COVID-19 response: The Long Term Vision and Plan for the Parliamentary Precinct - Annual Report 2019 to 2020
The COVID-19 crisis has had, and continues to have, implications to all aspects of the Parliamentary Precinct, from flagship Major Crown Projects like the Centre Block Rehabilitation to the core daily operations of the precinct.
As the pandemic moved into a crisis phase in mid- March and public health authorities and governments implemented lockdown measures across the country, the Science and Parliamentary Infrastructure Branch, focused on the Centre Block program, worked in close collaboration with key partners to see if work on this highly symbolic, nationally-significant project could continue safely. With colleagues in Real Property Services Branch, we worked closely with the 3 major national constructor firms active in the precinct and the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) to develop protocols that would allow work to continue safely. In less than 2 weeks this collaboration proved valuable well beyond the precinct: the CCA issued this detailed guidance for all construction across Canada, helping keep essential work underway and mitigating some of the economic damage of the pandemic all while ensuring the safety of workers.
In the case of the Operations team, PSPC must continue to “operate and maintain the Parliamentary Precinct building systems” in spite of the restrictions stemming from the pandemic. This essential service includes daily operations, as well as maintenance and repairs of the buildings in the Parliamentary Precinct. PSPC plays a central role in ensuring that a proactive and uninterrupted service is offered to our clients, partners, and third-party tenants.
As a result, PSPC was required to keep many employees working on site every day in order to maintain daily operations of the Parliamentary Precinct buildings, to answer urgent service calls, and to continue with the required maintenance in order for parliamentary business to continue. Operations teams were called upon many times to perform additional tasks, such as installing plexiglass in different areas and hiring cleaning firms to perform urgent specialized disinfection services. During all these activities, top priority was given to the health and safety of PSPC employees, construction workers, as well as everyone accessing the construction sites. PSPC established a series of self-protection procedures for anyone needing to access. These guidelines include a number of preventive and precautionary measures to keep employees safe and to help them respect social distancing. In addition, the Department initiated the purchase and provision of appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for employees. Essential supplies such as gloves, masks, and hand sanitizer allow them to perform their daily tasks in a safe environment.
As the country began reopening, the Operations team progressively shifted its focus to business resumption plans, ensuring that key base building activities were taking place (water flushing, HVAC adjustments, and so on) while actively working with various partners on implementing social distancing measures in PSPC buildings.
For construction sites in the precinct, the Construction Manager applied the following specific safety measures:
- Modifying site entrances promptly to proceed safely with the active screening of workers prior to allowing them access to work sites (e.g. the taking of temperatures with laser readings)
- Ensuring that workers maintained a 2-metre physical distance at all times
- Requiring that fabric masks be worn on site at all times and that masonry masks be used while on scaffolding
- Providing PPE to all workers: at a minimum, disposable examination gloves, fabric masks and/or masonry masks, and eye protection, (e.g. goggles or disposable face shields that fully covered the front and sides of the face) were required
- Ensuring that washing supplies were available at various points on site, (hand soap and water or hand sanitizer)
- Providing disposal bags for removal of used PPE equipment and/or a washing station for the sanitization of reusable equipment
- Keeping open lines of communication with the Canadian Construction Association in order to align with the provincial/federal guidelines for times of pandemic
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