OK Alone's role in protecting Canada's lone workers
As Canadian employers grapple with evolving workforce dynamics, lone work is becoming more common — and more dangerous. From nurses visiting patients at home to utility workers in remote areas and retail staff facing aggressive customers, risks are rising. That’s where OK Alone, a mobile safety platform, is gaining traction as a tool to protect lone and high-risk workers.
“It’s all about immediacy — getting help to people quickly and mitigating the risks of working by yourself,” says Freddie McGrath, marketing director at OK Alone.
The system includes a mobile app and online portal, allowing workers to check in at the start of a shift, set timers for high-risk activities, and automatically trigger alerts if something goes wrong. If a worker doesn’t complete a task or respond to a prompt, an escalation protocol kicks in — contacting a supervisor, alerting a 24/7 Canadian monitoring centre, or dispatching emergency services.
“You can try to reach the worker, and if not, decide whether to send someone nearby or escalate to emergency services,” says McGrath. “It replaces unreliable manual processes — like texting someone to say you’re safe — with automation that doesn’t miss a beat.”
OK Alone is already used in home healthcare, utilities, municipalities, and retail, where the risk isn’t just environmental or task-related — it’s people. “Aggression toward frontline workers has increased dramatically since the pandemic,” McGrath explains. “We’ve seen a 46% rise in violence and verbal abuse in Canada over the last two to three years.”
The app also includes voice activation through Siri or Google Assistant and a “man down” feature that detects if a worker has fallen and become motionless — a critical tool for those working at heights or in isolated areas.
Beyond emergency response, OK Alone also supports compliance with Canadian lone worker regulations, which require employers to identify and mitigate the risks of working alone. “Canada is strong on regulation in this area,” says McGrath. “If you’ve assessed lone worker risks, you need a system that helps you manage and report on them.”
The platform can even save lives. One story McGrath shared involved a diabetic employee en route to a company Christmas party. “She didn’t show up. Her manager got an alert, saw where she’d stopped, and called for help. She’d had a diabetic episode — if they hadn’t found her, it could have been tragic.”
For employers, OK Alone is more than a safety tool — it’s a staff benefit. “We tell clients: you’ve paid for it — let workers use it on their way home at night. That’s a perk that shows you really value their well-being.”
As work grows more mobile, safety solutions must follow. For safety leaders, platforms like OK Alone offer a smart, scalable, and human-focused way to keep lone workers protected — wherever the job takes them.
