Lone Worker Safety Playbook: The Canadian Employer's Guide

[00:00:00] Mallory Hendry: Hello everyone and welcome. I'm Mallory Hendry, Content Specialist Manager with Canadian Occupational Safety, and I want to thank you for joining us for today's webinar, Loan Worker Safety Playbook, The Canadian Employer's Guide. Workplace violence and harassment are on the rise across Canada, especially for loan and frontline workers. Today, experts from OK Alone and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety will share some practical strategies to help you assess risk, meet compliance, and use technology to protect your teams. On our panel today, we have Ryan Obsuszt, VP of Sales at OK Loan. He's been in the loan worker industry for almost four years, specializing in tailoring solutions to meet the unique needs of organizations. He brings a deep understanding of the North American market and emerging loan worker legislation, with his work primarily focused on utilities, municipalities, and healthcare organizations. Also joining us from OKA Loan is Richard Bedworth, Managing Director and Loan Worker Safety Expert. He's held numerous leadership roles across different business units and geographies, working in security and risk management for G4S, Mighty and Securitas. Notably, as a director at Stay Safe, he transformed that business from a small regional company into a global leader, expanding its client base to over 1,000 companies across 57 countries. He brought deep expertise and valuable insights into the challenges businesses face in protecting their loan workers before Stay Safe's acquisition by Eco Online.

 

[00:01:50] Mallory Hendry: And then last but not least, we're joined by Matea Kokorovic, Senior Technical Specialist, Occupational Health and Safety, again at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. As a certified industrial hygienist, Matea provides technical advice and guidance on a variety of workplace health and safety topics. Her expertise includes industrial hygiene, addressing physical hazards, health promotion and wellness initiatives, violence and bullying prevention strategies, and building comprehensive health and safety programs. At the end of the presentation, our panelists will participate in a question and answer period. So be sure to type any questions that you have into the Q&A box within the webinar software, and we will get to those. So I'll turn things over to our host now to begin the presentation. Take it away.

 

[00:02:50] Richard Bedworth: Thanks, Mallory. Firstly, you'll be pleased to know there is some audience participation today. We've got a few poll questions as we go through the presentations, and we do appreciate your input. To kick us off, have you seen workplace violence increase in the last two to three years? We'll just wait while we get those results in. Okay, as I can't see the stats, we'll carry on and we'll report those to you at the end. Right, let's begin with the truth. Workplace violence in Canada is on the rise and it's escalating in both frequency and severity. In federally relegated workplaces, reported harassment and violent incidents jumped 26% from 2021 to 2022. Even more concerning is the 62% spike in sexual harassment and violence in the same period.

 

[00:03:50] Richard Bedworth: If we start to break this down by sector, the trend continues. The public sector, which includes government departments, public education, health authorities, crown corporations, saw a 13% increase climbing from 1,664 incidents in 2021 to 1,885 in 2022. The private sector, made up of contractors, service providers, other non-government employers, experienced a much steeper 32% increase, rising from 3,286 to 4,341 reported occurrences. The private sector accounted for nearly 70% of all reported incidents in 2022. A reflection on both its workforce size and diverse range of high exposure environments, from retail logistics to loan work in the field. And perhaps the most alarming of all, we've now seen the emergence of fatalities tied to workplace violence. In 2021 there were none. In 2022, three workers lost their lives as a direct result of violent incidents. This is not just a statistical increase, there's a shift in the nature and the severity of what's occurring.

 

[00:05:10] Richard Bedworth: It's important to remember, workplace violence includes far more than physical assaults. It spans verbal abuse, intimidation, psychological harassment, sexual violence and threats. This is a multifaceted, evolving threat. And the numbers make one thing clear. We're not dealing with isolated incidents. We're dealing with system-wide escalation that demands deeper, broader and more urgent response. It demands our immediate attention.  Let's take a closer look at the why. Why are we seeing such a significant spike in workplace violence across Canada? The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a major accelerant. It introduced intense stresses into the workplace. Economic insecurity, health anxiety, supply chain pressure and social division. All of that spilled into the workplaces, particularly in front line and public facing roles where tension often reached a boiling point.

 

[00:06:20] Richard Bedworth: What we see is that isolation increased while access to supervision and safety resources decreased. On top of that, the structure around workers also began to shift. As organisations adapted rapidly to remote and hybrid models, many safety systems simply didn't keep pace. Processes built for fixed workplaces were now being applied to mobile and distributed teams, as many of them just didn't fit. The physical workforce changed almost overnight, but in many cases the safety infrastructure wasn't able to keep pace.  What complicates this even further is that many of the in-person training programs, things like de-escalation, violence prevention, psychological safety, were scaled back or eliminated during the pandemic. Hybrid and remote work models became normalized, yet many organizations failed to update the safety frameworks to match this shift. So as a result, we're not just dealing with more incidents, We're dealing with people being less prepared, fewer safeguards and more complexity all at once. This means there's a widening gap between where risk exists and where protective infrastructure is in place.

 

[00:07:40] Richard Bedworth: Now that we can understand the scale of the problem, let's talk about who's most affected and why. The data consistently points to a disproportionate impact on public-facing and isolated workers, particularly those in essential services. The healthcare and social services sector are by far the hardest hit, reporting more than five times the number of incidents compared to the most affected industry. This isn't surprising. These roles often involve high stress interactions, emotionally charged, environments and exposure to vulnerable or distressed populations. But it's not just the limited frontline medical settings. Other high-risk industries include education, retail, service roles and transport and logistics. These are environments where workers often face the public directly, often without backup and under pressure.

 

[00:08:50] Richard Bedworth: Now let's focus on lone workers. Those who operate without immediate support or oversight. This includes home care nurses, social workers, maintenance staff, field technicians and mobile sales or inspector roles. For these workers, the risks are compounded. They may be entering unknown environments, they may not have access to adequate communication tools and in the event of a violent incident, there may be no one there to witness or intervene providing support for them. Ultimately this is a call to action. We must rethink how we protect workers most vulnerable to harm and that begins with reorganising who they are and the environments that they're operating in. Tragically we've got a real life story to share. Most of you will be aware of this incident, but for those of you who aren't, in the early hours of October 25th, 2019, Deborah, Debbie Onru, was fatally stabbed while at work. Debbie was 47, stabbed 19 times and later died on premise during an overnight shift as a care worker at Woods Home Society, WHS, residence in Calgary. At the time of her death, Debbie was working in an upstairs unit at a two-storey duplex style residence where Brandon Newman, then 18 years of age, was temporarily housed. The separate downstairs unit housed another WHS client who was assigned his own staff, thereby meaning Debbie was alone at the time of her attack.

 

[00:10:30] Richard Bedworth: Troy Winters, CUP's National Health and Safety Coordinator, commented on the tragedy saying if she had the full history of the client's behavior, if she had a co-worker, if there were other precautions in place, she might still be here. And I think that's our takeaway as we look at incidents like this is it didn't need to happen. Now, with that, I'm going to hand you over to Matea, who's going to be talking you through risk assessments, prevention and compliance.

 

[00:11:10] Matea Kokorovic: Thank you, Richard. And thank you for sharing that real life story and the importance of workplace violence programs. So before I give my my talk, we'll have another poll question for the audience here. And the question is, what type of risks affect your workplace? So are your risks mainly from people, from the environment, or from the task itself? Please vote. And I have the results here. So we have a mix, essentially. So about 50% of you said... the main type of risk is the people in your workplace. Around 18% of you said it was the environment and around 31% said it was the task itself. So thank you for voting.  When it comes to to loan worker safety and workplace violence prevention. We can see that... In many cases, it can be a mix of people, the environment and the task that can create an environment or creates hazards that may lead to workplace violence. So with that said, I'm going to share my screen and I'll continue the conversation on lone worker safety. So in this session, in the next 15 or 20 or so minutes, we'll be talking about risk assessments, we'll be talking about prevention measures, and also legislative requirements when it comes to working alone and also workplace violence, looking at Canada.

 

[00:12:40] Matea Kokorovic: So let's start by looking at the definition of loan work. What exactly is loan work? Well, essentially, a person is alone at work if they're on their own, and they're alone if they can't be seen or heard by another person. So this doesn't always have to mean that they're physically isolated in a remote location. Working alone could be a temporary situation. You could even be working alone within a larger workplace. So for example, a receptionist working alone in the lobby of a larger building would be an example of working alone. You can have an overnight gas station attendant or a construction worker who's working on a large site, but they're working in an isolated room without any windows or doors and no one to see them. We saw with the unfortunate example of Deborah, home care workers making visits to clients are also examples of lone workers and can face increased risk related to workplace violence.

 

[00:13:30] Matea Kokorovic: When it comes to lone work and what is considered lone work, it's really important to check with your local legislation because many acts and regulations related to health and safety in Canada actually have definitions of what constitutes loan work. So, for example, in Alberta, from a legal context, for someone to be working alone, they have to be both working by themselves and also assistance is not readily available for them in case there is an illness, an injury or an emergency. So although the general definition of loan work may vary, always check with your local jurisdiction for any specific definitions that you have to look out for.

 

[00:14:10] Matea Kokorovic: Now moving on to the risks and hazards associated with working alone. So Richard mentioned workplace violence and we'll talk about that throughout the presentation. But there are other risks to consider. And while working alone in and of itself isn't always hazardous, it can be when other circumstances are present. So risks can increase significantly when lone workers are performing high risk tasks like working at heights or working in confined spaces, working with electricity or other forms of hazardous energy with hazardous products, or with hazardous equipment like chainsaws or firearms or mobile equipment. So these tasks on their own are already high risk, but without another worker nearby, the consequences of an illness or injury can escalate quickly here and can be quite severe.

 

[00:15:10] Matea Kokorovic: Now, workers who work alone may also unfortunately face an increased risk of workplace violence. Some jobs carry higher risks, like if you're handling or working with money in a bank or in convenience stores. If you're handling valuables like in jewelry shops or in electronic shops. If you're handling prescription drugs like in pharmacies. And healthcare workers and community service workers, such as those working with patients in home care, may also face an increased risk of violence. Now, other risks include working off-site in unfamiliar locations, interacting with the public, or working late evenings or early mornings. So again, think of that lone gas station worker at two in the morning, or a delivery driver who's entering an unknown property.

 

[00:16:10] Matea Kokorovic: Now let's talk a little bit about legislation in Canada as it relates to workplace violence and working alone. In Canada, there are 14 jurisdictions, one federal, 10 provincial, and three territorial, and each one of these jurisdictions has their own specific health and safety legislation. Now each jurisdiction does have their own legislation regarding workplace violence. And many jurisdictions also touch specifically on loan workers. Essentially, it's up to the employer to make sure they understand and know the requirements for their specific jurisdiction and are ensuring that these requirements are being put into place.

 

[00:17:00] Matea Kokorovic: And one thing I'll say about legislation is that the laws and the regulations, they set out a minimum standard. And it's an employer's duty and responsibility to make sure that they're doing everything they possibly can to protect their workers. So think of the legislation as minimum standards and employers are encouraged to go above and beyond and to look for new and different ways to protect their workers when it comes to any hazard, but also those related to workplace violence. So with that said, even with variations in legislative requirements across Canada, there are many common elements that we'll see in the legislation as they relate to workplace violence prevention programs. So generally, workplace violence prevention programs from a legal context must contain certain elements, and I have some of them written here for you on the screen. And I won't go over all the elements, but I'll touch on a few.

 

[00:18:00] Matea Kokorovic: So, for example, a common element in violence prevention programs is actually defining violence. So every jurisdiction in Canada does have their own definition of workplace violence and what it means. And most will contain some common language like references to something like a threat. So, for example, if you live in Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia's legislation defines workplace violence as threats, including a threatening statement or threatening behavior that gives an employee a reasonable cause to believe that that employee is at risk of physical injury. In Alberta, violence has a slightly different definition. And in Alberta, it's the threatened, attempted, or actual conduct of a person that causes or is likely to cause physical or psychological injury or harm, and also includes domestic or sexual violence.

 

[00:18:50] Matea Kokorovic: So violence can really include any act where someone is abused or threatened or assaulted. And some examples might include things like shaking your fist in front of somebody or vandalizing property, destroying someone's belongings, pulling pranks on people, physically assaulting people, or even uttering threats like, I'll make you pay for what you did. So there are unfortunately many different types of workplace violence and when you're thinking about a prevention program and when you're thinking about your lone workers and how it relates to workplace violence, really consider all forms of workplace violence and what that would look like in your specific workplace.

 

[00:19:30] Matea Kokorovic: Now that's the definition. Another common element that you'll see in workplace violence prevention legislation is reference to a workplace assessment. So essentially, employers have to identify situations that put workers at risk of violence and conduct a site specific risk assessment. And we'll talk a little bit more about that later on when it comes to risk assessments. Another common element would be developing preventative measures or control measures. So this means once you conduct a risk assessment, you assign or implement control measures in an effort to mitigate the risk of violence. And again, we'll look at some specific definitions of control measures a little bit later on.

 

[00:20:10] Matea Kokorovic: Developing a workplace violence policy in a program is also a common element that you'll see across jurisdictions and this policy and program can include things like how you're going to control the risk, how you're going to report incidents of workplace violence, how you're going to get immediate assistance in case it's needed, and how employers are going to conduct investigations. The last point I'll touch on here is education and training. All workers in a workplace should be aware that the employer has a violence policy and program, and they should be aware of where to find it. And ultimately workers should know how to summon emergency assistance in case it's needed. They should know how to report incidents of workplace violence. They should know how their employer is going to deal with incidents of workplace violence. And they also have to ensure that they know their own roles and responsibilities, and how to carry out the control measures that are put in place to prevent violence in the workplace.

 

[00:21:10] Matea Kokorovic: And some other common elements that I'll list here but not go into much detail is ensuring confidentiality of investigations and of persons involved in such an investigation, listing supports that are available for employees like EAP programs, reporting to jurisdictions where necessary, and also continual improvement and review of the program to ensure its effectiveness. And this table here shows three examples of general summaries of what legislation speaks to for workplace violence. So we have Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. And you can see even along the same coast, there are variations in what exactly the legislation requires when it comes to workplace violence. Sorry, my computer just did something funny. So these are just general elements that are stated. You can see some commonalities here. So for example, across all three provinces, you have a reference to a risk assessment. You also have reference to developing a policy or program, which we talked a little bit about before. So it's really important at the end of the day to understand your jurisdiction's legislative requirements when it comes to workplace violence and harassment as well.

 

[00:22:30] Matea Kokorovic: So how do we put this all into practice? You understand your legislation, you understand the risks. Well, now to implement a program, you have to be able to identify hazards related to workplace violence, assess the risks, implement control measures and evaluate effectiveness of controls. This is no different than the process that would be used for other health and safety hazards in the workplace, except now we're applying a workplace violence lens to it.  So how can we go through the first step of identifying hazards? Essentially, employers should identify all situations and tasks where loan work may occur and where workplace violence may occur. And when you're thinking about identifying hazards, whether this is through a workplace inspection, whether it's through talking to people, looking at past incident reports, it's really important to look at all aspects of the work. So how does your physical work environment look like? Where are your exit doors in relation to your people? How is the workplace lighting set up? Do you have access to the public or is there a barrier? You really want to look at how people are situated, the work that they're doing, and their physical environment as well.

 

[00:23:50] Matea Kokorovic: You also want to include routine activities and tasks, but make sure you're including non-routine activities. Think of your on-call shifts or your overnight maintenance or emergency scenarios. This way, you're looking at a real picture of your workplace to identify hazards. You can also look at previous incident reports. You can look at worker feedback and also consider various workers and populations that you might have within your workplace. So, for example, think of your new and young workers and include them as well. So we know that new and young workers are at an increased risk of injury and illness in the workplace in general. So you want to make sure that you're focusing on various populations within your workplace. And probably the most important bit here is to include your workers when you're identifying hazards. They know their job best, then they will be willing to talk to you at the end of the day to make sure that everyone is being kept free and safe from violence and harassment. So once you've identified your hazards, the next step is to assess the workplace risk. And essentially, risk assessment is the process where you identify hazards, and then you analyze and evaluate the risk that's associated with that hazard. So for example, you might have someone working alone with a patient with a history of violence, or someone working the night shift. Once you've looked at this identification of a hazard, you go through a process to ultimately look at ways to eliminate or mitigate the hazard. And there are many ways in which you can calculate risk across all types of risk calculations. You'll probably see something that looks like this matrix here. Ultimately, when you're looking at risk, it considers the probability of an incident occurring and the severity of its potential consequences.

 

[00:25:50] Matea Kokorovic: The method that you use to assess your workplace violence risk in your workplace, it'll really depend on many factors like what information you're looking for, the risk assessment team itself, what data you have available, and what level of detail is required for that assessment. And there's no one or single way to assess risk in the workplace. It's really important to choose what works for your organization for that situation that you're looking for. And the example shown here is a basic qualitative method to combine severity and probability parameters. So when we're looking at risk, again, we're looking at severity of a potential outcome. And that can vary from a low to a high severity, where a high severity would be something like a fatality or permanent injury. And a low severity would look something like an injury that requires first aid only. Now, probability ratings follow the same approach where you have a high probability of an occurrence happening. For example, someone experiencing workplace violence. You can group these probabilities into different categories, whereas a high probability of something occurring might be once a year or a low probability might be something occurring once in a working lifetime. So when you're looking at your workplace, look at all the tasks and the situations that might lead to workplace violence. And for each one of those tasks or situations, go through some sort of a risk matrix and a risk assessment to understand the risks associated with each of those hazards.

 

[00:27:20] Matea Kokorovic: Once you have the risk of each of those hazards identified as low, medium or high, or whichever way you're performing the risk assessment in your workplace, then you can implement control measures. And control measures are often classified by this inverted triangle called the hierarchy of controls. And what this shows is that the most effective control measure in the workplace is removing the hazard completely. And the least effective is personal protective equipment. So for example, if you have a lone worker working at a gas station, elimination of the hazard would be removing the lone work or having multiple people work at once. Oftentimes, elimination isn't possible in the workplace, in which case we move down the pyramid or inverted pyramid and look for ways, other ways to implement hazard controls. The best approach would be to layer various hazard controls in the workplace and implement whatever works for your workplace. And again, always check with your legal requirements as some jurisdictions do have specific control measures that they require based on specific types of loan work. So reducing the risk for loan workers, let's look at some very general control measures. There are many steps that you can take to ensure the safety of loan workers in general. The best control measure being elimination or avoiding loan work where possible. Again, that's not always feasible in many workplaces, but there are other things that you can do. For example, developing loan work and violence prevention policies, which is often a legal requirement. Establishing check-in procedures to make sure that regular contact is kept with all workers. And this can be visual communication, verbal communication, whatever works for your workplace. You can also schedule higher risk tasks to be done during the day rather than during the early mornings or late at night.

 

[00:29:20] Matea Kokorovic: Providing training and education is an example of an administrative procedure or control measure that is really important when it comes to workplace violence. Again, workers need to know how to report an incident. They need to know who to call. They need to know what their roles and responsibilities are in order to keep people safe around them. You can also put up signs indicating that premises are being monitored, you can post emergency numbers around the workplace. And these are just again, some very basic and simple ideas to get you started when you're thinking about control measures for loan workers in your workplace. When it comes to reducing violence, and thinking about control measures for violence in particular, again, here's some very general examples. The control measures that you implement will be based on your specific site and the risk assessment that you've conducted with your workers. But for example, for the receptionist that might be working alone during their shift, even if it's temporary work alone, you can position the actual reception area so that it's visible to others so that the receptionist is able to be seen and heard by other people in the building. You can also position your office furniture like your chairs or your desks to be close to a door or an exit in case there is an emergency and the person needs to escape.

 

[00:30:40] Matea Kokorovic: For public facing workers, you can physically separate workers from the public with a barrier or a screen. You can install surveillance cameras, develop procedures for handling money or valuables or prescription drugs. Some firms can hire security personnel on site. And these are really examples of, again, the physical and security aspects. The last point here touches on something a little bit different, and that's thinking about psychosocial elements. So preventing workplace violence isn't always about, you know, the physical barriers, the security cameras, the lighting. And this is very important, but it's also important to consider things like civility and respect. It's important to consider workplace culture. And a workplace that's built on civility and respect, it makes it harder for aggression or violence to occur. As when workers are treating their colleagues, the public and others with respect, if issues are being addressed respectfully, and when people feel safe to speak up about their concerns, we reduce the likelihood of violence from that as well. So in all of your control measures, think about the physical controls that are in place, but also the psychosocial elements and the people elements that may assist with reducing the risk of violence. And last but not least, once the controls have been implemented, it's important to go through the evaluation phase. So this phase is ensuring that the controls that you've implemented, whether that's positioning of the work environment, changing your time of day that your work is being done, you have to make sure it's effective. And employers can use multiple methods to make sure that the controls are effective. You can talk to people, you can go through workplace inspections, you can look at your investigation reports, whatever works for you. But it's really important that once your control program has been set up that you're going back and you're making sure that it's actually working. And if hazards are still present or if workers feel unsafe or your incidents of violence are on an uptake or not decreasing, then it's probably time to adjust and look at your risks and your hazards and your controls once again. Okay, that's it for me. Thank you so much. And I will pass it on to Ryan now to talk a little bit about technology.

 

[00:33:00] Ryan Obsuszt: Awesome. Thank you, Matea. Yeah, so I will be talking about leveraging technology for safety. So specifically, you know, with a rise in workplace violence across Canada, this includes growing numbers of severe incidents and fatalities. It's clear that traditional location bound safety measures are no longer enough. So as risks increasingly extend beyond fixed workplaces, maybe in homes, vehicles, remote job sites, community settings, there's a need for adaptable real-time protection and it's become very urgent. In response to these escalating threats, lone worker technology like the OKLoan platform offers proactive framework for safety. So these tools enable organizations to respond rapidly. Incidents even when workers are alone while supporting compliance with evolving occupational health and safety legislation. Just as importantly, they help foster a culture where both physical and sociological safety are prioritized, regardless of where or how they work is performed. With the landscape of risk changing so dramatically, technology is no longer just a helpful addition, it has become a vital frontline control. So we'll be touching on that in just a second. So before we jump in, we do have a quick poll question. So how do you currently ensure the safety of lone workers? So we've got a few options here. And here are the results. So looks like we have 18% are currently using lone worker apps, which is fantastic. Some WhatsApp teams, which we've seen or I've seen over the years, radio check-ins still seem to be prevalent. Phone calls and then 15% have nothing in place. So this is really just a way to provide exposure for, you know, things that you might not have seen out in the market as of yet. So appreciate you all answering.

 

[00:34:50] Ryan Obsuszt: Awesome. So we'll be talking briefly through a specific use case. So we have John, the field worker and Jane, the manager. So specifically, John, the field worker, he is a lone worker. He travels to different work sites. Throughout his shift, potentially working on shift for 10 to 12 hours in a given day. Works alone in isolated locations where there may not be someone within a few miles of the job site. A problem is, is that accidents have previously occurred at the work site. So hoping to prevent that from occurring moving forward. And then from Jane's perspective, really just needs to know where her team is and ensure they are safe and want to automate the safety process within the organization. So we'll be talking through that. So day in the life of John, the field worker. So first, John starts a shift in the app. Location tracking is then recorded once the shift is engaged. And for privacy purposes, it's led by the field worker. So it's led by John. Jane can then see where John is on the map. John checks in using a hands-free option. Check-in and from the dashboard, Jane can see that this check-in status is real-time and see where he actively is at that moment.

 

[00:36:20] Ryan Obsuszt:  When John arrives on site and he has a worker down feature set at three minutes in case a situation were to arise, the worker down timer starts and Jane sees the timer was activated from the dashboard. So this was all engaged in the first few hours of John's day, and then it took a turn. So there was an incident that occurred at 12:10 p.m. John had an accident and was knocked unconscious. Fortunately, he had the worker down feature active at the moment. So when that goes off three minutes later, Jane is alerted to the emergency and can take action on that. These alerts are sent in a multitude of ways, whether that's through SMS, email, phone call. I know, you know, in that poll you all provided, you know, that you all are doing it in a multitude of ways. Jane can then view or in that instance, Jane views the alert and starts the escalation procedure, which can be managed directly in the admin dashboard and escalate to as many people as necessary within the organization.

 

[00:37:40] Ryan Obsuszt: A supervisor is then sent by Jane to John's exact location as the alert provides GPS coordinates. The supervisor arrives on site and attends to John and confirms to Jane that they can close down the emergency alert that it's been resolved. Reporting on incidents is critical and Jane gets a full audit ready report with actions, locations, and timestamps of what led to that incident. So this automated report is invaluable for further communication and forms part of the reporting process. That data then can then be used to help potentially prevent other incidents from arising in the future. This is just one example of how we can automatically escalate alerts to the correct people in case of emergency, preventing an incident from getting more serious and ultimately increasing time to response. Overall, OKLoan ensures their people are safe during the day, they finish work safely, and can call immediate support if required. It ultimately provides an ease of mind for both the field worker and the supervisor that their staff are protected. And we really want to just foster a good safety culture internally. So from start to end from that alert, you know, you're able to get full visibility into that incident and ultimately, you know, we want to reduce risks and potential near misses.

 

[00:39:10] Ryan Obsuszt: Did want to share a quick video similar to kind of what we were talking through. So we'll go over this just over a minute, but you can see real time in the OKLoan platform, you see the application down at the bottom left corner and then the admin dashboard. So in this situation, John started to shift his location and appeared on the map. And he has a check-in due in one minute. That check-in was performed. It's all time stamped on the back end. So from that reporting aspect, you're able to see what has occurred. Man down was now updated to three minutes. So that is active for the individual. So that if something were to happen and they don't detect any sort of physical movement, we have that visibility. An alert gets sent through because there has been a man down alert. The supervisor is able to see then in real time there's been an incident and we know exactly where this incident has occurred. They can, you can acknowledge the alert directly in the portal, resolve the alert from there and view any sort of written procedures or policies you might already have in regards to lone working but also who that might escalate to in case of a serious incident.

 

[00:40:30] Ryan Obsuszt: So quick little highlight on what that might look like in real time. So I wanted to share just, you know, real life example of OK Loan saving a user's life. So it was the day of work Christmas party and everyone had to be there for speeches started at 4:30 p.m. Everyone was there except Taylor Martell. As minutes began to start creeping by, people began to wonder where Taylor was. They had this Christmas party they were attending. Her monitor received an alert that Taylor had not checked in at that moment. What Ryan was talking about there was the fact that there was a real-life incident. And actually, because the worker missed a check-in and the immediate notification went to their manager, they jumped in to the mapping environment, were able to locate exactly where they were, call out the emergency services and it saved their life. This is very much what we're here to do and we want to make sure that everyone is safe during the day, that they get home safely but if they need support it can be quickly sent and get support out to them. Yes, you know this is a real incident that has occurred and it just kind of shows the value of what the solution can provide and how we can prevent these incidents from escalating. So with a lot of customers we've worked with over the years, there usually is a concern with a good chunk of them when it comes to connectivity and coverage. So that concern is if you don't have Wi-Fi or potentially cellular data. At that moment, you know, what happens? So the OK Loan platform is able to connect in low signal areas. So you might not have Wi-Fi or cellular data, but the solution can still send through alerts via SMS or phone call, where other applications you might use throughout your working day, they might not be able to work. But OK Loan continues to operate during that time.

 

[00:42:50] Ryan Obsuszt:  And then, you know, we work with utilities, forestry organizations where they're in extremely rural and remote areas where they actually don't have any signal at that moment. We have the ability to provide satellite coverage by integrating with some of the great satellite providers like Zoleo and SpotX devices, where it will provide real-time GPS tracking of where they are, even when they have no cell signal at that moment. So it's just there's that gap of safety when it comes to coverage, and we want to make sure that, you know, if there is an alert that is triggered, that those alerts are still able to get sent out to internal teams or even, you know, emergency services if it's a serious incident. So providing that gap in coverage is important and making sure you're connected anywhere you are.

 

[00:43:40] Ryan Obsuszt:  So thanks everyone for listening. To summarize what we've heard today, I wanted to touch on three key points. So lone worker safety requires a layered proactive strategy to address both physical and social hazards. Know the risks and legislations that affect your organization wherever you are and the type of workers you are responsible for, as highlighted in Matea's section. And then specialized technology platforms enable efficient incident response like SOS and panic buttons, automated check-ins, and manned down detection like we talked through in some of the examples. So, thank you all for listening.  Okay. And I think we're on to the question portion now, everybody.

 

[00:44:30] Mallory Hendry: There's one here for you, Matea. Is there a quick reference for regulatory requirements in the various jurisdictions? And also, are there any sort of best practice guidelines that are available?

 

[00:44:40] Matea Kokorovic:
 Yes, there is. So, the chart that I had in my presentation is based on one of the fact sheets from CCOHS. So, I'm sure we could send a link to that. The table is not comprehensive. So again, it's just a general summary, but it does provide links to the specific violence legislation in each of the provinces. And there are many, I think you asked for best guidance or best practice guidance. Yeah, there are many that you can find online, typically the health and safety regulators or Ministry of Labour will have information or depending on where you are, the Health and Safety Association for your province or area likely has guidelines available as well. So there's many information online and I would be happy to send a list of resources as well. That sounds great. I think that'd be appreciated.

 

[00:45:30] Mallory Hendry: Okay. And then Ryan, back over to you. There are a few questions. Can you please elaborate what is meant by the Worker Down timer? Is it scheduled or is it triggered by lack of a check-in or any other incident?

 

[00:45:40] Ryan Obsuszt: Yeah, that's a good question. So Worker Down, it uses the accelerometer within the smartphone to detect physical movement. So it can be set at different time frames depending on the risks that they face and who the individual is. So it could be a three-minute of non-movement. It could be set to 10, 15 minutes. It's totally up to the organization, but it's just a way to automate some of those alerts, whether you're unconscious or have had some level of heat stroke or heart attack where you can't access your smartphone. So yes, it's totally customizable based on your needs.

 

[00:46:20] Mallory Hendry: Okay. And then someone asked if the app works offline. I know you mentioned the satellite. So where self-service wouldn't work, they can still use these to call for help? Or connect to their team?

 

[00:46:30] Ryan Obsuszt Exactly, yeah. So it'll operate in those low coverage areas. So it can still send through a text that you've checked in or that you've triggered in SOS, but then that additional element of satellite coverage where your smartphone might show that SOS emoji, the satellite emoji, and you can't send through anything. So that's when we pair with some of those great satellite providers on the market.

 

[00:47:00] Mallory Hendry: Okay, that's great. And there is another one here for you, Matea. What if someone's working at home alone? What can employers do in those cases?

 

[00:47:10] Matea Kokorovic: Another great question. When it comes to remote work or working home alone, I would treat it the same way that you would treat working alone in a physical facility or office environment. So if you are at home alone, you know, especially if you're meeting with clients, that would probably be one of the bigger risks. So make sure that you're vetting people that may be coming into your house. If you are having a meeting with them. Some of the examples that I provided would apply. So making sure that you are physically situating your desk or your chair in a spot that allows you to escape if you're needed. Some people also have, you know, panic buttons available at home that link to other people. Also some things that aren't necessarily workplace related, but you may have a technician coming in to fix your fridge or your appliances. So perhaps scheduling these when there are more people at home rather than an unfamiliar person coming into your house when it's just yourself. So those are some examples.

 

[00:48:10] Mallory Hendry: That's great. Thank you, Matea. Richard, you are next up. We have a couple for you. Can the user of OK Alone change the text on screen from man down to worker down?

 

[00:48:20] Richard Bedworth: Yeah, absolutely. I don't really like the phrase man down, but it's an industry standard. But most of the app is fully customizable. So we tend to work with clients on their phraseology. So do they want to help them? Do they want it to say panic? Do they want worker down? Do they want man down? So it's more about embedding the technology within the phrases that the organization already uses and then using it as a supplementary piece.

 

[00:48:50] Mallory Hendry: Hey, that makes sense. That's great. Customizable. And then also for the app, notifying the person setting, is that... Sorry. Also, notifying the person setting as well, or does the worker have to constantly monitor the app to confirm his status?

 

[00:49:10] Richard Bedworth: Yeah, that's a great question. So to make sure we get adoption, we need it to be as simple as possible. And asking people to remember to do something new is almost impossible. So actually, if the organization says, I want to check that Ryan's okay every two hours, we set up that rule within the application, and then it's going to send reminders to the user. And that could be email, text message, phone call. And we're just saying to them, come and tell us you're okay. And they confirm they're okay, and the organization doesn't need to worry. But if they miss that check-in, that's when the alerts come through, and someone can provide a response.

 

[00:49:50] Mallory Hendry: Okay. That makes sense. That's great. Thank you. Oh, and another one for you, Richard. You're not off the hook yet. What about from an IT privacy act and concerns about monitoring that might not be work related?

 

[00:50:10] Richard Bedworth: Yeah, privacy is one of the major objections we come across as we talk to any new organization. The system is built with privacy in mind. So we can't track a user without them starting a session. So even if they are using a personal phone and they're away for the weekend, you can't ring me and say, find out where Richard is. It doesn't work like that. So I'm now on shift. My loan worker policy dictates that I need to let the organisation know that I'm going to be okay during the day. So I start it, I become visible. But then we have a hierarchy of controls for the monitoring and the back end as well. So it's only authorised employees that can receive an alert to provide that support. And they'll only get that notification when there's a case or a need to go and provide assistance.

 

[00:51:00] Mallory Hendry: Okay, got it. Thank you. Ryan, over to you. This attendee is asking, we have a broad workplace construction workplace in manufacturing and work from home, there's traveling salespeople. Can that app cover everything, all of those particulars?

 

[00:51:20] Ryan Obsuszt: Yeah, no, that's a great question. So our solution is enterprise ready. So it can be structured in different groups. So different teams might have different requirements, whether it's sales or maintenance or whatever the different departments are. And within those groups, they might have different procedures. So you might have different people responsible for those individuals who need to receive these alerts. So all within one dashboard, you can manage your different teams and still have your specific nuances that are associated to those groups.

 

[00:51:50] Mallory Hendry: Okay, that's great. Thank you. Matea, back over to you. Is there a distance considered, a recommended distance that a person should be away from somebody when they are there to aid a co-worker? So, in Ontario, is there a distance that's considered safe or that they should be following when they're aiding the co-worker?

 

[00:52:10] Matea Kokorovic: A good question. Not that I'm aware of. And in the absence of legislative requirements, this would be an example of when you could do a risk assessment, involve your workplace health and safety committee, talk to some people around the workplace, different stakeholders, and see what distance would work for you. Again, that's assuming that there's no legislative requirement. Again, I'm not aware of one. So with many hazards, but particularly with workplace violence, it's catered towards the workplace. So, again, working with your Joint Health and Safety Committee to come up with a safe distance might be a good way to approach that.

 

[00:52:50] Mallory Hendry: Great. That's great. Thank you. And let me see, what else do we have here? What about for individuals who work rotating shifts? Are the schedules required to be built? Or does the app rely upon the worker logging into the app? So I don't know if Richard or Ryan could take that one.

 

[00:53:10] Richard Bedworth: Yeah, happy to. No, we've built it with that in mind. So we can set up different groupings. We can set up different schedules. And we can push reminders out to people coming on to shift as well. So, yeah, it's very much built with a non-standard nine-to-five operation in mind.

 

[00:53:30] Mallory Hendry: And you did touch on this about how it's built for privacy. But someone is asking, have you seen any pushback from workers about being tracked by the employer or the supervisor with this app?

 

[00:53:40] Richard Bedworth: Yeah, it tends to be the first question they ask as we kind of push it out. But we lean into that with the employer. So we tell them what it's for, the fact that it's only going to be looked at when there's an incident and you want to know where you are to be able to get emergency assistance out to them. But also in terms of the privacy and the access controls, it's one of the first questions we get asked with unionized environments. And yeah, we've never failed yet.

 

[00:54:10] Mallory Hendry: Okay. That's wonderful. We have time for one last question quickly, Ryan, if you could, separate and apart from the OK Alone videos and tutorials, do you also provide webinar training? And if yes, how can our attendees access those?

 

[00:54:30] Ryan Obsuszt: Yeah, that's a good question. So as far as like webinar training or just specific collateral, we do have a ton of resources when it comes to lone worker policy templates, standard risk assessments, and we have a full learning center that provides any sort of documentation for the lone worker, as well as the administrators who are managing the portal. So there's a ton of resources available, just depending on what sort of specific resources you need.

 

[00:55:00] Mallory Hendry: That's great. All right. Well, the attendees can go check that out. So that's wonderful. Thank you so much, everyone, to our speakers for sharing your expertise with us. And of course, to everyone in the audience for being here with us. So keep an eye out for more upcoming COS webinars and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.