RETURN TO SPORT / COVID-19 SAFETY PLAN
Updated: 15 September 2020
In accordance with BC Government requirements outlined by WorkSafeBC, this Return to Sport / COVID-19 Safety Plan follows the six-step process for outlining the policies, guidelines, and procedures that we, The Soccer Project Foundation and its affiliates (Play Vancouver and Sea to Sky Sports), have put in place to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission while returning to sport.
This six-step process involves:
Assessing risks
Establishing measures to reduce risk
Developing policies and procedures
Developing training and communication plans
Monitoring our workplace and updating plans if necessary
Assessing and addressing risks after resumption of operations
(1) RISK ASSESSMENT
The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads in several ways, including through droplets when a person coughs or sneezes, and from touching a contaminated surface before touching the face.
The risk of person-to-person transmission increases the closer you are to other people, the more time you spend near them, and the more people who are around you.
In order to define and assess the risks at our workplace, we have done the following:
Involved all internal stakeholders (e.g., employees and owners) and external stakeholders (e.g., sub-contractors and suppliers) with helping to identify risks.
More specifically, for our workplace, we have involved the following people: Our Director of Operations; all volunteers; and all of our referees, who are sub-contractors. [We do not have any paid employees.]
Identified where people congregate at the workplace and when travelling to and from work, and when travelling for work purposes.
For our workplace, the main areas of congregation are: Outdoor soccer fields. These areas do not pose significant risks when customers (i.e., players) congregate before and after games for the reasons that players are outside for the duration of their involvement in activities associated with our workplace. The outdoor space is also large. Accordingly, there is ample space for players, including those on the same team, to maintain physical distancing of at least 2 metres before and after our sporting activities. [In order to ensure that players maintain a 2 metre distance from one another, we have taken several measures listed in the relevant sections below.]
Regarding travel to and from work, and travel during the course of the work day, there are no relevant issues given that all workers travel alone to and from work alone in their own vehicles.
We have taken measures, listed in the relevant sections below, to remind players to be cognizant of their methods of travel, vis-a-vis COVID-19, to and from our events.
Identified job tasks or processes requiring workers to come into close proximity with one another and/or members of the public.
For our workplace, no job tasks require people to come into close contact with one another. For example, all equipment (such as a portable goal) is set up and taken down by just one person, working alone.
Identified the tools, machinery, and equipment people come into contact with in the course of their work, with an emphasis on shared items.
For our workplace, these are the tools, machinery, and equipment people come into contact with during the course of their work: equipment associated with a given sports activity -- e.g., portable soccer and hockey goals; equipment bags; soccer and hockey and bocce balls; hockey sticks and baseball bats.
Identified surfaces that are touched often, such as doorknobs, elevator buttons, and light switches.
For our workplace, there are no surfaces touched often, or at all, because our programs are currently outdoors only.
(2) RISK REDUCTION MEASURES
In order to put measures in place to minimize the risk of transmission, we have evaluated each of the four standard levels of protection (listed below) to determine: (a) if a given level of protection is relevant to our workplace, and, if so, (b) how specifically to implement that level of protection.
The four standard levels of protection, in order of importance, are as follows:
First Level of Protection -- Elimination
Elimination, for the purposes of a COVID-19 safety plan, is defined as actions to decrease the chances of transmitting infection by (a) limiting the number of people in the workplace at a given time; (b) rearranging work spaces to ensure physical distancing; and (c) rearranging and/or scheduling work tasks to ensure that people (workers, customers, suppliers, etc.) can be 2m apart.
We have followed all recommendations and requirements outlined by BC Soccer, and have also implemented our own measures, as regards (a), (b) and (c ) [above]. For example:
(a) We have reduced the number of staff from two to one during the process of setting up and breaking down equipment.
(b) Our office has only one person in it. Accordingly, it’s not necessary to rearrange our work space. The work that we do outdoors, at events, doesn’t require any rearranging because there’s ample room and opportunity to maintain the recommended distance from others. We have informed all participants of the need to physically distance themselves from other participants while off the field of play.
(c) We have organized staff to set up and break down equipment separately from one another (e.g., one person at each ‘station’), and we have directed staff, volunteers, and referees to travel to and from locations alone rather than by carpooling.
Second Level of Protection -- Engineering Controls
If physical distancing cannot be maintained, the next level of protection involves engineering methods to minimise transmission -- e.g., installing physical barriers such as plexiglass.
It is not necessary to implement this 2nd Level of Protection at our workplace because currently all of our programming is outside, with ample space to maintain physical distancing.
Third Level of Protection -- Administrative Controls
Administrative controls involve establishing policies and procedures easily and immediately accessible to all workers, customers, and suppliers at the workplace (e.g., through signage and training and email communications) to minimize the risk of transmission. Such controls, for example, involve establishing which surfaces are high contact areas; producing hand hygiene guidelines; configuring one-way doors and hallways; establishing delivery and drop-off areas (e.g., curbside pick-up); and signage to remind employees, customers, suppliers, etc. of physical distancing recommendations and requirements.
We have established the following administrative controls (i.e., rules and guidelines) that everyone in the workplace must follow to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission:
Provided adequate hand-sanitization facilities on-site for all staff and players workers and have ensured the location(s) is(are) visible and easily accessed.
Developed policies around when workers must wash their hands, including upon arriving for work, before and after handling equipment (e.g., balls, pucks, sticks, goals), breaks, after handling cash or other materials (e.g., registration documents, pens), before and after handling common tools and equipment, including vehicles and pushcarts.
Implemented a cleaning protocol for all commonly used items and equipment (e.g., balls, goals, pushcarts), areas and surfaces, including washrooms, equipment, tools, common tables, desks, light switches, and door handles.
Ensured that those engaged in cleaning have adequate training and materials.
Sent communications to all staff and customers regarding hand hygiene and cough/sneeze etiquette, and also posted signage for hand hygiene and cough/sneeze etiquette.
Sent communications to all staff and customers regarding physical distancing requirements and recommendations.
Established one-way doors and/or walkways, where appropriate (e.g., at indoor facilities).
Obtained single-use (disposable) products.
Established a protocol for the number of people who should set up and take down equipment.
Established an online-only registration procedure for customers signing up for our programming.
Sent communications to all participants and updated our website as regards all necessary adaptations to the rules and guidelines to be followed during the participation of all sports we conduct.
Fourth Level of Protection -- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
When the above three levels of protection may not be sufficient to control the risk of COVID-19 transmission, it may be necessary to implement the fourth level of protection -- use of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as non-surgical medical masks.
For our workplace, we determined it was not necessary to use any types of PPE, given that we have the opportunity, with fewer than 50 people in a large outdoor space at any given time, to maintain physical distancing at 2m.
(3) POLICY DEVELOPMENT
This section outlines the policies we have developed to manage our workplace, including policies around who can be at the workplace, how to address illness that arises at the workplace, and how workers and customers can be kept safe in adjusted working and playing conditions. This section also demonstrates how we have communicated these policies clearly to workers and customers through training, signage, and reminders as required.
In accordance with the guidance communicated by the provincial health officer and the BC CDC on the issue of self-isolation, and also BC Soccer, we have instituted these policies:
Anyone who has had symptoms of COVID-19 in the last 10 days must self-isolate at home (symptoms include fever, chills, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath, sore throat and new muscle aches or headache).
Anyone who has arrived from outside of Canada, or who is in contact with a person who has a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, must self-isolate for 14 days and monitor for symptoms.
In addition to the above policies associated with self-isolation, we have also developed these policies in line with government guidelines on preventing and treating infections at the workplace and for those working from home:
Prohibit or limit visitors.
We no longer have meetings in an office environment; instead, we conduct all meetings virtually (online) or outdoors.
Plan around workers who may start to feel ill while at work, including who they should notify and how they will travel from the workplace to their home.
Sick workers are to report to First Aid personnel, even if symptoms are mild.
The First Aid personnel should ensure that the sick employee is:
asked to sanitize their hands;
provided with a mask;
isolated;
asked to go home; and
contacted either the same day or the next business day by First Aid personnel to follow up with self-assessment [see the BC COVID-19 SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL] and for communicating self-isolation guidelines and testing options [call 811 for guidance on the latter two items].
For employees who work alone at our workplace, we have developed procedures for these employees to ensure that they are safe. They are:
For employees who work from home, we have developed work from home procedures to ensure they are working safely. These procedures are:
In order to address the risk of violence that may arise as customers and members of the public adapt to restrictions or modifications to our workplace, we have implemented the following violence prevention initiatives (in line with government guidelines):
(4) COMMUNICATION PLANS & TRAINING
In order to ensure that everyone entering the workplace--including workers from other employers and including participants at our outdoor and indoor sports venues--knows how to keep themselves safe while at our workplace, we have instituted the following communication plans and training initiatives.
We have ensured that supervisors have been trained on monitoring workers and the workplace to ensure policies and procedures are being followed.
We have designated one or more supervisors to train all others on the policies and procedures we’ve developed around staying home when sick.
We have emailed all participants in our sports programming (and where relevant/possible also posted signage) about occupancy limits and effective handwashing practices, and about changes to rules of game-play vis-a-vis COVID-19.
We have emailed all participants in our sports programming and communicated with workers that participants, visitors, and workers with symptoms are prohibited from entering our workplaces, including outdoor playing fields.
We have emailed all participants and updated our website as regards all necessary adaptations to the rules and guidelines to be followed (in line with BC Health authorities and affiliate government agencies, such as BC Soccer) during the participation of all sports we conduct.
(5) MONITORING OF WORKPLACE AND UPDATING PLANS AS NEEDED
Because changes may come as our business operates (with new areas of concern emerging, or if it seems like something in our operations is not working), we have plans to take steps to update our policies and procedures. We will involve all workers in this process.
We have undertaken or plan to undertake the following to monitor our workplace and to adapt our plans (as indicated in points 1 through 4), if necessary:
We have a plan in place to monitor risks.
This plan is as follows: We have senior management who will, at minimum once per week, assess all risks identified in sections 1 and 2 (above) and who, with other senior staff, adapt sections 2, 3, and 4, accordingly.
We have ensured that workers and participants in our sports programming can raise safety concerns. In our case, because we have fewer than nine employees, safety concerns can be addressed to just one person. In this case, our designated personnel is our Director of Operations.
(6) ASSESS AND ADDRESS RISKS FROM RESUMING OPERATIONS
Because we had stopped operations during the COVID-19 crises, there may be risks arising from restarting our business that we need to manage. Accordingly, we are considering the following:
As we need to change the way we operate, in line with requirements and guidelines set by BC Soccer, we have developed new rules and regulations associated with COVID-19. These are communicated clearly, and made known to exist, on our website under the heading, Rules & Regulations, with the subheading, Changes to Game-Play Re: COVID-19, for each sport.
As some of the above rule changes and recommendations affect the way certified officials conduct their work, we have instituted a training plan to ensure all officials are up to speed with said changes and recommendations.