COVID-19 Protocol
last updated October 13, 2022
Characteristics of the Virus
Symptoms of the virus
According to the World Health Organization (“WHO”) the most common symptoms of COVID-19 (“virus”) include fever, cough, tiredness and loss of taste or smell. The less common symptoms include aches and pains, headache, sore throat, red or irritated eyes, diarrhoea, a skin rash or discolouration of fingers or toes. The most serious symptoms include difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, and loss of speech or movement. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.
How Is It Spread?
The virus spreads from an infected person to others through respiratory droplets and aerosols when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, shouts, or talks. The droplets vary in size, from large droplets that fall to the ground rapidly (within seconds or minutes) near the infected person, to smaller droplets, sometimes called aerosols, which linger in the air under some circumstances.
What can employees do to reduce the spread of the virus in the workplace?
- Monitor and abide by the Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirements and recommendations.
- All employees must frequently wash their hands with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer (if soap and water are not readily available), especially before and/or after eating, using the washroom, coming into physical contact with another person, coughing or sneezing. Where applicable, employees will be granted an additional amount of time during work hours to complete these required hygiene techniques.
- Cover your cough or sneeze by coughing into your elbow or sleeve or use a tissue to cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. Immediately throw the tissue in the trash after you use it and wash your hands.
- Maintain your health by taking care of yourself and those in your care including eating a healthy balanced diet, avoiding cigarette smoke and other harmful substances, being active and getting enough rest and sleep.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, mouth and ears as this is a method for germs to enter your respiratory system.
- Don’t share eating utensils, food, drinks or face coverings.
- WGI Westman Group Inc. (“WGI”) supports all staff who want to wear a face covering even if it is not a Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirement.
- All common areas (lunch rooms, boardrooms, meeting rooms, training rooms, locker rooms, coffee areas, high traffic access doors, etc.) must be cleaned and sanitized as appropriate. Where possible, high traffic doors must be propped open to avoid unnecessary physical contact with the door.
- Commonly used items such as: telephones, keyboards, lunch room and washroom door handles, washroom taps, etc. must be cleaned as appropriate.
- Employees who are well but who live with someone who is waiting for their test results or if there is a positive case of the virus in their household or who have been identified as a close contact of a positive case outside of their household, must abide by Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirements or recommendations which may include self-monitoring, self-isolating, taking a COVID-19 test, etc. The employee must notify their supervisor of their situation. Local Human Resources or Health & Safety department approval will be required prior to the employee’s return to work.
- According to the WHO, individuals who have a pre-existing medical condition (asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, or cancer) appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus. As a result, these employees are required to contact their physician for direction and to advise the employer if they require a medical accommodation.
- Pregnant employees are required to contact their physician for direction and to advise the employer if they require a medical accommodation.
Workplace Control Techniques
- The continued use of physical barriers (counter mounted plexiglass, free standing plexiglass, floor-mounted freestanding pre-fabricated dividers, etc) that have been installed, will be at local managements discretion in consultation with H&S and the impacted staff.
- Increase workplace ventilation where possible.
- Stagger shift start/end times, lunch, and breaks.
- Decrease workplace foot traffic by encouraging employees to host virtual meetings, send emails, use instant messaging systems and office phone lines instead of walking through the workplace.
- Post signage at each public entrance advising that non-essential visitors (family members, food delivery, taxis, ride sharing, etc) are not permitted to enter the building.
Managing Sick Workers
1. All employees who are suffering from virus like symptoms must follow Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirements and recommendations. Employees must provide daily status updates to their Supervisor, Manager or designate by phone, text or email.
Payment of wages (not diagnosed with the virus): As per Divisional Leadership discretion, individuals may have the option of working from home and remaining on regular payroll during this time. For instances where working from home is not an option, these individuals will have the option of using banked overtime, vacation time, sick days, or utilizing government benefits where available. Otherwise, time missed from work will be unpaid.
2.All employees who test positive for COVID-19 (“virus”) must self isolate as per Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirements or recommendations, whether they test positive with a rapid antigen test or a Polymerase Chain Reaction (“PCR”) test. The period of self isolation after testing positive for the virus varies by Public Health region and takes into consideration factors, including, but not limited to; an individual’s vaccination status, symptoms and whether their symptoms are improving.
WGI encourages and recommends all employees who test positive for the virus to self isolate for a minimum of five (5) days from the date the test was taken, even if it is no longer a Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirement or recommendation. This is to keep from spreading the virus and making others sick.
The employee will be required to submit medical documentation confirming diagnosis to WGI and it will also be required to apply for benefits. Medical documentation must not be brought in personally, and will need to be faxed, emailed, texted, etc to the employee’s HR Representative. Employees may require clearance from a medical practitioner prior to returning to work.
Payment of wages: As per Divisional Leadership discretion, employees who have tested positive may have the option of working from home and remaining on regular payroll during a self isolation period. For instances when working from home is not an option, these employees will have the option of using banked overtime, vacation time, sick days, applying for short-term disability or utilizing government benefits where available. Otherwise, time missed from work will be unpaid.
Monitoring and tracking employee absenteeism will continue as per existing procedure. Absenteeism rates will be shared with Senior Management on a weekly basis.
International Travelers
At minimum, all international travelers must abide by Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health travel restrictions and requirements (i.e., self-isolation requirements, covid testing, etc).
Enforcement
In accordance with WGI protocols, Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health regulations, employees are required to comply with this protocol as a condition of employment, as well as for the health and safety of themselves, their colleagues, and the community. Employee non-compliance will be addressed by Sr. Management in conjunction with Human Resources and may include disciplinary action up to termination.
Contractor, vendor, or visitor non-compliance will be addressed by local management and may include the removal of the individual from WGI property.
School & Child Care Centre Closures
Payment of wages: As per Divisional Leadership discretion, individuals may have the option of working from home and remaining on regular payroll for a period of time as determined by the company. For instances where working from home is not an option, these individuals will have the option of using banked overtime, vacation time or utilizing government benefits where available.
WGI will make reasonable accommodations (flex-time solutions, shifting plant work days for some, etc) to the point of undue hardship on a case-by-case basis as required by Provincial and State human rights legislation.
External Communicators (social media, network news, etc)
Employees are encouraged to source the latest information regarding the virus through knowledgeable and credible outlets such as the WHO, The Center of Disease Control as well as Federal, Provincial and State Health Agencies. HR and H&S will ensure WGI COVID-19 communications are distributed to all employees in mass emails, posted in one or more consistent area(s), to be established at each location, and posted on the intranet and on our newly created website.
last updated October 13, 2022
Characteristics of the Virus
Symptoms of the virus
According to the World Health Organization (“WHO”) the most common symptoms of COVID-19 (“virus”) include fever, cough, tiredness and loss of taste or smell. The less common symptoms include aches and pains, headache, sore throat, red or irritated eyes, diarrhoea, a skin rash or discolouration of fingers or toes. The most serious symptoms include difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, and loss of speech or movement. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.
How Is It Spread?
The virus spreads from an infected person to others through respiratory droplets and aerosols when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, shouts, or talks. The droplets vary in size, from large droplets that fall to the ground rapidly (within seconds or minutes) near the infected person, to smaller droplets, sometimes called aerosols, which linger in the air under some circumstances.
What can employees do to reduce the spread of the virus in the workplace?
- Monitor and abide by the Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirements and recommendations.
- All employees must frequently wash their hands with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer (if soap and water are not readily available), especially before and/or after eating, using the washroom, coming into physical contact with another person, coughing or sneezing. Where applicable, employees will be granted an additional amount of time during work hours to complete these required hygiene techniques.
- Cover your cough or sneeze by coughing into your elbow or sleeve or use a tissue to cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. Immediately throw the tissue in the trash after you use it and wash your hands.
- Maintain your health by taking care of yourself and those in your care including eating a healthy balanced diet, avoiding cigarette smoke and other harmful substances, being active and getting enough rest and sleep.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, mouth and ears as this is a method for germs to enter your respiratory system.
- Don’t share eating utensils, food, drinks or face coverings.
- WGI Westman Group Inc. (“WGI”) supports all staff who want to wear a face covering even if it is not a Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirement.
- All common areas (lunch rooms, boardrooms, meeting rooms, training rooms, locker rooms, coffee areas, high traffic access doors, etc.) must be cleaned and sanitized as appropriate. Where possible, high traffic doors must be propped open to avoid unnecessary physical contact with the door.
- Commonly used items such as: telephones, keyboards, lunch room and washroom door handles, washroom taps, etc. must be cleaned as appropriate.
- Employees who are well but who live with someone who is waiting for their test results or if there is a positive case of the virus in their household or who have been identified as a close contact of a positive case outside of their household, must abide by Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirements or recommendations which may include self-monitoring, self-isolating, taking a COVID-19 test, etc. The employee must notify their supervisor of their situation. Local Human Resources or Health & Safety department approval will be required prior to the employee’s return to work.
- According to the WHO, individuals who have a pre-existing medical condition (asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, or cancer) appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus. As a result, these employees are required to contact their physician for direction and to advise the employer if they require a medical accommodation.
- Pregnant employees are required to contact their physician for direction and to advise the employer if they require a medical accommodation.
Workplace Control Techniques
- The continued use of physical barriers (counter mounted plexiglass, free standing plexiglass, floor-mounted freestanding pre-fabricated dividers, etc) that have been installed, will be at local managements discretion in consultation with H&S and the impacted staff.
- Increase workplace ventilation where possible.
- Stagger shift start/end times, lunch, and breaks.
- Decrease workplace foot traffic by encouraging employees to host virtual meetings, send emails, use instant messaging systems and office phone lines instead of walking through the workplace.
- Post signage at each public entrance advising that non-essential visitors (family members, food delivery, taxis, ride sharing, etc) are not permitted to enter the building.
Managing Sick Workers
1. All employees who are suffering from virus like symptoms must follow Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirements and recommendations. Employees must provide daily status updates to their Supervisor, Manager or designate by phone, text or email.
Payment of wages (not diagnosed with the virus): As per Divisional Leadership discretion, individuals may have the option of working from home and remaining on regular payroll during this time. For instances where working from home is not an option, these individuals will have the option of using banked overtime, vacation time, sick days, or utilizing government benefits where available. Otherwise, time missed from work will be unpaid.
2.All employees who test positive for COVID-19 (“virus”) must self isolate as per Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirements or recommendations, whether they test positive with a rapid antigen test or a Polymerase Chain Reaction (“PCR”) test. The period of self isolation after testing positive for the virus varies by Public Health region and takes into consideration factors, including, but not limited to; an individual’s vaccination status, symptoms and whether their symptoms are improving.
WGI encourages and recommends all employees who test positive for the virus to self isolate for a minimum of five (5) days from the date the test was taken, even if it is no longer a Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health requirement or recommendation. This is to keep from spreading the virus and making others sick.
The employee will be required to submit medical documentation confirming diagnosis to WGI and it will also be required to apply for benefits. Medical documentation must not be brought in personally, and will need to be faxed, emailed, texted, etc to the employee’s HR Representative. Employees may require clearance from a medical practitioner prior to returning to work.
Payment of wages: As per Divisional Leadership discretion, employees who have tested positive may have the option of working from home and remaining on regular payroll during a self isolation period. For instances when working from home is not an option, these employees will have the option of using banked overtime, vacation time, sick days, applying for short-term disability or utilizing government benefits where available. Otherwise, time missed from work will be unpaid.
Monitoring and tracking employee absenteeism will continue as per existing procedure. Absenteeism rates will be shared with Senior Management on a weekly basis.
International Travelers
At minimum, all international travelers must abide by Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health travel restrictions and requirements (i.e., self-isolation requirements, covid testing, etc).
Enforcement
In accordance with WGI protocols, Federal, Provincial, State or Public Health regulations, employees are required to comply with this protocol as a condition of employment, as well as for the health and safety of themselves, their colleagues, and the community. Employee non-compliance will be addressed by Sr. Management in conjunction with Human Resources and may include disciplinary action up to termination.
Contractor, vendor, or visitor non-compliance will be addressed by local management and may include the removal of the individual from WGI property.
School & Child Care Centre Closures
Payment of wages: As per Divisional Leadership discretion, individuals may have the option of working from home and remaining on regular payroll for a period of time as determined by the company. For instances where working from home is not an option, these individuals will have the option of using banked overtime, vacation time or utilizing government benefits where available.
WGI will make reasonable accommodations (flex-time solutions, shifting plant work days for some, etc) to the point of undue hardship on a case-by-case basis as required by Provincial and State human rights legislation.
External Communicators (social media, network news, etc)
Employees are encouraged to source the latest information regarding the virus through knowledgeable and credible outlets such as the WHO, The Center of Disease Control as well as Federal, Provincial and State Health Agencies. HR and H&S will ensure WGI COVID-19 communications are distributed to all employees in mass emails, posted in one or more consistent area(s), to be established at each location, and posted on the intranet and on our newly created website.