews of procedures

The procedures referred to in sections 4.21 and 4.22.1(2)(a) and, if a violence prevention program is implemented, the procedures, policies and work environment arrangements referred to in section 4.22.1(2.1), must be reviewed at least annually, or more frequently if there is

(a) a change in work environment arrangements that could adversely affect

(i) the effectiveness of the violence prevention program, or

(ii) a worker’s well-being or safety, or

(b) a report that the procedures, policies or work environment arrangements, as applicable, are not working effectively.

[Enacted by B.C. Reg. 230/2011, effective April 15, 2012.]