Ontario accelerates essential construction projects during COVID-19

by sadia_badhon | April 15, 2020 6:25 am

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In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Ontario is extending construction hours for essential construction projects, such as critical builds in the health-care sector, to 24 hours a day.

Work on new hospital builds, expansions, and COVID-19 assessment centres will be able to continue at any time to help accelerate the construction of these projects and enable employers to take additional steps to protect the health and safety of workers on these jobsites.

“During this escalating crisis, we are taking immediate steps to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place, particularly to properly care for those with severe COVID-19 symptoms and other patients who require critical care,” said Premier Doug Ford. “That is why we are extending construction hours to allow us to build essential infrastructure faster, while ensuring construction workers can practice physical distancing on worksites to stay safe and healthy.”

Ontario will temporarily limit local noise bylaws from applying to these types of essential construction activities to allow for expedited construction on key facilities. Extending hours for essential construction will also give worksite managers more flexibility to stagger shifts, limit the number of people in one place, and take reasonable precautions to keep workers safe and healthy under the recent guidelines[2] issued by Ontario’s chief prevention officer for construction sites.

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/ontario-accelerates-essential-construction-projects-during-covid-19/

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