TNCAER

TNCAER Meeting Speaker Presentation at 2022-05-11 Meeting

Kapil Ghai of Toronto Board of Trade made a presentation on “Communication, Networking &; Team Building”. He talked about building relationships virtually and transitioning to going back to a hybrid or fully back to work. It is important to know how to transition from working from home to a hybrid situation. He believes in networking throughout the organization. You need to know the champions on each team in the organization. You should especially try and connect with new people on the team. One of his favourite expressions is “teamwork makes the dream work”.

Lisa Bolton and Zack Lebane from Sherrard Kuzz Employment & Labour Lawyers made a presentation on “COVID 19 Vaccination and the Workplace”. Lisa reviewed of the changing Federal and Provincial COVID requirements.

Zack talked about when a vaccination policy reasonable. In a unionized workplace, a vaccination policy should meet the “KVP Test”: it must be consistent with the collective agreement; reasonable; clear & unequivocal; brought to the attention of employees; employees must be notified that a breach of the policy could result in discharge; and it should be consistently enforced.

Zack talked about a number of legal decisions about “reasonableness”: The takeaways from Zack’s presentation included:

• If indoors and in-person, a vaccination or test policy is likely reasonable.
• In a workplace with higher risk of transmission, higher consequences and/or history of outbreaks, vaccination or leave of absence policy is likely reasonable. Discipline or termination can be contemplated as a later step.
• Expect more vaccinate or terminate policies in the coming months in the health care sector.
• Trajectory of COVID-19 will impact reasonableness.
• Employers should be prepared to amend or update policies as needed.

Lisa concluded the presentation on vaccination and religious objection. Most human rights-based exemption requests are based on religious beliefs. Several legal decisions were reviewed. As a takeaway, Lisa suggested several questions to ask to support an accommodation request:

• What religion/creed do you practice?
• How long have you practiced this religion/creed?
• Why does your belief in this religion/creed prevent you from being vaccinated against COVID-19?
• Have you previously been vaccinated against any other illnesses? If so, why were those vaccinations permissible under your religion/creed?
• Do you have objective documentation to support the position you are unable to be vaccinated?
• Critically review information received since it is unlikely that claims based on an employee’s conscience will be sufficient, even if claim is that religion protects the ability to follow one’s conscience.
• If accommodation is required, employees are not entitled to ‘choose’ a remote work arrangement if another arrangement is feasible (i.e., testing).

Ryan Wheeler of Trans-Northern Pipeline Inc. (TNPI) made a presentation on “A Summary of Trans-Northern 2021 Exercise Program”.

Ryan mentioned the 4 pillars of Trans-Northern Emergency Management Program as prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Ryan summarized TNPI annual exercise program which includes:

• A full-scale exercise every 3 years.
• Regional table-top exercises.
• A business continuity/disaster recovery planning table-top exercise.
• Quarterly drills testing TNPI’s call answering service.
• Participation in the Western Canada Spill Services Cooperative drill/exercise.

The Full-Scale Exercise postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19 was held in November 2021. TNPI uses the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Exercise Planning Model. The exercise focused on a security event at the Edmonton International Airport. A key lesson learned indicated that in the event of malicious activity an organization must consider the impact of law enforcement and crime scene management which will likely cause significant delays in site access and response.

Regional Table-Top Exercises focused on initial strategies and tactics for spills into bodies of water. The exercise was used to review existing aerial surveillance, how industry resources could improve capacity, and notifications with regional stakeholders. In the exercise used a Mentimeter to facilitate a quiz approach.

Regional Preparedness Exercises focused on responding to a stalled pipeline inspection gauge (PIG).

The Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Planning Table-Top Exercise evaluated a cyber security threat to its operational technology and included a presentation on best practices promoted by Canada’s Cyber Security Centre. The exercise also tested mitigation, response and recovery measures to protect and recover critical business operations.

TNPI also does quarterly Call Answering Service Drills and is involved in the Western Canada Spills Services Oil Spill Cooperative Drills.

Julia Lok of the Ontario Workplace Safety & Prevention Services made a presentation “COVID Best Practices at the Workplace”. Julia went over the legal requirements related to COVID including the Occupational Health & Safety Act, Reopening Ontario Act, Regulation 364/20, Employment Standards Act and local health orders and measures.

A COVID-19 safety plan includes screening, physical distancing, limiting capacity, cleaning & disinfection, PPE and face coverings. Safety plan best practices include:

• Following current requirements & advisories.
• Using Safety Plan Builder (www.workplacesafetyplanbuilder.labour.gov.on.ca).
• Providing clear & current info.
• Utilizing various communication options such as postings, email, etc.

Best practices for screening include:

• Screening all workers & non-workers before they enter including a questionnaire, RAT and self-monitoring tool.
• Screening visitors before arrival and on-site.
• Maintaining attendance records.

Risks can be controlled by limiting capacity in any congregating areas, utilizing outdoor spaces, using surgical & procedure masks, and using the ventilation checklist (www.ohcow.on.ca/posts/ventilation-checklist-covid-19/) and ventilation calculation tools (www.ohcow.on.ca/posts/classroom-ventilation-calculation-tool/).

Where there is a potential exposure you need to determine the contacts using cohorts & attendance information under Public Health guidance, communicate the exposure and have response procedures and return to work programs in place.

To manage risks you must regularly identify, access, recommend controls and evaluate hazards and potential harassment, threats & violence to workers and factors contributing to negative mental health.

To evaluate if your COVID safety plan is working you should have scheduled reviews, worker feedback, involve the health & safety representative and committee, and conduct monthly inspections.

WSPS COVID-19 Resources are available at (https://covid19.wsps.ca/) and on the WSPS website (https://www.wsps.ca/).

Rob Read of Environment Canada made a presentation on “Public Notifications under the E2 Regulations”.

Rob Read began the presentation on companies that E2 Regulation apply to having a substance on the list over prescribed limits. The responsible person for E2 should have detailed info including a description of measures. To communicate to the potentially impact areas of the potential consequences and the measures taken if an environmental emergency occurs. The presentation focused on the requirements under E2 Regulations for public notification.

Notification is required for the possibility and potential consequences of an environmental emergency, a description of the measures taken to protect life, health and the environment and the measures to communicate with the public during and after an emergency.

Before an emergency, the public that may be impacted outside of the facility by an emergency should be notified of potential emergencies, consequences and measures that will be taken if there is an emergency. Notification could include door to door, phone calls, email, town hall meetings and mailing pamphlets, etc. ECCC doesn’t prescribe how notifications are done. Examples of notifications prior to an emergency were shown including a Superior Propane notification letter and a Nestle plant notification in a newsletter. Rob said that notifications during and after an environmental emergency should include the measures taken and actions to reduce harm. He mentioned a text alert from Nuclear.

Edy Haddad and Brian Mabee of Peninsula Canada made a presentation called “Your Roadmap for Vaccines and COVID-19 in the Workplace”. They talked about what to do if staff refuse the vaccine. You need to educate staff, talk to staff about the vaccine and have a clear policy on vaccinations. Companies need to treat vaccination information like medical records. To keep your workplace safe & compliant you need to track staff vaccination status to help with recalling staff & keeping employees safe.

To reopen your workplace you must assess the workplace capacity for safety and ensure the compliance your health & safety policies for social distancing, disinfection and masking, etc. You need to review your existing COVID procedures, their effectiveness, staff compliance, staff & visitor screening and legislative changes. You should develop policies to recall staff considering phasing recalls, criteria to base recalls on such as seniority or order of layoff, etc. and recall notices. Employment contracts and handbooks should be updated incorporating legislative changes, human rights concerns, addressing vaccination policies and clarifying responsibilities and expectations.

Addressing vaccination in policies and contracts helps to: mitigate risk; clarify expectations; resolve disputes; outline responsibilities; makes training & enforcement easier; and protects from compliance violations.

Penalties for violating ESA and OHS are: financial; legal costs even when winning; cost of wasted management time; poor employee relations & morale; adverse publicity; and reporting to other agencies such as Canada Revenue Agency.

Lisa Bolton of Sherrard Kuzz LLP made a presentation on COVID-19 Vaccination and the Workplace. The presentation was on screening customers/visitors for vaccinations; mandatory employee vaccinations; and compliance with current health & safety requirements to address COVID-19.

When considering if businesses should require proof of vaccinations, they need to weigh the objectives of protecting health & safety & minimizing potential liability under the Occupiers’ Liability Act and Bill 218; vs. the risks of Human Rights Code or privacy complaints/violations. She suggested not to implement vaccination screening for customers/visitors unless the benefit outweighs the risk. If implementing vaccination screening develop a policy you will need to identify why screening is a reasonable business requirement and confirm accommodation will be provided to those who cannot comply for a human rights-related reason. If collecting personal information follow Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act including identifying how information will be used, securely stored, safely destroyed, etc. and obtaining consent prior to collection.

Before implementing a vaccination policy, encourage voluntary compliance through education and incentives (if appropriate) assess objective vs. risk.

Vaccination status (currently) is not an exemption from compliance with public health and safety requirement. Businesses are obligated to ensure public health requirements and recommendations are followed by employees and the public on business premises.

Be prepared for a workplace inspection by having a COVID-19 workplace safety plan and following all health and safety requirements/guidance. Safety plan is a written roadmap addressing how business will address COVID-19 transmission risk. The plan includes education, workplace screening, physical distancing, mask or face coverings, cleaning & disinfecting and wearing of PPE.