New Brunswick Working Alone and Safety Course: Lessons 2026

Lesson 1: New Brunswick's health and safety system

Workplace health and safety in New Brunswick is governed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations. The Act is administered by the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission, known as WorkSafeNB. WorkSafeNB officers inspect workplaces, and WorkSafeNB also runs workers' compensation.

General duties

• The employer must take every reasonable precaution to protect employees, and provide information, instruction, training and competent supervision (s. 9).
• The employee must work safely, report any hazard they know about to the employer or supervisor, use required protective equipment, and co-operate with the committee or representative (s. 12).

Committees and representatives

WorkSafeNB can be reached toll-free at 1 800 999-9775.

Lesson 2: The working alone code of practice

New Brunswick has a specific rule for lone workers: the Code of Practice for Working Alone Regulation (Regulation 92-133). WorkSafeNB's guide says an employee works alone when they are the employer's only employee at the workplace and help is not readily available if they are injured, ill or in an emergency. Many security guards fit this description.

What the employer must do

• Establish a code of practice for employees who work alone at any time (s. 2).
• Include in it: the workplace and employer names, addresses, locations and phone numbers; the nature of the business; the possible risks to each lone employee; the procedures to reduce those risks; and how the employee can get emergency help and how the employer will provide it (s. 3).
• Provide the equipment the code requires and make sure the code is followed (s. 4).
• Train each lone employee and each supervisor responsible for one (s. 6).
• Keep a copy ready for a WorkSafeNB officer (s. 7).

The employee must follow the code (s. 5).

Lesson 3: Check-ins and staying safe alone

Regulation 92-133 does not set a fixed check-in interval. Your employer's code decides how and how often you make contact. WorkSafeNB's guide lists good practices: set the frequency of communication, follow the communication protocol, and plan for what happens if communication fails.

Hazards WorkSafeNB says to consider

• How remote the site is and how long help would take to arrive
• Time of day, weather and how long the task lasts
• The potential for violence or a critical injury
• The means of communication, such as a cell phone, a personal-down device or in-person visits
• The worker's physical and psychological fitness

Good habits for lone guards

• Test and charge your radio or phone at the start of every shift.
• Report radio or cell dead spots so the code can be updated.
• If you will miss a check-in because of an incident, tell dispatch as soon as it is safe.
• If a guard misses a check-in, the code should say who tries to reach them and when to call 911.

Lesson 4: Violence and harassment rules

Part XXII.I of General Regulation 91-191 covers violence and harassment. Violence includes attempted or actual physical force, and threats that give an employee reasonable cause to believe force will be used. It includes sexual, intimate partner and domestic violence.

The violence code must also give ways for employees to get emergency help, and set out how incidents are investigated and how affected employees learn the results.

Lesson 5: Your rights and refusing unsafe work

WorkSafeNB describes three basic rights under the Act: the right to know (training on hazards, safe work and emergencies), the right to participate (through committees and representatives), and the right to refuse dangerous work.

Under section 19, you may refuse when you have reasonable grounds to believe the work is likely to endanger your health or safety, or another employee's.

1. Report the concern immediately to your supervisor, who must investigate with you present (s. 20(1)).
2. If it is not resolved, take it to the joint committee or health and safety representative. (Section 20(4) of the Act names the committee, or a WorkSafeNB officer where there is no committee.)
3. If it is still not resolved, call WorkSafeNB. An officer will look into it.

While this happens, stay available at a safe place near your workstation during normal hours (s. 20(12)). Your employer may move you to reasonably equivalent work at the same pay (s. 22).

Your employer may not punish you for following the Act. If they do, you can file a complaint of discriminatory action under section 25 using WorkSafeNB's Form 1.

Lesson 6: Reporting injuries

If you are hurt at work, WorkSafeNB says to tell your supervisor as soon as possible, ideally before you leave work, and get medical care. Tell the doctor or nurse practitioner you were hurt at work.

After a serious injury or death, do not disturb the scene unless an officer allows it, or it is needed to help the injured, prevent more injury or protect property (s. 43(3)). Guards are often asked to protect such a scene until officials arrive.