FREDERICTON – Compliance officers are still catching businesses in the province with faulty COVID-19 operational plans – or no plan at all, nearly a year after they were required to create one.
WorkSafeNB vice-president Tim Petersen says the government agency’s officers have issued about 900 compliance orders and 80 stop-work orders since March.
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He says most of the stop-work orders – which target business practices that put people at significant risk of COVID-19 – have been issued since January.
Petersen says officers work with businesses to get their plans in place, and says they’ve only had one instance where a business was charged for refusing to comply.
He says officers have conducted inspection blitzes in areas where COVID-19 cases have been high, adding that many orders have been given as a result of the blitzes.
Fredericton Chamber of Commerce CEO Krista Ross says her organization has encouraged businesses to follow the rules and says she is surprised to hear some are not complying with health orders.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2021.