The pandemic is not over. Vaccination rates are improving the situation. However, we still need to ensure that employers are taking all reasonable precautions for the protection of workers with respect to COVID-19 transmission.
This checklist tool is designed to help workplaces think about all aspects of COVID-19 transmission, including the hazards of aerosols and variants of concern (VoCs). This is particularly important because variants of concern are more easily transmitted and can sometimes escape vaccine coverage.
Any “no” or “N/A” response should be noted and brought to the attention of the (Joint) Workplace Health and Safety Committee or representative for discussion at a meeting.
This checklist is intended to be used alongside CUPE’s COVID-19: Aerosolization Risk Assessment document.
Aerosol transmission
Risk assessment considerations can and should change over time. This is because they must respond to new information.
Employers have an obligation to remain current on information that is available publicly and is known in their sectors.
During the pandemic, we have learned more about how COVID-19 is transmitted. The Public Health Agency of Canada and the Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention now advise that aerosols pose a risk. This means you can become infected by inhaling aerosols or droplets from an infected person. Infected individuals may transmit COVID-19 by talking, singing, shouting, sneezing or coughing.
|
Risk assessment – aerosol transmission |
Yes |
No |
N/A |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Is the risk assessment specific to the workplace? |
|||
|
Is the risk assessment specific to the work performed? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate situations when and where a worker may have to work within 2 metres of an individual of unknown COVID-19 status and unknown vaccination status? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate situations when and where a worker may have to work for more than 15 cumulative minutes (for the entire workday) with an individual of unknown COVID-19 status and unknown vaccination status? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate situations when and where a worker may have to work with more than 5 people of unknown COVID-19 status and unknown vaccination status? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate situations when and where a worker may have to work continuously being exposed to individuals of unknown COVID-19 status and unknown vaccination status? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate situations when and where a worker may have to work with an unmasked individual of unknown COVID-19 status and unknown vaccination status? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate situations when and where a worker may have to work in a closed space (where there is no adequate ventilation) with an individual of unknown COVID-19 status and unknown vaccination status? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate situations when and where a worker may have to work with individuals of unknown COVID-19 status and unknown vaccination status where people are moving around? |
Variants of Concern (VoCs)
Variants of concern are defined as strains of COVID-19 that have new features. In some cases, the variants of concern change:
- how fast the disease spreads
- how severe the disease is
- what tests we can use to detect the virus
- how well vaccines and treatments work
Current information from the Public Health Agency of Canada indicates Alpha and Delta variants are at least 50% more transmissible than the original virus. There is evidence that vaccination status alone may not protect all workers from these and other potential variants.
|
Risk assessment - variants of concern (VoCs) |
Yes |
No |
N/A |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate revisions to the controls based on new VoCs? |
|||
|
Have control measures been revised to address the increased risks from VoCs? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate the increased risks from the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7)? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment contemplate the increased risks from the Delta variant (B.1.617.2)? |
|||
|
Does the risk assessment program include how new information respecting new VoCs will be communicated to workers? |
