Safety first is safety always 1

Safety First is Safety Always

Seema Sharma
Ontario has declared that it has entered the second wave of COVID-19. Businesses are crawling back to open at the same time. Employers must consider health of the employees, readiness of the workspace, availability of supplies to work safely and protocols to ensure minimal spread of COVID-19. Workplaces are potentially important sites of transmission for COVID-19 and thus play a critical role in controlling the spread of COVID-19. This brings us to the questions on how you prepare, what preventive measures do you adopt, and what are the new protocols that employers need to introduce and maintain. Education, training and giving resources to your employees will play a key role in achieving compliance with all proactive or preventative measures.

 “Safety First” is “Safety Always.”

How can IPAC Consulting help you?

At IPAC Consulting we are continuously reviewing, developing and updating our tools to help our clients. In order to help mitigate the spread in workplaces, IPAC Consulting has tools and services to help you implement prevention protocols. COVID-19 Risk Assessment Tool – Our assessment tool has a blend of IPAC and health and safety components to help you understand all potential or actual hazards, and how to implement control measures that are effective. For example, for ease of your cleaning protocol we will develop a comprehensive list of high touch surfaces for your workplace based on our on-site assessments COVID-19 Policies and Procedures – We will ensure that all of your policies and procedures are up to date, and you have the proper signage to support it (e.g., screening protocols, Face covering policy, hand hygiene process, working from home, meetings, etc.). We can help in contact tracing for all staff, visitors and contractors (using sign in logs to capture contact information, work locations, persons visited, etc.). Personal Protective Equipment and cleaning supplies – during our General Office Assessment, we will be able to provide and assist in the development of PPE processes (e.g., when do you wear one, what type of PPE should be worn, the proper way to apply and remove the PPE, etc.). We will also look at the cleaning supplies and cleaning procedures to ensure that the solutions, and methods are effective and efficient. In situations where new cleaning supplies are introduced we will also provide services to update the existing WHMIS binders. Minimize COVID-19 potential exposure – There are various ways to minimize potential exposure to staff and clients, may it be staggering shifts, enforcing physical distancing, screening/temperature checks, and or frequent sanitation.  We’ll be able to help you evaluate those options to determine the best method for you.

All levels of government are issuing updates and information daily. To stay updated please use the following official links:

  1. Ontario COVID-19 webpage: https://www.ontario.ca/page/how-ontario-is-responding-covid-19
  2. Canada COVID-19 webpage: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html
  3. Public Health Ontario: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/