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WORKING ALONE 

  1. General Requirements
    1. ESCO Group has the responsibility for the health and safety of all of their employees and for the health and safety of those affected by work activities. These responsibilities cannot be transferred to any other person, including those individuals who work alone. Employees have responsibilities to take reasonable care of them and other people affected by their work activities and cooperate with the ESCO Group in meeting their legal obligations.
    2. ESCO Group is required to assess their workplace and take preventative measures that eliminate or minimize risks when their employees are performing work.
    3. To help ESCO Group make the workplace safe for their employees who are working alone, the first task is to complete a job briefing (hazard assessment). A hazard assessment is taking a look at the task at hand and the workplace to find existing hazards for employees and identify measures or actions needed to correct any hazards.
    4.  ESCO Group is also required to ensure that their employees who are working alone have some effective way of communicating (cellular phone, 2-way radio) with individuals who can respond immediately if there is an emergency or the worker is injured or ill. If an employee is working in a remote location on the jobsite his/her foreman shall make visits throughout the day to ensure employee safety or contact shall be made via the communication tool assigned. When trying to contact the individual via the communication tool and no contact is made after 2 tries, the foreman shall respond to the area to check the safety of the individual.
    5. Some best practices are common to all working-alone situations. These include proper employee training and having an effective communications system so that employees who are working alone can easily contact someone in case of an emergency. These measures are effective in reducing the risks associated with working alone.
    6.  It may be possible to eliminate hazards of working alone by rearranging work schedules. However, requiring two employees to complete a task that may be assigned to one individual may not be practical or effective in some situations; employers have to weigh all factors to decide the most effective approach to achieve employee safety.
    7.  When exposed to live 480V and above an individual cannot work alone. The Local 405 Union agreement states that when exposed to live 480V and above 2 journey electricians must be present.