COVID-19 enforcement blitz finds 44% of Windsor-Essex businesses in violation of rules

A little more than half of the local businesses visited by inspectors in Windsor-Essex over the weekend were in compliance with COVID-19 public health requirements, according to the Ministry of Labour.

Twenty-oneenforcement officers, including twofrom the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, visited 97 businesses on Saturday to conducta workplace safety campaign.

About 70 per cent of the establishmentsvisited were small businesses such asrestaurants, retail and personal care services,with 25 employees or fewer.

Fifty-six per cent of thebusinesses were in compliance with the Reopening Ontario Act.There were five tickets issued, 13 occupational health and safety orders and 31 businesses received a formal warning, according to the ministry.

Many smaller businesses in Windsor-Essex reopened for the first time in months in February when the provincial stay-at-home order was lifted.

Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said theministry's campaign was focused on education for small businesses,which don't have large human resources departmentsto help them navigate the rules.

"Many of them have questions, and we want to help them keep their workers healthy and safe but also to ensure that we're building confidence so customers will returnto shopping, for example, at small retail stores," he said, adding that a toll-free lineis available for business owners for questions.

Businesses that were found in violationwill be getting a follow-up visitfrom inspectors sometime in the future, and McNaughton expects to see compliance improve during those inspections.

As of last week, provincial offences officers have conducted more than 13,000COVID-related workplace inspections and investigations across the province. SinceJanuary, 9,480 orders and373 tickets were issued, and inspectors stopped unsafe work 15 times.

Overall, the most common issues found "in all sorts of workplaces" includenon-compliance with health screening forworkers starting their shifts, masking protocols and capacity limit issues, McNaughton said.

"We are finding overwhelmingly, like we've seen since the beginning of the pandemic, that the majority of businesses are stepping up and they have stepped up, but we just need to remind them that they have to be more vigilant today than at any point in this pandemic," he said.