COVID-19 hampers sandbag production

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This article was published 31/03/2020 (2183 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Workers on sandbag assembly lines are raising concerns over social-distancing protocols at City of Winnipeg yards, as production ramps up ahead of the spring flood.

A seasonal employee says he was mandated to work on the assembly line Tuesday — which often demands close, prolonged contact with co-workers — and told he would risk losing seniority if he did not show up for his shift.

The employee, who the Free Press is not naming, said he asked about recommended social-distancing strategies and personal protective equipment — and was given few answers.

Sandbag assembly is a physical job and requires staff to be shoulder-to-shoulder as crew members fill bags at the chutes and move the 18-kilogram sacks down the line, the labourer said.

“My biggest concern is the blatant disregard for laying down a plan for me,” he said. “The first thing was that I would lose my seniority and it was mandatory (to work). It was crazy how they’d go that route.”

He said he was told the number of chutes operating on the machine would be reduced by half, and to bring his own protective equipment (gloves, hard hat and boots).

“It doesn’t matter how many chutes are running. You’re still on a table with four to six guys,” he said.

According to the city, sandbag production began this week, and crews are producing 6,000 to 8,000 bags per shift, and are planning to fill some 230,000 bags.

City of Winnipeg emergency operations centre manager Jason Shaw said the public works department has developed its operational plan in conjunction with the province, to give the recommended two metres of separation between employees on the shop floor.

“It allows you to safely operate so that our public works staff who are building the sandbags, that they’re spread out more efficiently,” Shaw said.

According to documents viewed by the Free Press, staff are limited to four or five persons per chute and are instructed to move through each station (bag pick up, filling, tying and drop off) in a circuit, without having to transfer sandbags between co-workers.

On Tuesday, provincial infrastructure minister Ron Schuler said the province had not yet finalized its safe work procedures and social-distancing strategies for municipal sandbag production, and was not aware of any communities producing sandbags.

“We will have protocols to them by the end of the week, at which time they can adjust what we’re going to present them to suit their needs,” Schuler said. “Every case is unique unto itself, and these are going to be suggestions and then they should take them and apply them to their own situation.”

Shaw said the city’s seasonal workers are being asked about their capacity to return amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. However, details were scant on how the city is managing workers’ concerns about what happens if they can’t report to work due to public health recommendations.

“As public works starts to call those people back, they’re going to be talking to them, to talk about, you know, are you able to come back to work? Are you healthy? Are you in isolation? All those things are part of those conversations,” Shaw said.

“We have a dedicated team of human resources professionals in every major department that are working to make sure that those questions, supporting our employees that have questions and concerns around their health, and giving them the appropriate resources to reach out where required.”

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca