Develop your COVID-19 workplace safety plan
Learn how you can create a plan to help protect your workers and others from novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).

This guide is for employers. Whether you are currently operating or planning for your workers to return to work, the guide will help you develop a plan to work safely. It will help prepare you to put controls into place to make the workplace safer for everyone.

You will use current public health and workplace health and safety information or guidance to help develop your plan.

To reduce the risk of passing on novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) at work, employers should:

• screen people who enter the workplace
• support self-isolation for workers with symptoms and workers who are close contacts of COVID-19 cases
• ensure people maintain a physical distance of two metres or more
• have workers, clients and visitors wear masks
• disinfect surfaces and objects
• support hand hygiene, particularly handwashing
• remind workers about good cough and sneeze etiquette and to avoid touching their face
• work with the local public health unit if any workers have COVID-19 or are exposed to someone with COVID-1

You can use the COVID-19 safety plan template to create your plan. The safety plan is for you, your workers and other people who need to know about it.

Discuss and share your safety plan with everyone at work, including:

• workers
• unions
• supervisors
• health and safety representatives or members of joint health and safety committees (JHSCs)
• contractors
• suppliers
• If possible, create, discuss and share your plan before workers return to the workplace. Review and update your plan regularly.

You are not required to send your plan to the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development for review or comment. The ministry will not review safety plans. However, during an inspection of your workplace, a ministry inspector could ask about your plan .

As an employer it’s your responsibility under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect a worker. This guide will help you plan how to do this.

The guide does not replace the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations and should not be used as or considered legal advice. Health and safety inspectors apply the law based on the facts in the workplace.

Learn more or download your template here.