The legislation mandates that the employer must conduct a hazard assessment in the workplace when an employee is working alone. A female guard, working alone on a night shift, was raped November 1, 2006. She had been assigned to a construction site approximately three weeks after being issued her security guard licence.  
 
Penalties for the conviction included a $5,000 fine, $750 victim fine surcharge, and an additional $87,000 that will go towards the development of a Hazard Assessment Working Alone program at SAIT Polytechnic slated to start in September 2012. It was also reported in the Calgary Herald that this conviction is the first of its kind in Alberta and possibly all of Canada.    

As already indicated, the charge stems from the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Code. By my count, there are possibly five parts from the code relevant here.    

Part 2 deals with ‘Hazard Assessment, Elimination and Control’. The employer is required to conduct an assessment of the site to identify existing and potential hazards, prepare a report including methods to control or eliminate the hazards, educate the employee about the potential hazards as well as steps to manage those hazards including, where appropriate, the use of personal protective equipment which is also covered under its own section, that being Part 18.  

Part 7 ‘Emergency Preparedness and Response’ may also be applicable.The expectation is that the employer must establish a plan where there is an expectation where emergencies require either rescue or evacuation, the affected employees must be consulted and the emergency plan must be current.  

Part 18 ‘Personal Protective Equipment’ includes the employer ensuring the employee has access to PPE, has training on the equipment and is using said equipment.      

Part 27 ‘Violence’ indicates that workplace violence is considered a hazard and as such policies and procedures must be developed for the worker. In turn, employers must ensure that workers are instructed in how to recognize workplace violence, ensure that workers are familiar with policies, procedures and workplace arrangements that minimize or eliminate workplace violence, that there is an appropriate worker response to the issue including communication and finally that there be procedures for reporting, investigating and documenting workplace violence incidents.