General guidance

This guidance also applies to any accommodation that may be housing any employee. Potential accommodation scenarios include tents, motels/hotels, and private accommodation. Consider how to maintain physical distancing, decrease crowding, and reduce social interactions. Maintaining small and consistent groupings of people will help prevent and control the potential transmission of COVID-19.

Camp preparations and camp hygiene

General guidance for physical distancing will require a variety of actions to decrease crowding and social interactions.

• Gatherings of any size be structured so that those present can maintain a distance of 2 metres from each other
• Stagger mealtimes where practical and minimize people using the kitchen at one time, opening additional dining areas, and cancelling group activities
• Reduce in-person indoor meetings and other gatherings and hold site meetings in open spaces or outside
• Shared accommodations should be arranged in such a fashion that beds are at least 2m apart and head-to-toe where possible. If beds cannot be at least 2m apart, use temporary barriers between beds, such as curtains, to prevent droplet spread while sleeping, and sleep head-to-toe
• None of the residents in a shared accommodation can be ill or meet a criterion that requires self-isolation requirements. Any employees that are ill or require self-isolation must be immediately moved into separate facilities, otherwise all employees in the residence would have to be placed in self-isolation
• The employer shall ensure that reusable eating utensils and dishes (cups, plates, bowls, forks, knives, spoons) are provided for all employees
• All eating utensils and dishes shall be cleaned by designated kitchen or cleaning staff, according to the 4-step process outlined in the BC Guidelines for Industrial Camps Regulation, that includes pre-rinsing, washing, soaking in a bleach solution, and air-drying

Cleaning protocols – common areas

• Health and safety co-ordinators shall be established in each camp and crew to oversee implementation of health and safety requirements related to COVID-19
• Cleaning protocols will be created and posted throughout all facilities
• Ensure daily cleaning and disinfection of all common areas and surfaces
• Cleaning products will be readily available, monitored daily and restocked daily as required
• High touch surfaces such as counters, handles, control switches will be cleaned a minimum of twice per day with regular household cleaning products, disposable wipes or a diluted bleach solution. This includes food storage and preparation surfaces, serving areas, drinking stations, waste disposal facilities, tables, chairs, work surfaces, desktops and washroom facilities. Follow the directions on the product label
• Clean visibly dirty surfaces before disinfecting, unless stated otherwise on the product instructions. Cleaning refers to the removal of visible dirt, grime and impurities. Cleaning does not kill germs but helps remove them from the surface
• Use a disinfectant that has a Drug Identification Number and that it is effective against viruses. Follow the instructions on the product label
• If commercial or household cleaning products are not readily available, you can prepare a bleach and water solution with 500 parts per million chlorine solution: 1:100 [e.g. mix 10 ml household bleach (5.25%) with 990 ml water] When using the bleach and water solution, the surface must remain wet for at least one minute. For more information, please see the BCCDC's cleaning and disinfecting
• Floors and walls should be kept visibly clean and free of spills, dust and debris
• Empty and clean garbage cans in public areas regularly
• Items that cannot be easily cleaned and disinfected should be removed
• Employees are required to disinfect shared areas (kitchen & bathroom counters, handles and control switches) after each use
• Post signs to encourage hand hygiene among all staff and guests using the BCCDC’s Signage and posters
• Put up signage in your facility promoting physical distancing

Living spaces

• Shower facilities and toilets must be provided in numbers meeting or exceeding the numbers stated in Schedule 2 of the BC Industrial Camps Regulation onsite when overnight camping is provided. Additional facilities should be provided to ensure the availability of dedicated facilities for workers in isolation without reducing the minimal number of facilities available to other workers
• Consider supplying shower facilities onsite when overnight camping is provided
• Locate camps in locations with adequate drainage

Food service

• Camp food service and preparation practices and procedures must follow BC Guidelines for Industrial Camps Regulation (PDF, 308KB)
• Buffet-style serving systems must not be utilized whenever such systems can practically be replaced with other systems such as kitchen staff serving food to workers
• All small food items and snacks should be individually wrapped whenever possible or made available with systems to prevent common touching of either food items or utensils
• Only kitchen workers and supervisory staff shall be permitted to enter food preparation or storage areas
• Signs shall be posted to limit the number of people permitted in the dining area and any other common areas
• Use a staggered meal schedule to support physical distancing and to limit the number of individuals in the dining area at any given time
• Meals should be delivered to the outside of rooms of any workers that are in isolation
• All employees must wash their hands immediately prior to entering any dining or food preparation area

The operational changes you make in your workplace depend on what the COVID-19 transmission level of risk is in your workplace. The goal is to decrease risks, install controls an implement regular cleaning, sanitation, and disinfection practices to reduce exposure and promote the safety of workers.

Promote physical distancing

Encourage single-file movement with appropriate six-foot distance between each worker through the facility and on-farm, where possible.

• Designate staff to monitor and facilitate distancing on-farm and processing floor lines.
• Stagger break and meal times or provide temporary break areas and restrooms to avoid groups during breaks. Re-arrange break rooms and common areas to ensure physical distancing between workers.
• Modify the alignment of workstations, if feasible, so that workers are six feet apart. Modify workstations where possible so that workers do not face each other directly.
• Stagger workers’ arrival and departure times to avoid congregation in common areas.
• Provide visual cues that workers can read from a distance to remind workers and visitors of physical distancing requirements both during work hours and on-breaks.
• Consider establishing work teams or crews to minimize contact between workers including staggering work times to avoid employees interacting with other teams.

Promote good hygiene

• Provide educational materials on good hygiene practices for accessibility (including in multiple languages and pictorial) – available on the Government of Canada's hand washing guidance or BCCDC's signage and posters for COVID-19.
• Educate employees on good practices such as avoiding touching their faces; washing their hands regularly and thoroughly and not coming to work when feeling ill.
• Provide workers access to soap, clean running water and single use paper towels for regular hand-washing.
• Provide alcohol-based sanitizers containing at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not immediately available and place them in multiple locations.

Increase sanitation and disinfection practices

• For tool-intensive operations, employers should ensure tools are regularly cleaned and disinfected, at least as often as workers move stations or use new tools.
• Establish protocols and provide supplies to increase the frequency of sanitization in work and common spaces such as breakrooms, equipment, or workstations.
• Frequently clean handles on doors that do not open automatically and handrails on stairs.

Coronavirus is spread from an infected person through:

• Droplets when a person coughs or sneezes
• By touch if a person has used their hands to cover their mouth or nose when they cough or sneeze.
• Touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose or eyes before washing your hands.

Workplace Exposure

• Exposure to COVID-19 increases in places like processing lines and areas where workers can’t avoid contact with others.
• Workers in processing plants or other agriculture facilities like greenhouses are not exposed to COVID-19 through the products they handle.

Risk Factors

There are several factors that increase the risk of exposure, including: Distance between workers Processing plant workers often work close to one another on processing lines. Workers may also be near one another at other times, such as:

• When clocking in or out
• During breaks
• In locker and changing rooms.

Duration of contact Processing plant workers often have prolonged closeness to coworkers (e.g., for 10-12 hours per shift).

• Continued contact with potentially infectious individuals increases the risk of transmission.

Type of contact Workers may be exposed to the infectious virus through

• Respiratory droplets in the air when workers in the plant who have the virus cough or sneeze.
• Contact with contaminated surfaces or objects, such as tools, workstations, or break room tables.
• Shared spaces such as break rooms, locker rooms, and entrances/exits to the facility .
• Shared transportation such as ride-share vans or shuttle vehicles, car-pools, and public transportation
• Frequent contact with fellow workers in settings where there is ongoing community transmission.