This is an update to our recent blog post summarizing Ontario’s required COVID-19 workplace screening tool for businesses.
To recap, the Ontario Government requires most Ontario businesses and organizations to implement particular workplace screening questions, requiring workers and essential visitors to complete a medical questionnaire before entering the workplace each day. These requirements have been established under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020.
Ontario recently updated the workplace screening questions for businesses. You can find the updated questions here. The new version of the screening tool can be completed either online or on-site before the worker enters the workplace.
The Ontario Government has published the questions in pdf and online formats. In our view, employers may use the published formats, or they may update their existing questionnaires to ensure all of the required questions are included.
The screening tool does not apply to:
- health care settings (including long-term care homes);
- some non-health care workplaces where existing screening requirements and tools are already in place; and
- emergency services or other first responders entering a workplace for emergency purposes.
Employers should ensure that they are implementing the updated screening questions as soon as possible.