Construction workers scramble to find proper safety gear
When Mitchell Rose and his crew demolish old walls or floors made with asbestos, the blows of their hammers release fibres into the air. If inhaled, the fibres travel deep into the lungs, possibly causing permanent or even deadly scarring.
They wear masks that filter out the harmful particles. But the masks, labelled as P100s, require filter cartridges, Rose says, and those are nowhere to be found.
“They don’t exist anymore,” says Rose, president and owner of Quebec Demo, a Montreal-based demolition company. “I’m scrambling. I have some stock that I’m being very careful with. We’re trying to reuse the (filters), vacuum them out so they can have a second life but, in general, there’s nothing on the shelves.”
Demand for masks, visors and other protective gear has skyrocketed because of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a lack of gear for some in the construction industry just as business is roaring back.
The construction business is not the only one feeling the pinch, but in the industry a lack of protective gear can leave workers vulnerable to workplace hazards, not just the coronavirus. It can also lead to the shutdown of a work site by provincial inspectors.
Since April 20, when some construction sites resumed work in Quebec, provincial inspectors have closed 19 sites because they lacked the proper COVID-19 prevention protocols. Most of the time, a CNESST spokesperson said, the sites reopened quickly because supervisors were able to “put in place the necessary measures.”
Most sites, however, are in compliance. But managers are scrambling to find enough masks, visors and hand sanitizer to supply their workers. Almost all of the local companies and contractors contacted by the Montreal Gazette said they lacked personal protective gear or were having a hard time getting it.
Neil Kirkpatrick, director of marketing at Tenaquip, a Canadian supplier of industrial equipment and safety materials, said demand has overwhelmed many producers. The United States has also limited suppliers from exporting gear like masks and nitrile gloves to Canada.
“A lot of those items have actually become very hard to source,” Kirkpatrick said. “We get trickles of them and we’ve been forced to find alternate sources.”
Early on in the pandemic, the medical industry bought up some gear that is necessary for some types of construction work, leaving contractors scrambling. Dust masks, like the P100 level masks used by Rose and his team, are one example, Kirkpatrick said. Protective visors are another.
Visors became popular when people realized a plastic barrier could prevent the spread of globules containing the coronavirus. There were few visors on the market at the time, Kirkpatrick said, so people bought the ones used in construction that are designed to attach to helmets to deflect hard debris.
“Those sold out really quick,” he said.
The lack of visors has impacted workers who need them. A number of thin plastic alternatives have since appeared on the market, but they provide little protection against flying debris. They are also difficult to attach to hard hats and helmets because the plastic connectors that would secure them have sold out, too.
Maxime Laporte, the director of development at Groupe Quorum, a Montreal-area construction company, said visors that attach to helmets were extremely difficult to find. Before the pandemic, Laporte only needed a few such visors, but suddenly he found himself needing to provide most of his workers with one.
“There was a complete breach of stock,” he said.
But Laporte got lucky, he said, when he heard about a small Quebec company making clear visors attached to an elastic band that fits over any helmet.
“It’s really brilliant,” he said. “I ordered 300 units, as many as I could.”
Some products, however, are beginning to return to the shelves, Kirkpatrick said. Standard N95 masks are being replaced with imported alternatives and alcohol producers, including brewers and distillers, have begun to produce hand sanitizer. It is now easier to find.
But Rose, the demolition man, only has enough P100 filters to last a few weeks.
“I’m going to either have to get creative and maybe go on Alibaba and order something out of China, I don’t know, or maybe relax on asbestos jobs,” he said. “We need to protect ourselves. That’s first and foremost. I gotta protect my men.”