Federal offices reopen after asbestos tests
Public service workers back on the job after Place du Portage deemed safe
Public service workers returned to their Gatineau offices Friday after extensive testing found no evidence of asbestos in the Place du Portage buildings.
Construction teams had alerted officials Wednesday night to the possible presence of asbestos on a work site in Portage III building.
Federal employees were advised to work from home Thursday while testing was conducted in the A1 and A2 Towers.
“Mandatory tests were carried out on (Thursday) on each floor of the A1 and A2 towers of Portage III,” Alexandre Baillairgé-charbonneau, a spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada, said in a message Friday.
“All tests confirmed that there was no danger. Therefore, the building is safe and is open today.”
Baillairgé-charbonneau said additional details would be shared as soon as they became available.
Dozens of workers wearing construction vests had walked in and around the building on Thursday, with signs taped on entrance doors to the building, informing occupants of the two towers' closure.
The message indicated that facilities management company BGIS had informed PSPC of the possible presence of asbestos and that the towers were closed while testing was being conducted.
“Employees are invited to reserve another workspace through the Archibus booking system or work remotely for the day,” the note read Thursday. “We ask managers to exercise maximum flexibility with members of our teams that are affected by this situation.”
A December 2022 document offering a “national asbestos inventory” of all Pspc-owned buildings and Pspc-managed leases listed the Crown-owned Place du Portage Phase III building as having a known presence of asbestos, with a management plan in place.
Alex Silas, the Public Service Alliance of Canada's regional executive vice-president for the National Capital Region, said the closure of the building was “definitely a concerning thing, but unfortunately not a surprising thing.”
PSAC and several other unions are calling for the government to reverse its recently updated policy requiring public servants to work in the office three days a week come September, with one of their arguments being that office buildings are not up to par.
“I think it proves our point,” Silas said, adding that it was “not a new thing ” for federal buildings to have a presence of asbestos or pests.
“One of the points that we've been making is that the buildings aren't ready and the health and safety standards in the buildings have been deteriorating.”