The COVID-19 pandemic forced Canadians and people around the world to quickly change how and where they worked, as many of us shifted from the office to our homes. Although workplaces are potential sites for transmitting infectious diseases like COVID-19, most employers were ill prepared for dealing with this health crisis. Finding ways to get Canadians back to work safely after the pandemic has been critical to our health and well-being, as well as our economy.
 

One of the challenges has been the lack of available guidance regarding occupational health and safety considerations for operating during a pandemic or safely reopening after one. To support employers as they reopened workplaces, SCC collaborated with CSA Group to hold both a webinar and workshop in the spring of 2021.
 

The workshop brought together leaders from Canada’s superclusters, government, industry, and academia to provide input on the guidance needed for workplaces to remain open and to operate during an infectious disease pandemic. The discussions also helped identify standardization needs and solutions to respond to the pandemic and resulted in a published report that will help us to plan and prepare for any others.