Researchers from universities across Canada teamed up earlier this year to establish protocols for preventing large-scale COVID-19 outbreaks in the workplace. Now those protocols are being adopted by businesses in Ontario.

In their Sept. 30 report, “Working in a bubble: How can businesses reopen while limiting the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks?” authors from the University of Calgary, Queen's University, the University of Toronto and Toronto General Hospital explored how creating “work bubbles” can help reduce the risk of company-wide COVID-19 outbreaks while helping businesses continue to function.

“We know public health is about protecting all of us, so we’ve got to keep people working," said Tyler Williamson, one of the study’s authors and an assistant professor in the department of community health sciences at the University of Calgary. "If we kill the economy we’re in big trouble from a public health perspective. So we’re trying to think about ways that we can keep working and keep companies open while limiting the risks.”

Work bubbles are cohorts that contain the least number of people necessary to do a job and are strictly separated from other bubbles to prevent virus transmission between groups in the event of a small outbreak. Their role is to allow employees to continue working safely if one work bubble is removed from the workforce due to a COVID-19 infection.

The study argued such bubbles can help companies remain productive while preventing large outbreaks in workplaces where employees work in close proximity.

The team’s research has spurred the creation of a scientist-led company called Pandemic Solutions, which works with employers in different sectors to implement COVID-19 containment protocols that meet and sometimes exceed public health guidelines.

One of their earliest clients, Bombardier Aviation, had already established such protocols in its Ontario and Quebec airplane manufacturing plants when it signed up with Pandemic Solutions. The resulting partnership allowed the researchers to benefit from Bombardier’s industry perspective, and Bombardier to fine-tune their protocols.

“It was a good collaboration,” said Nancy Barber, Bombardier’s chief operating officer. “We did a lot independently, but there were some areas … where it made us think ‘How far can we really go with it?’”

Last March, early in the pandemic, Bombardier closed its plants in Quebec and Ontario as non-essential work in both provinces ground to a halt. When the plants reopened in May, most office staff were asked to work from home, ensuring that only employees who built or supported aircraft delivery were on site. Essential employees were organized into large cohorts that interacted only with each other to minimize contact with other staff.

The company announced in June it would lay off 2,500 employees, but attributed those layoffs to the reduction in demand for business jets caused by the pandemic, rather than the complexities of preventing viral outbreaks in the workplace.

Through their partnership with Williamson and his colleagues, Bombardier was able to separate its large employee cohorts into a higher number of smaller, more effective groups.

“The feedback from our employees who were in the factory has been incredibly positive,” Barber said. “We’ve received comments that they feel safer at work than they do going to the grocery store.”

As is sometimes the case with preventive solutions, Barber and Williamson said it’s hard to measure how successful the program has been. Barber said there haven’t been any outbreaks at Bombardier’s plants since an employee in Quebec tested positive last spring; therefore, they haven’t had to put their protocols to the test.

However, Williamson offered one metric by which to grade the strategy.

“It’s clear that it’s consistent with the current public health guidelines and many times it’s right up at the leading edge of those,” he said. “So that’s really one way to help measure success.”

Pandemic Solutions is currently working with companies in Ontario, including dance studios, car dealerships, a mortgage company and a film crew.