An inspector from the Committee on Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) issued four exemptions to the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS to strengthen the measures surrounding an employee’s return to work. in administrative segregation due to COVID-19.
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This decision then gives reason to a complaint which had been filed on December 29 by the FIQ-Union of the healthcare professionals of the Eastern Townships.
The supervision of the return to work of asymptomatic staff is now reinforced, as is the wearing of the N95 mask in the cold zone, which had been requested since December 24 by the CNESST. The CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS has a few days to comply with the regulations.
The workers were not informed of the procedures put in place when the lifting of the seven-day administrative segregation was applied by the CIUSSS, according to the union.
“For the FIQ, there remain certain unresolved points in the CNESST inspector’s decision, in particular the fact of recalling potentially contagious employees to work, which involves a risk and makes the work environment unsafe”, the union said in a press release on Monday.
The establishment of an action plan for workforce management and the issue of ventilation are other subjects that remain unresolved, according to the FIQ.
The wearing of the N95 mask by colleagues who are in the same room as a worker in administrative segregation is also requested by the union.
“The return of workers before the end of their isolation, COVID positive or not, is an exceptional measure that must be applied rigorously and be supervised in order to reduce the risk to other workers. Until the update of its procedure, the employer must ensure that all the preventive measures are in place when he chooses to carry out a hasty recall of a worker in isolation “, recalled the inspector in her decision.