Page - 473 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

CHAPTER E-3 Occupational Health and Safety and COVID-19: Whose Rights Come First in a Pandemic? Katherine Lippel* Abstract This chapter explores the occupational health and safety of Canadian workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of information in the media shows that workers in various sectors, including health care, meat packing, warehousing, and other essential services, have con- tracted COVID-19 at work. Many were denied protections required by the occupational health and safety regulatory frameworks govern- ing the prevention of occupational illness and disease. Benefits under workers’ compensation legislation are theoretically available for those who contract the illness out of and in the course of their employment, but preliminary figures from Ontario and Quebec suggest that under- reporting of work-related COVID-19 is prevalent and that access to compensation is not provided in a timely manner to those affected. The chapter sheds light on violations of the right to personal protective equipment and on transmission of the virus attributable to extensive use of workers employed by temporary employment agencies. It finds that unions and professional associations have contributed to improve- ment of the effectiveness of OHS legislation by accessing the media and the courts. It also provides suggestions for policy going into the decon- finement period in order to ensure that the most vulnerable to COVID- 19 are not forced to return to work against their will. * Full Professor of Law in the Faculty of Law (Civil Law Section) at the University of Ottawa and former Distinguished Research Chair in Occupational Health and Safety Law since March 2020.