A COVID-19 story with a good outcome

by Lisa Seppala, True North Implementation

The building site manager/caretaker for our building and I, strata council president, were seated 2 m (6 ft) apart on the lounge chairs in our building’s main lobby. Residents walked by us and shook their heads in disbelief as we were huddled over our clipboards reviewing WorkSafeBC’s safety plan template for re-opening businesses after the COVID-19 lockdown. I don’t think many residents in our condo complex thought we would be considered a workplace/business, but to our employee, the building site manager, and all the contracted cleaning crew and tradespeople working there, we are!

We had never closed the ‘business’ of operating our residential condo tower but felt compelled to review our COVID-19 program against the WorkSafeBC template to make sure we had all aspects covered. We found the format that WorkSafeBC provided covered everything we needed. It was easy for us to run through the requirements and to be educated at the same time.

Back to the clipboard.

Step 1: Assess the risks at your workplace. Check!

Step 2: Implement protocols to reduce the risks. Check!

• A short discussion about the hierarchy of controls. Check!
• Measures in place for elimination of the hazard or risk, such as limiting the number of people in areas like the lobby and elevators. Check!
• Measures in place for engineering controls, such as barriers and partitions. Check!
• Measures in place for administrative controls, such as rules and guidelines. Check! Check! We had these in place the minute COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
• Measures in place for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – the controversial masks – do we or don’t we. We do! Check!!!
• Reduce the risk of surface transmission through effective cleaning and hygiene practices. Check!

Step 3: Develop policies. Check! We created posters that pulled from all the available public material, such as the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Government of Canada, and that were specific to our building and the owners. After weeks of having paper signs taped to elevators and entrances, we bit the bullet and had them printed on 3M adhesive material – waterproof and durable, and good for the second wave that we’re now starting to see.

Step 4: Develop communication plans and training. Check! Our one employee, the contracted cleaning crew and tradespeople all received a briefing on expectations. In addition to housekeeping protocols, information was shared on proper use of masks. Owners were made aware through our posters, online communication, and minutes from strata council meetings. We also published a specific set of COVID-19 rules for all owners and contractors.

Step 5: Monitor your workplace and update your plans as necessary. Check! The meeting huddled over clipboards was for that very purpose.

Step 6: Assess and address risks from resuming operations. Not Applicable! Given that we’re in a residential tower, we could never shut down. We needed to maintain the building and the common areas as always. But the pandemic called for extra vigilance.

Did we learn anything from doing this?

For sure. In 2018 we had the foresight to create a comprehensive Emergency Response Program for our building that included an assessment of the hazards and risks we face. One of the scenarios we considered was a disease outbreak and we determined that we would follow the guidance from the BC Centre of Disease Control. This foresight meant we were a bit ahead of the curve as we were ready to take immediate action the minute the pandemic was declared. Because we had communicated our earlier plan to owners, our pandemic response actions did not come as a surprise.

That said, there is always room for improvement. We listened to owners who were at various levels of acceptance of the potential risks of this pandemic – some not adhering to social distancing measures and others afraid to exit their suites. We had to be responsive to both.

We are now at the stage of working with the other buildings in our complex and developing a safety plan to partially open our shared recreation centre.

The good outcome for me was that, without any prompting, our building site manager/caretaker, who also has responsibility for the recreation centre, came to me with a draft plan for re-opening the centre.  The plan was aligned to WorkSafeBC and Fraser Health guidelines. To me, the time and effort in volunteer hours met its just reward. Knowledge transferred. Check!

Thank you to the BC Centre for Disease Control, WorkSafeBC, Fraser Health, and of course, our Dr. Bonnie Henry for your support and guidance for all of us through these times!

This article was created to specifically draw attention to WorkSafeBC’s COVID-19 safety plans and to demonstrate how these plans can be applied to operations not typically viewed as workplaces. Steps identified are drawn directly from the WorkSafeBC safety plan template. For guidance specific to your own industry, check out the WorkSafeBC website https://www.worksafebc.com/en