Covid-19 Workplace Requirements for Toronto Businesses

In response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the City of Toronto has passed various measures to help employers contain the spread of COVID-19 at workplaces located in Toronto. While intended as “guidance,” they are legal requirements that all employers must follow (in accordance with provincial provincial law and municipal orders and directives. In other words, these new municipal workplace health and safety rules apply to all businesses that are permitted to stay open during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The City of Toronto’s main goal is to provide “simple strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in your workplace to keep everyone safe.” They are not intended to be a “one-size-fits-all” strategy, but should always be modified as necessary to suit the specific needs of each company’s workplace.

The City of Toronto’s new rules fall into 2 main categories: Preventing and Managing Covid-19 at local workplaces.

1. Preventing Covid-19 at the Workplace

Promote Physical Distancing

• Ensure all people and workstations are kept at least 6-feet apart (e.g., clients, employees, visitors, etc.), even if they are wearing masks
• Limit the number of people required to be physical present at the workplace at any given time
  • if possible, switch events to virtual (online) meetings
    
  • if possible, allow employees to telework from home
  • if possible, enable flexible work hours and schedules for employee

Encourage Hand Hygiene and Respiratory Etiquette

• Maintain adequate hand sanitizers at the workplace (70-90% alcohol concentration), soap, paper towel, tissues and garbage bins throughout the workplace, including by building entrances and throughout the building/offices
• Educate staff on proper hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette
• enhancing regular cleaning and disinfection

Maintain Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems

• Increase air circulation in the workplace, such as opening windows and door (where it is safe to do so)
  
• Ensure HVAC system are properly maintained

Develop a Workplace Safety Plan

All businesses and workplaces are required to prepare and make available a written safety plan that:

• Describes measures/procedures that have been (or will be implemented) in the business, place, facility or establishment to reduce spread of COVID-19
• Include measures for screening, physical distancing, masks, cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces and objects, and the wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Be posted in a clearly visible place at work, and be made available to any person for review, if requested

Health Screening for Staff and Customers

• All clients and customers should be asked to self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms prior to entry to your workplace or business
• Employees must complete a health screening questionnaire before every shift as soon as the worker enters the workplace or when an essential visitor arrives (either online, on paper or by asking questions directly)
• Health screening should be conduct in an isolated area outside, near the main entrance, as a screening station for in-person screening
  • Post signs in visible locations clearly explaining the screening process and conditions for entry
  • The area maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing between people, or have a protective barrier (e.g., plexiglass)
    
  • If physical distancing or a barrier is not possible, staff conducting the screening should wear appropriate personal protective equipment (e.g., masks)
• If an employee become sicks with COVID-19 symptoms while at work, they should be allowed to home right away to self-isolate

New Roles and Responsibilities at Toronto Workplaces during the Covid-19 Pandemic 

Employers

• Keep workers and workplaces safe and free of hazards
• Familiarize yourself with Ontario’s Guide to the Occupational Health and Safety Act to understand all of your health and safety rights and responsibilities at the workplace
  
• Understand and Control the risks of COVID-19 at the workplace
• Create a COVID-19 workplace safety plan
• Follow all advice, recommendations and instructions given the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health and City of Toronto’s bylaws relevant to your workplace

Employees

• Refuse unsafe work and quickly report any dangerous circumstances at work to your employer or supervisor
• Understand and follow your employers’ workplace health and safety directions (e.g., maintaining social distancing, hand-washing or using sanitizers, as well as wearing personal protective equipment required by your employer)
  
• Follow all directions given by public health officials
• Report any circumstances in the workplace that are likely to be hazardous to peoples’ health or safety of others at the workplace. This includes reporting potential exposure to COVID-19 that has caused (or may cause) illness to another person

2. Managing Covid-19 at the Workplace

Supporting Employees with COVID-19

• Regularly clean and disinfect surfaces
• Have policies to support employees who are required to quarantine (self-isolate) and absent from work due to: (a) contracting Covid-19, or (b) being in close contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19
  • In such cases, employers should inform employees of their workplace benefits (e.g., paid sick days or ability to apply for the  the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)
• Ensure employees are aware of their duty to report COVID-19 illness to the employer if it is likely to cause illness to another person in the workplace
• If an employee discloses to you they have been diagnosed with COVID-19 (or have been exposed to a person with COVID-19), confirm that they are in self-isolate
• Use the COVID-19 Decision Guide for Workplaces to determine when it is safe to return to work.
• Ensure that employees do not return to work until after the required self-isolation period:
  • Individuals with Covid-19 must self-isolate for 10 days from the day their symptoms started (even if they are symptom-free). They should only be allowed to return to the workplace once they no longer have a fever and their symptoms have improved for at least 24 hours)
  • Individuals with severe illness may require longer self-isolation periods, as directed by health officials
    
  • Individuals who have been identified as close contacts must self-isolate for 14 days after their last exposure to the person with COVID-19
• Employers are not required to ask employees for doctor’s notes for employees to return to work

Contact Tracing in the Workplace

• Employers must support requests by Toronto Public Health to conduct contact tracing, including by keeping attendance records of all staff and clients (i.e., name, date, time, email address or phone number)
• If notified that a specific employee, client or patron may have been contagious while at the workplace, employers should:
  
  • make efforts to identify if other people may have been exposed at the workplace while the person was contagious
  • notify employees who were considered to have been close contacts to self-isolate, and lower risk contacts to self-monitor, for 14 days from their last exposure to the case, while maintaining confidentiality of all affected employees
• Personal information collected for COVID-19 contract tracing can only be used for this specific purpose (and all records should only be kept for 30 days, and then shredded)

Ensure they maintain privacy and confidentiality of employees’ and patrons’ personal health information at all times.

COVID-19 Outbreaks in the Workplace

• If at least 2 or more people in the workplace are confirmed to have had Covid-19 within a 14-day period, this is known as a “Covid-19 Outbreak”
• In such cases, Toronto Public Health may be required to conduct a workplace investigation involving:
  • Interviewing the employer to determine existing prevention measures and possible sources of transmission in the workplace
  • Requesting employers provide information to help identify additional cases through contact tracing (e.g., employee contact information, staff schedules and patron logs)
  • Following guidance and recommendations on additional required prevention measures, including workplace restrictions and closures
  • Support in communicating to staff, business partners and the public
  • On-site inspection of the workplace
• Employers must provide all requested information to Toronto Public Health in a timely manner
  
• Employers should implement enhanced cleaning and disinfecting measures at the workplace (e.g., adequate social distancing, masks and hand-sanitizers)

Contact Employment Lawyer

In order to protect the health and safety of employees, employers and employees should familiarize themselves with and follow all public health law, regulations and advice, including at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.

Whether you are employee who needs to discuss a workplace issue involving the Covid-19 pandemic (such as a temporary layoff or termination of employment), or an employer unsure of your legal obligations in the workplace regarding health and safety, feel free to reach out to Bune Law at 647-822-5492 for guidance from an experienced employment lawyer.

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