B.C. to set its own COVID-19 workplace safety rules after outbreaks
Source: The Globe & Mail
Victoria, April 30 2020 - British Columbia will impose its own safety plans in the workplace after a COVID-19 outbreak at two federally regulated chicken processing plants in Metro Vancouver showed Ottawa failed to protect those workers, provincial health officials say.
Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s Provincial Health Officer, said on Thursday the outbreak demonstrates the need for provincial guidance on pandemic safety plans, which the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was supposed to have ensured were in place.
The investigation began with a single case of COVID-19, which is caused by the novel coronavirus, at United Poultry Co. Ltd. in East Vancouver, and spread to a sister plant, Superior Poultry Processors Ltd. in Coquitlam. Health officials believe some people were travelling between both facilities, and the two plants account for a total of 92 cases since the first one was identified on April 19. The cases include both poultry plant workers and federal inspectors.