April 17, 2020: Measures in place for rotation of essential workers at the Muskrat Falls site
With construction work at Muskrat Falls paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re maintaining essential systems and operations at the site.
The workforce during the care and maintenance period includes those with specialized skills, management, forepersons, shop stewards and craft workers. This team is responsible for spillway operations and dam safety monitoring; site services such as medical, safety, security, catering and accommodations; and, monitoring the facilities such as heating, lighting, and dewatering/pumping systems. Only those individuals who are essential in maintaining the site are working at Muskrat Falls.
The essential workforce includes local workers from central Labrador, people from other regions of Labrador, as well as workers from the island portion of the province. All workers remain on site for the full duration of their two-week rotation. The next rotation of workers is planned for Monday, April 20. There are 84 workers coming to Muskrat Falls for this two-week including 30 workers coming from across Labrador and 54 workers travelling from the island to Labrador. The April 20 rotation has 19 management and 65 craft workers.
The following safety bulletin has been distributed to all workers travelling on charter flights from the island to Labrador.
Each Contractor working at the Muskrat Falls site is responsible for identifying their workforce in accordance with the Project’s Collective Agreement and the Benefits Strategy. If there are individuals who believe they were improperly released once the essential team was selected by the Contractors, they should reach out to their union to learn about the grievance process and any possible recourse they might have through the grievance process.
During the COVID-19 pandemic Nalcor has put a number of measures in place to ensure people’s health and safety while protecting the community. These include temperature checks before travelling and while at site, pre-screening questionnaires, on-site screening and monitoring, flight and bus travel protocols, and social distancing to name a few measures. At this time there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 at the Muskrat Falls site.
More information on the safety measures in place is available at the links below.
We’ll continue to actively monitor and address the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and the potential risks to our people, our communities and site operations.
Muskrat Falls site COVID-19 Airline Travel Protocols
Muskrat Falls site COVID-19 Temperature Surveillance Protocol
Muskrat Falls site COVID-19 Quarantine Plan
Muskrat Falls site COVID-19 Bus Travel Protocols
Muskrat Falls site COVID-19 Screening Questionnaire
Muskrat Falls site COVID-19 On Site Safety Measures
Muskrat Falls site COVID-19 Incident Response Plan
