Quebec companies are subject to the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The OHSA does not prohibit lone work. However, for work in confined spaces, it is mandatory that the worker be accompanied by another person who supervises the worker from outside the confined space, in accordance with Article 308 of the Regulation on Occupational Health and Safety. In addition, under section 51 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the employer must take necessary measures to protect the health and ensure the safety and physical and psychological integrity of the worker.
Article 12 of the Act respecting occupational health and safety allows a worker “to refuse to perform particular work if he has reasonable grounds to believe that the performance of that work would expose him to danger to his health, safety or physical mental well-being, or would expose another person to a similar danger”. However, this provision is limited because a worker may not refuse to perform work if such refusal would immediately endanger the life, health and safety or physical or psychological integrity of another person, or if it is normal for the conditions under which the work is performed to be such, according to the article 13 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Article 322 of the Act respecting occupational health and safety states that “when a worker performs a task alone in an isolated environment where it is impossible for him to request assistance, an efficient means of surveillance, whether continuous or intermittent, shall be installed”. Therefore, if employees are in isolated work situations, the employer must equip them with a communication device and establish a monitoring procedure. The NEOVIGIE solution allows for automatic and regular check-in, enabling companies to track their employees in isolated environments.
