Health authority finds refinery camp taking adequate COVID-19 steps

After being urged to inspect the refinery to see if COVID-19 could be a problem in the replacement workers camp, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has determined the steps the Co-op refinery is taking are adequate.

Since the labour dispute with its workers started in December, the refinery brought in replacement workers and has been housing them in a camp within the refinery gates.

Last month, Regina city council passed a motion to ask for an inspection of the camp with concerns the close quarters could create a hot spot for COVID-19.

Councillor Andrew Stevens pushed for the motion and he posted the letter from the refinery and the SHA which came after the inspection.

The letter from the health authority’s manager of environmental public health, Ian Harrison, said the steps the refinery has taken are good enough.

These steps include telling all non-essential workers to work from home, making personal protective equipment available, closing the fitness centre and water fountains, and closing common dining areas and telling workers to pick up their food and take it to their rooms.

The refinery is asking any workers coming back from out of the country or from provinces with high infection rates to isolate for 14 days before reporting for work.

According to the SHA letter, the company has also put rooms on hold at the Doubletree Hotel for isolation in caseworkers do become sick.

Commons areas were being cleaned and sanitized daily, but Harrison notes the health authority has asked that to be upped to twice a day and that it be done with pails of disinfectant instead of spray bottles.

“In conclusion, I feel the steps that have been implemented by the refinery are adequate to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Public health inspectors will follow up with the refinery to confirm the implementation of recommendations made during the inspection,” wrote Harrison.

The refinery’s letter to city council said the recommendations from the health authority will be implemented and that the company believes the current use of the camp gives them the safest options for its response to the pandemic.

“We are pleased to report that both the SHA and Occupational Health and Safety were satisfied with the steps we have taken to protect our employees. They believe we have provided a safe working/operating environment for our workers, and that our pandemic plan for the on-site work camp meets their high standards,” wrote Lenita Knudsen, director of health, safety, security and environment at the Co-op refinery complex.

Stevens’s Facebook post with the letters thanked the health authority for conducting the inspection.