The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) issued an order today under the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) that requires employers of farm workers in Simcoe-Muskoka to take specific measures to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19 at their facilities.
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (MOH) Dr. David Williams recommended earlier this week that local MOHs issue a Section 22 Class Order under the HPPA due to an increase in COVID-19 cases and the difficulty of managing outbreaks on farms. Under Section 22, MOHs can make an order to a class of persons within the health unit’s geographic area “to take, or to refrain from taking, any action that is specified in the Order in respect to a communicable disease.” The order requires all owners and operators of farms in Simcoe-Muskoka that employ farm workers, including temporary foreign workers, local workers and temporary help agency workers, to follow a number of specific health and safety measures.
“Although public health guidelines have been provided to protect migrant farm workers, the spread of COVID-19 in this group in our region and Ontario tells us that they continue to be vulnerable due to the nature of their working and living conditions,” said Dr. Colin Lee, SMDHU’s associate medical officer of health, in a news release. “Temporary migrant and local farm workers are essential workers and vital to our farming industry and food system, and we need to protect them and the broader community from COVID-19 transmission.”
The order requires farm owners to follow all legislative requirements to protect their workers, including directions and guidance from the SMDHU, provincial and federal requirements related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the terms of the Section 22 Class Order.
Under the order, farm owners have to actively screen all employees at least once a day by asking a standard set of health questions at the beginning of each shift, and they need to ensure anyone that fails the screening is excluded from work and recommended for testing. They must also make sure that all current and future employees are only working within one workplace or facility and that farm employees are assigned to a team, separate from other individuals and groups.
Farm owners also need to provide the SMDHU with accurate and updated contact information for all employees within 24 hours of being asked in order to support COVID-19 case management and to fulfill contact tracing requirements. In addition, owners and operators should ensure that all individuals under health unit supervision for case and contact management have continued access to a cell phone or landline and that the contact information is readily available to the SMDHU.
For more information about COVID-19, including the full Section 22 Class Order, visit the SMDHU website, or call Health Connection at 705-721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520.
