Question Period Note: Canada Post – Health and safety

Canada Post continues to provide a vital service to Canadians under difficult circumstances, with employees continuing to operate in the field delivering parcels. Canada Post continues to do everything possible to continue its service while keeping the health and safety of its staff as its number one priority.

• Canada Post is closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic. It is taking steps to help keep its employees and the communities it serves safe, while closely following the guidance of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
  • Canada Post provides hand sanitizer for all customers and requires the use of face coverings by employees, contractors and visitors in all Canada Post facilities
  • Canada Post is working with its unions, in order to ensure employees and the public are protected

If pressed on health and safety:

• Canada Post is taking action to protect employees and customers, including:
  • Enhanced cleaning in all of its facilities, extra safety supplies for employees and staggered shifts which minimize everyone arriving at work and having their breaks at the same time. This also allows for enhanced physical distancing in the workplace
  • Priority service at its retail post offices to those at a higher risk, such as seniors, during the first hour of each day
  • Installing signage and floor decals to encourage physical distancing, limiting the number of customers in smaller offices, and installing clear barriers at the counter to increase safety
  • Suspending its normal 15-day hold period and asking that customers who are ill or self-isolating delay their visit and pick up their parcel only when it’s safe to do so
  • Implemented a new process called “Knock, Drop and Go” to minimize contact with the Delivery Agent by eliminating signatures at the door

If pressed on volume and delays:

• Canada Post has been experiencing sustained, high volumes during this pandemic
• The employees of Canada Post are working hard to ensure deliveries continue to reach Canadians during this crisis, and we value their dedication

If pressed on peak season health and safety measures:

• Canada Post has followed the guidance of public health officials at the national and local level throughout the year to keep their people, and the communities they serve, safe

• They have also ensured to follow the various public health guidelines in every community they serve. Their commitment to safety, which includes physical distancing in all facets of their operations including delivery, will continue throughout the busy holiday season

• They will apply the learnings from providing an essential service throughout this challenging year into their peak holiday plans and continue to follow the guidance of public health officials

• Canada Post will continue to put the safety of their employees and the people they serve first as they respond to the significant holiday parcel demand

If pressed on mandatory face coverings for employees, contractors, visitors, and customers:

• On November 23, 2020, Canada Post implemented mandatory face coverings for employees and others in its facilities across Canada
• Since the start of COVID-19, Canada Post’s top priority has been the health and safety of its employees and Canadians
• Employees throughout the organization have been doing their best in difficult circumstances to keep one another safe, and with cases of COVID-19 increasing rapidly in communities across Canada, Canada Post implemented a mandatory face covering policy to control the spread of the virus
• Widespread adoption of this critical preventative measure will help to protect people against the spread of COVID-19 and make all their workplaces as safe as possible; even if provincial or local regulations do not require face coverings, Canada Post’s practice shall apply for its employees, contractors, visitors and customers across Canada

If pressed on Canada Post’s ability to deliver elections materials during a pandemic:

• As Canada Post told the Procedure and House Affairs Committee on December 3, it is working with Elections Canada and has the capacity to process mail volumes far exceeding the demands that are expected if a federal election is called

On March 19, 2020, Canada Post released a letter stating its number one priority is the health and safety of its employees. They encouraged employees who can work from home to do so. However, the majority of its employees are in the field delivering packages.

Canada Post has eliminated the need for customers to sign for parcels at the door to minimize personal contact. It has also suspended normal delivery guarantees for its parcel services as delivering safely without overburdening its employees requires more time.

Canada Post has been experiencing “Christmas level” volumes during this pandemic. Canada Post has introduced several measures to encourage physical distancing and limit contact during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a “Knock, Drop and Go” approach for parcel delivery. This change eliminates the need for signatures at the door, speeds up delivery and has greatly reduced the number of parcels sent to post offices for pickup. Items that require signatures due to proof of age will be required to be picked up at the retail counter in a more controlled environment, where physical distancing can be accommodated.

Additional safety measures

On October 9, 2020, Canada Post communicated additional safety measures to all employees:

• Requirements across the country:
• All employees, visitors and contractors in Ontario are required to wear a face covering on Canada Post premises in any situation or location where physical distancing cannot be maintained, even briefly. Adopting this standard reflects Ontario’s recently enacted face covering requirements
• All employees, visitors and contractors in other areas of the country with high levels of community spread as determined by local or provincial authorities (such as Quebec red zones), are strongly recommended to wear a face covering when in Canada Post premises. This includes any situation or location where physical distancing cannot be maintained, even briefly
• All employees, visitors and contractors working in other areas are recommended to wear a face covering in any situation or location where physical distancing cannot be maintained, even briefly
• Requirements for all employees:
• All employees, visitors and contractors across Canada are required to carry a face covering with them at all times. This measure allows them to put on their face covering promptly in situations when physical distancing is suddenly challenging or impossible to maintain

All employees across Canada are now required to conduct a self-assessment each day before reporting to work, based on a COVID-19 Self-Assessment Tool from the PHAC.

These measures are in addition to the existing requirements to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces, as well as for two-person lifts, during driver training, on elevators, etc. These measures also do not replace the requirement to maintain 2 metres of physical distancing, which remains the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Mandatory face covering for employees, contractors, visitors and customers across the country

On November 23, 2020 Canada Post announced that they are moving toward mandatory face coverings for employees and others in its facilities across Canada.

More of Canada Post’s employees contracted COVID-19 in the last 6 weeks than in the previous 6 months combined – about 6 times more cases per week. While some communities and regions have low COVID-19 numbers, Canada Post have seen cases suddenly occur in communities that had gone months without any cases.

PHAC recently advised Canadians to wear a face covering when they are in shared indoor spaces with people from outside their immediate household. PHAC also advised that wearing a face covering offers some protection to the person who wears it, as well as to others.

A new Canada Post Mandatory Face Covering Practice now makes it mandatory for employees, contractors, visitors and customers across Canada to wear a face covering in all Canada Post facilities. This requirement applies to, but is not limited to, plant floors, depots, retail outlets, docks and yards, and administrative sites. It also applies to Canada Post employees while working in other facilities, such as multi-unit residential buildings, stores, offices and their common areas, such as entrances, lobbies and hallways.

Even if provincial or local regulations do not require face coverings, Canada Post’s practice shall apply.

Effective at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, November 23, Canada Post expects all employees, contractors, visitors and customers to wear a face covering at all times in all Canada Post facilities across the country. After a brief period of adjustment, Canada Post will begin to enforce this expectation and the mandatory face covering practice, effective 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 26. The practice applies to all parts of the facilities, including but not limited to work centres, cubicles, cases, washrooms, hallways, entrances, stairwells and break rooms.

The exceptions are:

• persons who are the sole occupant of an enclosed vehicle
• persons who are the sole occupant of an enclosed office or room with a closed door
• persons consuming food or drink in an area designated for this purpose and where 2 metres physical distancing is maintained
• persons engaging in other activities that briefly require the temporary removal of a face covering and where 2 metres physical distancing is maintained (such as taking a drink of water)
• persons receiving alternate accommodations under the Canadian Human Rights Act based on an inability to wear a face covering
• persons under the age of 5

Mandatory use of face coverings adds to, but does not replace, the other important safety measures that remain in effect:

• Self-assess before work each day and stay home if you are sick
• Maintain 2 metres of physical distancing at all times
• Wash hands frequently
• Cleaning protocols

All Canada Post employees are responsible for complying with this practice. Failure to comply with the practice would be inconsistent with public health directives and a serious breach of company safety rules.

It will result in discipline up to and including dismissal from Canada Post. Contractors, visitors and customers who do not comply with the practice will not be permitted access to Canada Post facilities, but Canada Post will work with those who need accommodation on human rights grounds.

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