Inspectors find 11 safety violations, issue 5 tickets in Hamilton box-store blitz
Provincial inspectors found safety violations at several big-box stores in Hamilton when they visited over the weekend.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, inspectors visited 39 stores in Hamilton to ensure they were complying with COVID-related safety regulations including social distancing, screening protocols and mask wearing.
The inspectors found 11 workplaces had violated safety protocols. Five were ticketed.
According to Harry Godfrey, spokesperson for Labour Minister Monte McNaughton, the most common violations were related to screening customers and staff, masking protocols and physical distancing.
Godfrey declined to indicate which stores violated the rules or were ticketed.
Every day, the ministry is responding to inquiries regarding worker protections for COVID-19 and continues to investigate all complaints related to workplace health and safety to provide support, advice and enforcement," Godfrey said.
Inspectors are conducting risk-based proactive inspections at workplaces to check that employers understand the risks associated with COVID-19, including how to reduce spread in their workplace, and that employers are implementing measures to keep workers safe."
Across the province, inspectors found just 70 per cent of the stores they visited over the weekend were complying with safety protocols, a figure McNaughton says isn't good enough.
The province deployed 50 inspectors across the GTA and Hamilton to look at 240 stores over the weekend. They issued 23 tickets and fines in total, with the biggest fine being $1,000.
The ministry announced Wednesday it will expand the current workplace inspection campaign to cover not just big-box stores but restaurants providing takeout meals, essential service sector establishments like gas stations, and farms.
More than 300 officers will be deployed for these blitzes, the province said.
We know, from inspecting over 23,000 workplaces during 34,000 field visits, that the vast majority of Ontario businesses are following COVID-19 requirements to protect the health and safety of their workers," said McNaughton in a statement.
However, if we find any employers are putting the safety of workers and customers at risk, we will not hesitate to take immediate action."
Critics still say the Ford government needs to crack down harder on big-box stores, which are allowed to sell products that largely overlap with those sold in smaller businesses that were forced to close or reduce operations during the pandemic.
NDP workplace health and safety critic Wayne Gates accused the province of protecting" big-box stores in violation of public health orders.
When big-box stores present a health risk to employees and customers - including vulnerable seniors - it's not right for Ford to prioritize protecting the company's reputation over protecting the people who have to shop and work there," Gates said.
Jacob Lorinc is a Hamilton-based reporter covering business for The Spectator.