The Government of Ontario announced on April 8 that it has temporarily limited noise bylaws from applying to essential construction activities.

The change means that work on such facilities as new hospital builds, expansions, temporary COVID-19 response units, and COVID-19 assessment centres can continue 24 hours a day, without interruption. It further gives contractors more leeway to stagger shifts, limit the number of people on site, and take necessary precautions to keep workers safe and healthy.

"During this escalating crisis, we are taking immediate steps to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place, particularly to properly care for those with severe COVID-19 symptoms and other patients who require critical care," said Premier Doug Ford. "That's why we're extending construction hours to allow us to build essential infrastructure faster, while ensuring construction workers can practice physical distancing on work sites to stay safe and healthy."

The province emphasized further measures it has taken to make essential workplaces safer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these, it has redeployed more than 30 employment standards officers to help businesses understand and comply with health and safety requirements, doubled the capacity of Ontario's Health and Safety Call Centre phone lines, invited recently retired inspectors to return to their positions should they choose, and issued health and safety guidance notes to specific sectors.

"Our government is doing everything in its power to make sure workers on the job are safe during this pandemic," said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. "That means more inspections, more inspectors, more phone lines, and more people to take your calls. We have conducted thousands of inspections and investigations across the province in March and we will continue to conduct more this month. We will do everything in our power to keep the essential workers of our province safe."

"We're helping to protect the health and safety of construction workers and ensure that critical health care-related construction projects continue during this outbreak," said Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. "Temporarily limiting noise bylaws to extend the hours for construction work will help make it possible to stagger shifts and have fewer workers on site at any given time so they can practice physical distancing."