Ontario Construction News staff writer
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Monte McNaughton, minister of labour training and skills development visited an EllisDon construction site in downtown Toronto last week.
“We are honoured to have Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development of Ontario, visit our Waterfront Innovation Centre project in Toronto to commend our implementation of the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test Pilot project,” Ellis Don said in a statement.
EllisDon executed this program, voluntarily testing workers on-site starting December 2020.
“This is what we are encouraging all contractor to do,” Ford said during the site visit.
“Our one message is . . . We’re at Ellis Don. I want PCL and all the other good contractors, small, medium and large, to do the testing.”
With COVID-19 cases rising across the province, EllisDon proactively expanded rapid testing to other job sites, and changed their protocol from voluntary to mandatory screening as an enhanced measure to keep employees and workers safe while remaining operational.
The pilot has demonstrated that increased screening at worksites will help keep workers safe and essential construction and Infrastructure projects open.
“Thank you, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Monte McNaughton for visiting our site today and seeing firsthand the implementation of the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test Pilot project to ensure the highest level of workplace safety,” Ellis Don wrote on social media.