Hastings and Prince Edward Counties/May 14, 2021 – Effective at 12:01 a.m. on May 19, 2021, Dr. Piotr Oglaza, Medical Officer of Health and CEO for Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH), has issued a class order under Section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
This order has been implemented to protect the health and safety of individuals employed at local farms.
The Section 22 order enables Hastings Prince Edward Public Health to enforce certain requirements for employers of agricultural workers.
These requirements include:
- Ensuring all temporary foreign workers isolate for 14 days from date of arrival in Canada.
- Ensuring no worker works or has close contact with others until their quarantine period is complete.
- Ensuring appropriate accommodations, and adequate essentials such as nutritious food/groceries, potable water, and cleaning supplies are provided to any farm worker in quarantine, isolation or otherwise.
- Ensuring living accommodation supplied by or arranged for the workers is pre-approved by HPEPH.
- Ensuring all public health measures pertaining to COVID-19, such as adherence to self-isolation orders, active screening, cleaning and disinfection, physical distancing, and use of appropriate personal protective equipment are followed.
- Ensuring that workers have the opportunity to get the COVID-19 vaccine (e.g. coordinating worker transportation to and from the vaccine clinic during a paid work period with no penalty).
- Ensuring workers have access to factual, reputable vaccine information in their preferred language and are not penalized if refusing vaccination.
“Although public health guidelines have been provided to protect agricultural workers, the spread of COVID-19 in Ontario tells us that this population continues to be vulnerable due to the nature of their working and living conditions,” says Dr. Oglaza, Medical Officer of Health and CEO at HPEPH. “Temporary migrant and local agricultural workers are vital to our farming industry and food system, and we need to protect them from COVID-19 transmission. With the Section 22 order we can be confident that the necessary steps have been taken to help protect the health of both the agricultural labour force and the surrounding community.”
The order can be reviewed on the HPEPH website.
