Construction companies stockpile 1,300 respirators

To be used by health workers on front lines

Saskatchewan construction companies are building up a stockpile of respirators to hand off to health care workers as a last line of defence in the battle against COVID -19.

As of Friday, the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association (SHCA) had collected about 1,300 respirators, which protect health care workers from aerosol particles during risky procedures. They have been in heavy demand worldwide, and Saskatchewan nurses have raised concerns about their availability.

Shantel Lipp, president of the SHCA, told the Leader-post that one of her member contractors first got a call from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) on Friday morning.

The SHA was seeking additional N95 respirators as part of its planning efforts, she said. According to Lipp’s account, the SHA did not point to a current shortage in its inventory, but to efforts to “plan ahead” in the event that more are required.

She put out a request to all of her members for support, as well as to other organizations like the Saskatchewan Construction Association, Concrete Saskatchewan and local construction associations. She called it a bid to “rally the troops.”

“We know that there’s a lot of members that we have in the heavy construction industries that use these types of masks when they’re working on cutting concrete or working in high-dust environments. So we knew that we would have a supply,” said Lipp.

There’s a lot of members that we have in the heavy construction industries that use these types of masks when they’re working on cutting concrete.

“Right now, what we’re doing is we are just taking an inventory of what’s available within the industry that we could very quickly hand off to the health authority should there become a need.”

Members came through with 100 respirators within hours. By 4 p.m. Friday, the stockpile had grown to 1,300.

N95 respirators are close-fitting masks that filter out about 95 per cent of aerosol particles.

Derek Miller, the SHA’S emergency operation centre lead, has said keeping a supply of N95 respirators is a priority. The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses has expressed outrage that the respirators are not being made available to all nurses on the front lines, but only in specific procedures.

Chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab has said N95 respirators should be used for certain procedures in intensive care likely to release aerosol particles — like intubation — while assessment can be done with eye protection and a procedure mask.

For Lipp, the heavy construction association’s efforts are just another way to support the community as the whole province unites around a common challenge.

“The heavy construction industry in Saskatchewan has always tried to support communities in any way that they possibly can,” she said.

“We’re all in this together and everybody’s got to do their part.”