Real Property activities: Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates—June 16, 2020

Keeping buildings safe amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

Issue

With global efforts focused on the containment of COVID-19 outbreak and the prevention of further spread, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has implemented measures in the national real property portfolio to aid in these efforts.

Key messages

• PSPC is committed to providing its clients with healthy and productive work environments
• We continue to liaise with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to determine appropriate cleaning and building maintenance protocols for our buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Preparatory measures for building re-occupancy are underway

Background

Although occupancy levels are currently reduced, PSPC buildings remain operational and all mandatory maintenance and life safety system testing continue on our regular schedule ensuring that essential government functions can be delivered in a safe environment. Additional measures taken include:

• amendment to national cleaning specifications to augment cleaning/disinfection of common areas and high-touch points to twice daily. Cleaning contractor capacity remains adequate to fulfill this new demand. Should resource constraints arise, PSPC will work with client departments to reprioritize the number of serviceable locations (not anticipated). It is expected that PSPC will continue the new heightened disinfection standards until a vaccine is found
• development, in consultation with Health Canada, of water systems requirements to mitigate risks of water stagnation and associated bacterial growth (for example, Legionella). Protocols include regular flushing of buildings’ hot and cold water systems to ensure continued water use as well as water testing prior to re-occupancy
• implementation of supplemental heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) maintenance activities to promote occupant wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include increasing outdoor airflow into buildings, increased filtration, avoiding potential for cross contamination between exhaust air and supply air, and ensuring proper operation of cooling towers to address Legionella risks. Qualified expertise was obtained from PHAC and the American Society of Heating and Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) revised measures for COVID-19
• incident reporting and specialized disinfection protocols are in place for suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19. As of June 10, 2020, PSPC has actioned 560 requests for specialized disinfection within 330 buildings, affecting 53 departments nationally
• hand sanitizer stations are being installed at building entrances and departments are securing the same for their internal workspaces
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Health Canada approved signage is being placed in elevators, washrooms and common areas to raise awareness of proper handwashing practices, physical distancing, and factual information on COVID-19
• dissemination of various communiques to clients and contractors promoting personal protective practices as well as targeted messaging to the cleaning community to emphasize the need for additional diligence in cleaning/disinfecting methods, as well as contract performance compliance
• support for client community enhanced service requirements to install barriers (such as plexiglass) and established specialized cleaning (such as high traffic service counters) in the workplace is ongoing
• ongoing engagement with service providers and industry (Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (BGIS) and the National Building Owners and Managers Association) will ensure that maintenance measures remain current with evolving best practices

Next steps

While physical distancing and telework provisions are reducing general occupancy rates in our buildings at this time, we recognize that, in the future, occupancy levels will begin to increase.

In anticipation of this, PSPC is developing methods to ensure healthy and productive work environments for the eventual return to full occupancy in our buildings. Examples include:

• reinforcing protocols with client departments on physical distancing awareness in high traffic areas including management of entry/exit of building occupants, traffic management, and washroom etiquette
• responding to special cleaning requests
• ensuring adequate performance of water and ventilation systems in line with up to date industry recommendations
• ensuring elevators and other alternative circulation pathways (stairwells) are well serviced

Looking forward to post COVID-19 real property services

Issue

With global efforts focused on the containment of the COVID-19 outbreak and the prevention of further spread, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is engaged with central agencies and industry in planning business resumption activities for a staged and progressive return to workplaces for public servants and occupants of its RPS portfolio.

Key messages

• PSPC is committed to providing its clients with healthy and productive work environments
• We continue to liaise with the employer (Treasury Board Secretariat) and Health Canada to establish guidance for departments in terms of staged return to workplaces combined with telework, as well as to determine appropriate cleaning, operation and maintenance protocols for our buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Should additional measures be recommended, PSPC is ready to implement them

Background

A large proportion of the public service has transitioned to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our offices remain open and have been maintained for essential and critical workers to support the Government of Canada efforts nationally. Guided by the public health agencies within regional jurisdictions, we anticipate a progressive return to workplaces when we flatten the curve and remain within health care capacity.

Working collaboratively with central agencies and consulting with industry partners for best practices, Real Property Services is contributing guidance to departments to support them in establishing their plans for return to the workplace. Return to the workplace strategies may be based on the nature of the work and the services provided to Canadians and the current set-up of their workplaces. There are many factors to consider to ensure physical distancing, and other guidelines which may be provided by the public health authorities, can be accommodated within the workplace. Effective return to workplace strategies will likely include balancing office work with teleworking, improving network infrastructure and bandwidth, and providing employees with access to mobility tools such as laptops, mobile phones and virtual collaboration platforms to ensure continued program delivery.

As employees return to buildings in greater numbers, operation and maintenance of building system will continue to meet regulatory requirements and to provide healthy working environments. Health agency and industry best practice guidelines will be monitored to ensure that government functions can be delivered in a safe environment. From a workspace perspective, additional measures anticipated:

• suggestions for balanced ratios for teleworking and office presence through cyclical scheduling of office attendance
• communications to clients and contractors promoting personal protective practices as established and/or recommended by health agencies
• ongoing engagement with central agencies to ensure that PSPC measures remain current with evolving best practices
• reviewing how we work in the context of maintaining social distancing and cleaning of office spaces

Next steps

Continue engagement with central agencies to collaborate on guidance for workplace return to work strategies.

Guidance will include balancing teleworking and office occupancy, social distancing within the office environment and in high traffic and common areas, responding to special cleaning requests, ensuring adequate performance of potable water and ventilation systems in line with up to date industry recommendations, and ensuring elevators and other alternative circulation pathways (stairwells) are well serviced.

Continue to develop procedures to ensure healthy and productive work environments for the resumption of occupancy in our buildings.

The new GCworkplace scenario

GCworkplace is about how we work, and not just about the design of the workplace. It is based on serving a mobile workforce and providing flexibility to employees.

Many departments have begun to take the steps necessary to enable remote and mobile working by issuing mobile devices, increasing network capacity and establishing flexible work policies. GCworkplace designs permit departments to decide how the space is used and to adapt easily to changing needs. Employees can choose their preferred work setting, which means they can respect social distancing and their individual preferences for distancing and are not restricted to a single work location. The open nature of GCworkplaces allows for easy and effective cleaning.

We are monitoring what industry world-wide is considering post-COVID-19 to determine if any adjustments would be necessary to the workplace design and ensuring our Government of Canada workplace fit up standards reflect current practice. For example, new requirements require that hallways and circulation spaces are sufficiently wide to enable more space for people to pass. The easily adaptable nature of the modern GCworkplace can incorporate these types of changes; however, our traditional workplaces will be more difficult to adapt.

We are closely monitoring industry best practices and the advice of the health agencies regarding shared spaces, including meeting rooms, kitchens, and common spaces to assess the need for cleaning stations at the entrances to common spaces.

GCcoworking

GCcoworking provides departments with access to inter-departmental shared space. Similar to GCworkplace, departments that are using GCcoworking spaces are well-positioned to adopt flexible return to work strategies. The GCcoworking workplaces are well positioned to support the return-to-work as an alternative work location. The 36 departments that have been onboarded, will have access to these alternate work locations, which are technology-enabled, meet security, workplace safety, and ergonomic requirements of employees. Upon re-opening of the sites, an additional 25+ departments will be onboarded to ensure we provide additional flexibility to support government operations.

In order to respect cleaning and social distancing requirements, these spaces can be easily reconfigured and workpoints can be taken offline. The flexibility of GCworkplace applies to these spaces. We are currently reviewing the potential implementation of a space reservation system to minimize “walk-ins” to better plan utilization within these shared spaces.

Each GCcoworking site has an on-site representative, called a coPro, whose role is to ensure the proper functioning of the site, ensure the health and safety of the site and its users, and to respond to various user queries. The coPro observes the operations of the site and supplements regular cleaning by wiping down workpoints between users. Additional wipes will be available for any user of the site to conduct an extra wipe down of the workpoint before their use.

As user feedback is a key element of these workplaces, users of the locations will be invited to complete a survey that includes questions related to user perception of the cleanliness, effectiveness, and the general health and safety of the site. This feedback will inform the operations of the sites going forward.

Resumption of real property projects

Issue

As construction work in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario resumes, the health and safety of Canadians remains the Government of Canada’s number one priority.

Key messages

• On May 11 and May 19, commercial construction re-opened in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario respectively, enabling federal construction projects to recommence in alignment with measures prescribed by public health authorities
• We continue to work with our industry partners, and individual provinces and territories, based on their guidelines, to ensure that proper health and safety protocols are in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on construction sites
• On our worksites, we are communicating regularly with our construction contractors to ensure that work is carried out in a way that respects the advice of public health officials and aligns with applicable government direction

Background

• On March 23, 2020, the Government of Quebec ordered the temporary closure of all non-essential services effective March 24, 2020, most construction activities were identified as non-essential services
• On April 3, 2020, the Government of Ontario announced similar measures related to construction as a non-essential service effective April 4, 2020
• Other provinces and territories which are less affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have continued to identify construction as an essential service
• Over the past several weeks, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) officials have participated in discussions with national construction industry representatives to better understand the impact of the pandemic on the sector
• Immediate concerns were discussed, such as the health and safety of workers on construction sites, and COVID-19 protocols established by the Canadian Construction Association which are based on prevention, detection, and response

Next steps

• The Government of Canada will continue its ongoing collaboration with the Canadian Construction Association and other national industry stakeholders as we navigate the reality created by the COVID-19 pandemic
• PSPC will continue discussions with its construction contractors to ensure that guidance from applicable health authorities is being followed, and contractors develop site-specific health and safety information for use with sub-contractors and suppliers where required
• With the remobilization of construction activities in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, applicable guidelines will be enforced by the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail in Quebec, much like Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is monitoring projects in Ontario that were deemed essential and are continuing

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