EBOLA AND THE USE OF GLOVES
Health and safety in the workplace: Ebola update
Your individual employer has the responsibility to ensure your safety while at work. Unifor is committed to working with employers to ensure that the health and safety of our members is at the forefront of any procedural policies enforced.
As a precautionary measure, some airport authorities have developed plans (consisting of educational material and protocols on how to deal with infectious disease in the workplace) should a passenger show signs of having been in contact with the Ebola virus. If you have not seen any material such as this, request it from a manager and ask your local health and safety committee member what material has been provided by the employer.
Unifor 2002 health and safety coordinators: Ian Bennie, Wilf Fischer and Wendy Brennan will be communicating information with the health and safety representatives in your workplace as information from the employer is shared with them.
Members of the Unifor/Air Canada health and safety policy committee have been in continual communication with Air Canada regarding the Ebola virus. The committee has been successful in convincing the employer to explore communication options that will eliminate concerns that our members have brought forward. Air Canada is said to be releasing information shortly.
Click here to read the Ebola update provided by the Greater Toronto Airport Authority [PDF - 2 pages]
More News from Unifor 2002
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La version française suit ci-dessous / French version follows below;
Dear Colleague,
We are following the Ebola situation closely with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada and Transport Canada, who provide direction and guidelines in matters concerning public health. We also monitor closely information provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). It should be noted that the W.H.O. advises that the risk to travellers to the affected regions is low and does not recommend travel restrictions or additional passenger screening at this time. Our priority is to ensure that we continue to provide for the safety of our employees and our customers.
The guidance provided from these agencies indicates that at this point in time there is no requirement for employees to use any personal protective equipment (PPE) when carrying out normal daily work duties, unless this PPE was already a requirement to perform their work. The Chief Public Health Officer of Canada this past week took the opportunity to remind Canadians that the Ebola virus does not spread from person to person, it is not like the flu. It is spread through direct contact with an individual’s bodily fluids with symptoms not through casual contact.
However, some Airport employees who interact directly with the public have requested that they be able to wear gloves. We have no objection to the elective use of gloves. Our management team will provide gloves as requested to employees who are in direct physical contact with customers during their shift. Prior to our management team dispensing gloves to these employees, they will review the attached disposable glove procedures with them and record that they have received instructions.
Some examples where gloves can be issued include employees providing special assistance to customers such as physically assisting customers, lifting customers and helping customers into wheelchairs.
Please remember whether you choose to use gloves or not for these tasks, proper hand hygiene is the best practice for all of us. Attached you will find more information on this topic.
We will continue to provide you with updates as they become available.
Sincerely,
Robert Atkinson
Manager, Airports Occupational Health and Safety
____________________________________________
Chers collègues,
Nous surveillons l'épidémie d'Ébola de près avec l'Agence de la santé publique du Canada, Santé Canada et Transports Canada, qui fournissent les conseils et les lignes directrices que nous observons dans les situations qui concernent la santé publique. De plus, nous consultons régulièrement l'information fournie par l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS). Selon l'OMS, les voyageurs dans les régions touchées courent peu de risques, et elle ne recommande pas la restriction des déplacements ni un contrôle supplémentaire des passagers pour l'instant. Notre priorité est de continuer à protéger la sécurité de nos employés et de nos passagers.
D'après les lignes directrices fournies par ces organismes, il n'est pas nécessaire pour l'instant que les employés portent de l'équipement de protection individuel pour s'acquitter de leurs tâches quotidiennes habituelles, à moins qu'un tel équipement ne soit déjà exigé pour certaines tâches. La semaine dernière, l'administrateur en chef de la santé publique du Canada a rappelé aux Canadiens que contrairement à la grippe, le virus Ébola ne se transmet pas facilement d'une personne à l'autre. Il se propage par contact direct avec les liquides corporels d'une personne qui présente des symptômes de la maladie, pas par simple contact.
Cependant, des employés des Aéroports qui interagissent directement avec le public ont demandé l'autorisation de porter des gants. Nous ne nous opposons pas à l'utilisation facultative de gants. Notre équipe de gestion remettra des gants aux employés qui ont des contacts physiques directs avec des clients durant leur poste, conformément à leur demande. Avant de leur remettre des gants, elle passera en revue avec eux les procédures relatives aux gants ci-jointes et prendra en note qu'ils ont reçu des directives.
Des gants pourraient être remis notamment aux employés qui apportent une assistance spéciale aux clients, c'est-à-dire qui les assistent physiquement en les soulevant et en les aidant à prendre place dans un fauteuil roulant.
Que vous utilisiez ou non des gants pour des tâches de cette nature, rappelez-vous qu'une bonne hygiène des mains reste pour nous tous la meilleure pratique. Vous trouverez ci-joint de plus amples renseignements sur ce sujet.
Nous continuerons de communiquer avec vous à mesure que nous en saurons plus.
Sincères salutations,
Robert Atkinson
Your individual employer has the responsibility to ensure your safety while at work. Unifor is committed to working with employers to ensure that the health and safety of our members is at the forefront of any procedural policies enforced.
As a precautionary measure, some airport authorities have developed plans (consisting of educational material and protocols on how to deal with infectious disease in the workplace) should a passenger show signs of having been in contact with the Ebola virus. If you have not seen any material such as this, request it from a manager and ask your local health and safety committee member what material has been provided by the employer.
Unifor 2002 health and safety coordinators: Ian Bennie, Wilf Fischer and Wendy Brennan will be communicating information with the health and safety representatives in your workplace as information from the employer is shared with them.
Members of the Unifor/Air Canada health and safety policy committee have been in continual communication with Air Canada regarding the Ebola virus. The committee has been successful in convincing the employer to explore communication options that will eliminate concerns that our members have brought forward. Air Canada is said to be releasing information shortly.
Click here to read the Ebola update provided by the Greater Toronto Airport Authority [PDF - 2 pages]
More News from Unifor 2002
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
La version française suit ci-dessous / French version follows below;
Dear Colleague,
We are following the Ebola situation closely with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada and Transport Canada, who provide direction and guidelines in matters concerning public health. We also monitor closely information provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). It should be noted that the W.H.O. advises that the risk to travellers to the affected regions is low and does not recommend travel restrictions or additional passenger screening at this time. Our priority is to ensure that we continue to provide for the safety of our employees and our customers.
The guidance provided from these agencies indicates that at this point in time there is no requirement for employees to use any personal protective equipment (PPE) when carrying out normal daily work duties, unless this PPE was already a requirement to perform their work. The Chief Public Health Officer of Canada this past week took the opportunity to remind Canadians that the Ebola virus does not spread from person to person, it is not like the flu. It is spread through direct contact with an individual’s bodily fluids with symptoms not through casual contact.
However, some Airport employees who interact directly with the public have requested that they be able to wear gloves. We have no objection to the elective use of gloves. Our management team will provide gloves as requested to employees who are in direct physical contact with customers during their shift. Prior to our management team dispensing gloves to these employees, they will review the attached disposable glove procedures with them and record that they have received instructions.
Some examples where gloves can be issued include employees providing special assistance to customers such as physically assisting customers, lifting customers and helping customers into wheelchairs.
Please remember whether you choose to use gloves or not for these tasks, proper hand hygiene is the best practice for all of us. Attached you will find more information on this topic.
We will continue to provide you with updates as they become available.
Sincerely,
Robert Atkinson
Manager, Airports Occupational Health and Safety
____________________________________________
Chers collègues,
Nous surveillons l'épidémie d'Ébola de près avec l'Agence de la santé publique du Canada, Santé Canada et Transports Canada, qui fournissent les conseils et les lignes directrices que nous observons dans les situations qui concernent la santé publique. De plus, nous consultons régulièrement l'information fournie par l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS). Selon l'OMS, les voyageurs dans les régions touchées courent peu de risques, et elle ne recommande pas la restriction des déplacements ni un contrôle supplémentaire des passagers pour l'instant. Notre priorité est de continuer à protéger la sécurité de nos employés et de nos passagers.
D'après les lignes directrices fournies par ces organismes, il n'est pas nécessaire pour l'instant que les employés portent de l'équipement de protection individuel pour s'acquitter de leurs tâches quotidiennes habituelles, à moins qu'un tel équipement ne soit déjà exigé pour certaines tâches. La semaine dernière, l'administrateur en chef de la santé publique du Canada a rappelé aux Canadiens que contrairement à la grippe, le virus Ébola ne se transmet pas facilement d'une personne à l'autre. Il se propage par contact direct avec les liquides corporels d'une personne qui présente des symptômes de la maladie, pas par simple contact.
Cependant, des employés des Aéroports qui interagissent directement avec le public ont demandé l'autorisation de porter des gants. Nous ne nous opposons pas à l'utilisation facultative de gants. Notre équipe de gestion remettra des gants aux employés qui ont des contacts physiques directs avec des clients durant leur poste, conformément à leur demande. Avant de leur remettre des gants, elle passera en revue avec eux les procédures relatives aux gants ci-jointes et prendra en note qu'ils ont reçu des directives.
Des gants pourraient être remis notamment aux employés qui apportent une assistance spéciale aux clients, c'est-à-dire qui les assistent physiquement en les soulevant et en les aidant à prendre place dans un fauteuil roulant.
Que vous utilisiez ou non des gants pour des tâches de cette nature, rappelez-vous qu'une bonne hygiène des mains reste pour nous tous la meilleure pratique. Vous trouverez ci-joint de plus amples renseignements sur ce sujet.
Nous continuerons de communiquer avec vous à mesure que nous en saurons plus.
Sincères salutations,
Robert Atkinson