ProTELEC is a family-owned Winnipeg monitoring company that's been in the business of keeping people safe since 1968. In 2003, we built CheckMate because nobody else was willing to solve lone worker safety the right way.
ProTELEC was incorporated in Winnipeg, Manitoba on July 1, 1968. A family-owned security company from day one — alarms, monitoring, safety, and security for homes and businesses across Western Canada.
We're not a startup. We're not venture-backed. We're not a tech company pretending to care about safety. We're a security company that's been doing this work for over half a century, with an Emergency Monitoring Centre that never closes.
Five Diamond is the highest certification a monitoring centre can earn in North America — awarded by The Monitoring Association to facilities that meet the strictest standards for operator training, response time, facility security, and redundancy.
ProTELEC was the first monitoring centre in Canada to earn it. Every CheckMate alert — every missed check-in, every SOS, every panic button press — goes directly to this facility. Not a call centre. Not an answering service. A purpose-built emergency operations centre staffed by trained operators around the clock.
Not scripts, not bots — extensively trained before they ever take an alert
Missed check-in at 3am on a Sunday? A real person is already responding
Emergency power, redundant systems, physical security that never goes down
The Monitoring Association's top certification — earned and maintained since day one
Over five decades of keeping people safe — and the events that shaped what CheckMate became.
On July 1, 1968, ProTELEC was incorporated in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A family-owned security company from day one — alarms, monitoring, safety, and security for homes and businesses across Western Canada.
Robert Black incorporated SERVO Systems Ltd. to focus on commercial public address systems, commercial background music, and CCTV — laying the groundwork for ProTELEC's commercial security expertise.
ProTELEC invested in the development of its own alarm communication network to monitor alarm systems in Manitoba — an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) mesh wireless radio network. Not relying on someone else's infrastructure. Building the backbone themselves.
Canadian provinces had been tightening lone worker regulations throughout the late '90s and early 2000s. Employers were legally required to check on people working alone — but most had no system for it beyond a verbal "call me when you're done."
ProTELEC saw it differently. They had the monitoring infrastructure, the trained operators, and a simple belief: if someone is working alone, they shouldn't actually be alone.
CheckMate launched as a scheduled safety check-in system backed by ProTELEC's 24/7 monitoring centre — performing safety checks via automated phone calls based on preset schedules. Workers check in on time. If they don't, real people respond.
That same year, ProTELEC became the first Canadian Monitoring Centre to earn Five Diamond certification from The Monitoring Association — the highest standard for monitoring centres in North America. The company that built CheckMate wasn't just any monitoring provider. It was the best in the country.
Through the mid-2000s, a series of incidents involving workers left alone on the job — particularly in late-night retail — sparked a national conversation about employer responsibility. Families advocated, safety organizations pushed, and provinces started paying attention.
In October 2007, British Columbia passed Grant's Law — the first legislation in Canada to mandate specific safety protections for workers in late-night retail. Named after a young worker killed during a gas-and-dash while working alone, it took effect February 1, 2008.
Lone worker legislation in Canada has been reactive, not proactive. Incidents happen, families advocate, laws pass years later — then get weakened through amendments. Provinces like Ontario and Nova Scotia still have no specific lone worker regulations at all, relying on vague "reasonable precautions" language that leaves employers guessing.
This is exactly why ProTELEC built CheckMate before most provinces even had rules. The best organizations don't wait for legislation — they protect their people because it's the right thing to do.
ProTELEC moved its head office from 601 – 138 Portage Ave. to 200 – 1450 Mountain Ave. in Winnipeg, doubling their space to 15,000 sq ft. More room for monitoring operators, more capacity for growth.
ProTELEC acquired Allen Leigh and brought CheckMate development and support fully in-house — hiring a full-time Software Programmer who was one of the key developers that originally built CheckMate in 2003.
No more outsourced development. The people building the product were now sitting beside the people using it every day.
In 2017, CheckMate added a texting option for safety checks — meeting workers where they already were. That same year, CheckMate won the Canadian Occupational Safety Readers' Choice Award for Best Lone Worker Software/Solutions.
Best Lone Worker Software/Solutions. Voted on by safety professionals across Canada — the people who actually evaluate and implement these systems every day.
In 2018, the CheckMate Safe Alone App was released — bringing smartphone-based safety checks, GPS tracking, and an SOS panic button to workers' pockets. Available on iOS and Android, set up in minutes.
The app didn't replace the monitoring centre — it extended it. Every alert from Safe Alone still goes to the same Five Diamond certified operators. The technology changed, but the human response behind it didn't.
Learn about the Safe Alone AppProTELEC made a strategic decision to sell its entire residential book of business and dedicate all resources to growing its commercial operations.
No more home alarms. No more residential monitoring. From this point forward, 100% of ProTELEC's focus would be on commercial security and lone worker safety.
By 2019, CheckMate was processing over 2 million automated safety checks annually through scheduled phone calls, text messages, and the Safe Alone app. Every single missed check-in was escalated to a live operator.
This wasn't a pivot — it was a doubling down. The residential business was profitable. They walked away from it because lone worker safety was the work that mattered most.
ProTELEC moved to its current headquarters at 301 Weston St. in Winnipeg and launched its next generation After Hours Call Answer service — blending automation with live operator follow-up.
The service is now implemented in several municipalities across Western Canada and with the Winnipeg School Division. A new revenue line that proved ProTELEC's monitoring expertise had applications well beyond alarm panels.
ProTELEC won the alarm monitoring contract for one of the largest school divisions in Alberta — a landmark win that signalled how far the company's commercial reach had grown.
In January 2026, ProTELEC won the monitoring contract for the 3rd largest school division in British Columbia. With this win, ProTELEC now monitors over 22% of all schools in BC.
22% of ProTELEC's commercial monitored customers have been with them for 25 or more years. 57% have been monitored by ProTELEC for 10 or more years. In an industry where contracts churn, these numbers speak louder than any sales pitch.
Over 900 Canadian organizations trust CheckMate with their workers' safety. From utilities and oil & gas to healthcare, agriculture, property management, and municipal services — if you have people working alone, we're probably already protecting someone in your industry.
The product suite has grown — Safe Alone app, phone-based safety checks, SOS wearables, eALERT desktop panic buttons, and satellite devices for workers with zero cell coverage. But the principle hasn't changed since 2003:
When someone working alone needs help, a real person responds. In seconds.
No venture capital. No shareholders. A family-owned Winnipeg company that's been in security for over 55 years, doing the work that most companies didn't think was worth doing.
See all CheckMate solutionsCheckMate started as a phone-based check-in system. Today it's a complete lone worker safety suite — all backed by the same Five Diamond monitoring centre.
Scheduled safety checks via phone call or text message. Workers check in on time — or a live operator responds immediately.
Learn moreSmartphone-based safety checks with GPS tracking, SOS panic button, and one-tap check-ins. Set up in minutes.
Learn moreDesktop and wearable emergency buttons for fixed workplaces. One press triggers an immediate alert to the monitoring centre.
Wearable devices that detect falls and trigger automatic alerts — even if the worker can't press a button.
Track workers moving between sites with automated route monitoring and location-aware check-ins.
Real-time oversight, scheduling tools, and audit-ready compliance reports. Everything documented automatically.
57% of ProTELEC's commercial customers have been with them for over a decade. 22% have stayed for 25 years or more. Here's what keeps them:
You can't prevent every incident — but you can prevent a missed check-in from becoming a tragedy. We'll walk through your operations and show you exactly how CheckMate fits. No pressure, no pitch deck — just a conversation.
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