Across North America, governments and businesses are hiring additional workers for the upcoming summer. The duties and responsibilities of many seasonal jobs may require employees to work alone at times. Seasonal workers who spend the majority of their time working independently are frequently outdoors during the course of their workday facing a variety of risks.
What types of temporary summer work depend on lone workers?
- Meter Readers
- Utility/Water patrols
- Park attendants
- Environmental Programs/Litter Clean Up crews
- Lifeguards/Recreational Workers
For some of these roles, the risk of the job itself may be obvious. For all employees however, regardless of where their duties take them, working alone is a hazard. Employers are required by Federal and Provincial lone worker regulations to protect their workers while on the job. Lone worker safety requirements should also be considered when reviewing seasonal employment laws.
Best Practices When Hiring Seasonal Workers
With many people eager to return to work and make the most of summer job opportunities, it can be tempting to rush through the hiring and onboarding process of temporary seasonal employees.
Even if you are only bringing on extra help for a few weeks or months, it is important to consider the following seasonal worker hiring best practices:
- Create a formal contract for employment: This prevents confusion about the responsibilities of the position, scheduling expectations, how an employee will be paid, and should include a standard termination clause.
- Provide adequate training: The urgent need for additional help leads many employers to put seasonal workers straight to work. For the sake of a job well done, and to ensure you are meeting hiring requirements, it is important to remember that seasonal employees should be provided with the same level of training provided to full-time employees.
- Safety check enrollment for seasonal lone workers : As an employer, you are responsible for providing any employees who may be working alone with the training and tools to help keep them safe. Establishing a culture of safety and implementing the use of a safety check monitoring system like CheckMate Working Alone helps to protect your seasonal employees.
With the safety of seasonal employees in mind, businesses and governments currently looking to hire temporary staff should also be assessing whether these roles will require summer workers to perform their duties alone or in isolation. When completing the hiring of a seasonal worker, safety monitoring enrollment is as easy as registering the worker for Working Alone, allowing them to access our popular Safe Alone app. When the season has ended, simply let us know, and we can discontinue the temporary employee’s Working Alone enrollment.
For more information about CheckMate Working Alone and to register your seasonal lone workers, contact us today.