An employer’s responsibility when employees are working alone

6 December 2011

By Scott Wilson, Partner and Summer Pringle, Solicitor

The recent mysterious death of a security guard while on duty alone at an Auckland construction site highlights the need for employers to evaluate whether they have employees working alone and what steps ought to be taken to protect them from harm, including injury, illness and emergency.

Mr Dhaliwal’s bloodied body was discovered late this year at an Auckland construction site, where he had been the sole security guard on duty the previous night. Police are still gathering information about what happened and have pointed out that construction sites are often targeted by thieves for scrap metal.

This tragedy has unsettling ties to a recent Canadian case where, in what appears to be the first prosecution of its kind worldwide, an employer was charged and fined $90,000CAD after an employee working alone, was the victim of a criminal offence.

The victim employee in the Canadian case, a 34-year-old female security guard, was assigned to guard overnight the construction site of a retail business. During her shift she heard voices and noises suggesting an intruder had entered the construction site, which was not fenced off to prevent unauthorised entry. Using a telephone provided by her employer for emergencies, she called the dispatch centre to report the presence of an intruder. After receiving a recorded message from the dispatch centre, her call was transferred to 911.

Seconds after the security guard ended her 911 call, the intruder attacked, raped and threatened to kill her during a 20-minute ordeal before the police arrived.

The employer, Garda Canada Security Corporation, was charged and fined for failing to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of the security guard as was required by the general duty under Alberta’s occupational health and safety law. In particular, Garda failed to complete a hazard assessment which was required where an employee would be working alone and assistance would not be readily available in the event of an emergency, injury or illness.

If a proper hazard assessment had been completed, the court held it may have led to further action to protect the employee, such as an hourly call to the Garda dispatch centre, provision of a radio or requirements for the mobile patrol to check in regularly on security guards who are working alone.

This case highlights the importance for all employers to evaluate whether they have employees working alone and what should be done to protect them from harm, including violence.

New Zealand does not have specific working alone laws but employers have a broad duty to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees while at work.

Working alone is considered to be a hazard for the purposes of hazard assessment, elimination and control. This means that, in general, employers should:

Carry out hazard assessments specific to working alone situations.
Create or update policies and procedures to eliminate or reduce the risks associated with working alone. This could include a verbal or visual check-in procedure at certain times.
Provide an effective means of communication for employees working alone in case of emergency, accident or illness.
Provide training to employees who will be working alone.

While there is no legal definition of ‘working alone’ in New Zealand, this shouldn’t deter employers from effecting working alone policies and procedures. In Quebec, working alone means where a worker performs a task alone in an isolated environment where it is impossible for him/her to request assistance.

There is no doubt that an employee’s exposure to accidents, injury, illness and violence is heightened when the employee is working alone – whether the employee is a security guard or an electrician or newspaper journalist. The key message for employers is: consider whether working alone policies and procedures need to be implemented or updated, to eliminate or reduce the risks associated with employees working alone.

Summer is a solicitor in the employment law team of Duncan Cotterill Lawyers. S.pringle@DuncanCotterill.com

Disclaimer: the content of this article is general in nature and not intended as a substitute for specific professional advice on any matter and should not be relied upon for that purpose.

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