The Provincial government just announced that work on all construction projects that are deemed essential can now be performed 24 hours a day.
By extending the hours of operation, the workers will have a better chance to practice social distancing and important projects like medical facilities would be able to be built much faster. This order went into effect on Thursday, April 9th. Local noise bylaws restrictions are temporarily being lifted for these projects.
"Work on new hospital builds, expansions, and COVID-19 assessment centres will be able to continue any time of the night or day in order to help accelerate the construction of these important projects and enable employers to take additional steps to protect the health and safety of workers on these job sites. Extending hours of 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 issued by Ontario's Chief Prevention Officer for construction sites."
Provincial Government of Ontario press release
The 24 hour work times apply only to projects within the healthcare sector such as the following:
- New hospital builds
- Expansions
- Temporary COVID-19 response units or structures
- COVID-19 assessment centres
All other types of construction will be allowed between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. seven days a week no matter what the current city by-laws may state. This will allow essential construction managers to be more flexible with staggering shifts, limiting the number of people in one place and taking reasonable precautions to keep workers safe and healthy under the recent guidelines issued by Ontario's Chief Prevention Officer for construction sites.
"Our government is doing everything in its power to make sure workers on the job are safe during this pandemic. That means more inspections, more inspectors, more phone lines, and more people to take your calls. We have conducted thousands of inspections and investigations across the province in March and will continue to conduct more this month. We will do everything in our power to keep the essential workers of our province safe."
Minister of Labour, Training & Skills Development | Monte McNaughton
Even though residential construction is being limited, there are at least 11,000 active building permits right now associated with residential construction in Toronto alone. That comes out to 18,500 residential units in projects that would be allowed to proceed under current provincial rules.
Editor's note: This is, indeed, a confusing time for the construction industry. DataBid is working tirelessly to report and distill the news that can help you and your company make the right decisions and keep you up to date on the constant changes as they are made. We hope our coverage brings some clarity amid all the confusion.
