COVID-19 Pandemic Action Plan  

On Monday March 23rd the Ontario Provincial Government announced the closure of all non-essential business effective 11:59pm on March 24th until further notice. Hudson Movers under Section #67 is deemed to be an Essential Service. Hudson Movers will continue to provide uninterrupted service for as long and as it can be reasonably safe to do so. We are asking all customers and suppliers to work with us to stay healthy and safe. In response to the ongoing public health warnings regarding the recently announced COVID-19 Pandemic, Hudson Movers, is taking all reasonable precautions to ensure the ongoing health and safety of our employees, customers and the general public. In an effort to keep our workplace healthy, we are following recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), Government of Canada, Toronto Public Health (TPH), Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety and other reliable health agencies. We ask that all employees follow these precautionary measures, at a minimum:

  1. Hygiene – As part of this Action Plan, we have attached a Hand Washing Guideline document and ask that employees regularly wash their hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand-sanitizer when hand washing is not available. Be sure to clean your hands immediately after sneezing or coughing and after touching surfaces others may have touched.

In addition, avoid touching your face, nose or mouth with unwashed hands as these are the primary methods for which the virus enters the body, and try to avoid contact with people who are sick.

  1. Coughing and Sneezing – Practice respiratory etiquette cough or sneeze into a tissue or your upper sleeve, and not your hands. Dispose of used tissues immediately and wash your hands.
  1. Keep Shared Surface Areas Clean – Vehicle Cabins, Material Handling Equipment, Doorknobs, timeclocks, light switches, telephones, keyboards and other high-touch surfaces can become contaminated with all kinds of bacteria and viruses. Daily disinfecting procedures have been implemented effective immediately and will be continued until further notice. You can assist by cleaning your own areas frequently.
  1. Stay at Home when Sick – Zero Tolerance – It is imperative that a staff member who is ill and/or have been showing symptoms of COVID-19 (e.g. fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, and including any symptoms that may seem like a mild cold) stay home and contact the necessary health authorities. If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have been exposed to COVID-19 because a member within your household has been diagnosed, please stay at home rather than come to work and potentially infect other staff members.

Please notify your supervisor as soon as possible if any of these situations apply to you. It is your duty to do so. To assist employees financially, the Government of Canada has waived the one week waiting period for people who are in quarantine or have been directed to self-quarantine and are claiming for Employment Insurance (EI) sickness benefits. We are suspending the need for medical notes – therefore reducing the burden on the healthcare system.

  1. Social Distancing and Protective Self-separation – Health authorities recommend social distancing to minimize the local spread of the virus. We believe the least restrictive means to accomplish this starts with mindfulness.
  • Staff should maintain a 2-meter separation from others unless there is a physical barrier (like a cubicle)
  • Meetings should be held via phone, webinar, or in larger settings where a 2 meter separation is possible
  • Do not visit/hangout at desks, copiers, or in close proximity in common areas (lunch room, hallways, etc.)
  1. Visitors and Customer Interaction – Effective immediately Hudson Movers will restrict all non-essential contact with potential and existing suppliers, customers and general visitors. Staff should advise customers of this immediate change. Our Sales Team members are encouraged to conduct virtual and/or phone surveys to help limit contact. Where contact is deemed to be essential, there shall be no handshakes or physical contact. In addition, all visitors to our facility will be asked to wash their hands with soap & water and will be asked questions related to their travel history and current health.

We are confirming with all clients 48 hours prior to our Moving Crews arrival that all members of the household are not showing any flu like symptoms. We are mandating that clients provide warm running water, hand soap, and paper towels for our Moving Crews to use throughout the moving process at both origin and destination. We are reminding clients to keep safe distance from our team members throughout the moving process. We are confirming with clients that no members of the household have travelled from outside of Canada and are not in any kind of self-isolation due to travel or possible exposure to COVID-19.

  1. Full Disclosure – Employees are required to notify Hudson Movers of any possible exposures to COVID-19, allowing the company to take preventative measures if necessary, against the spread of the disease.
  1. Travel – All employees should be aware that there are health risks when travelling at this time. Hudson Movers has already taken necessary steps to minimize business travel, and the Canadian Government has advised Canadians to cancel non-essential international travel (including to/from the USA) and to get back to Canada as soon as possible and in advance of potential border closings. Canada has further advised that intra-Canada travel will be closely monitored and may be added to the recommended restrictions. Public Health authorities recommend a 14-day self-quarantine upon returning to Canada from any international destinations (USA included) – We are enforcing this recommendation and will continue to monitor and follow recommendations provided by all Public Health authorities and the Government of Canada.

If you want to learn more about the virus or its symptoms and spread, further information can be found at these websites, which we find to be excellent:

Hand Washing Guidelines All employees shall practice hand hygiene before any contact with each other or visitors (even if gloves are worn). All employees must wash, rinse, and dry their hands or apply an alcohol hand rub before beginning work, after using the rest room, and before leaving work. For routine hand washing, use the soap located in the dispensers. Use hand washing products or alcohol hand rub for hand hygiene before any expected contact with clients or visitors. Perform hand hygiene after contact with others or their environment. Employees may use an alcohol hand rub for hand hygiene in place of an antimicrobial soap hand-wash. Grossly contaminated hands must be washed with soap beforehand disinfection with an alcohol hand rub. Routine Hand Washing Procedure All employees of must follow the outlined techniques for washing hands to perform their work duties and before any contact with each other and visitors:

  • Use warm water to wet the hands;
  • Apply hand soap;
  • Work up a good lather and rub hands palm to palm and in between and around fingers;
  • Apply with vigorous contact on all surfaces of the hands (back of hands, fingertips, and each thumb);
  • Wash hands for at least 20 seconds;
  • Rinse thoroughly under running water and avoid splashing;
  • Keep hands down so that runoff will go into the sink and not down the arm;
  • Dry hands well with paper towels and use the paper towels to turn off the faucet; and
  • Discard the paper towels into the appropriate container.

Hand Antiseptics For hand washing, employees may substitute an antimicrobial soap for soap. Furthermore, an alcohol hand rub may be substituted for an antimicrobial soap. All employees must use the following technique for an alcohol hand rub:

  • If hands are visibly soiled, wash hands with soap before applying alcohol hand rub.
  • Apply enough alcohol hand rub to cover the entire surface of hands and fingers.
  • Rub the solution vigorously into hands until dry.
  • The use of alcohol hand rubs may result in a sticky residue on the hands. Wash with soap periodically to remove the hand rub residue.

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