COVID-19: Four cases at Karmax Milton leaves workers upset

A displeased worker with Magna Karmax Heavy Stamping in Milton has spoken out.

Carey dePass was a temp worker and machine operator for the local factory. He says management announced to staff on Tuesday, July 14th that four cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among workers at the factory. Upon the announcement, dePass says employees were told to return to their stations and continue working.

dePass says that following the meeting, the morale of the factory dropped. Communication was sparse among workers because, fortunately, each worker is kept to their own station, leading to limited contact with other employees.

However, he quickly realized that he’s in a high-risk situation at-home. That meant he should immediately get tested. dePass lives with an elderly man with medical issues, as well as a registered nurse. With both roommates, either could be a major issue if they contracted COVID-19.

He was tested first-thing the next day (Wednesday, July 15th), and had stayed in a hotel room until his results came back. There were no hard feelings between him and his roommates with having to do so; unfortunately, dePass was skeptical of Karmax and their management group.

dePass adds that the morning of the announcement, a cleaning team in hazmat-like suits was spotted in the lunchbreak-area of the factory, vigorously cleaning the space. It wasn’t common to see such a thing, but he didn’t think much of it at the time. To him, it could’ve been a new measure put in place for COVID-19; however, with the timing of the announcement being several hours later, dePass believes management knew about the tests and weren’t immediately telling employees.

According to dePass, Karmax does have a contact tracing method in place. He says employees are asked to sign-in and out of the building using a key fob; however, as a temp worker, he wasn’t in the system for this tracing method. On top of that, dePass saw employees that would ignore the key fob system and just leave.

He doesn’t mince his words when it comes down to how he feels the entire situation was dealt with by management.

dePass does stress that while Karmax did put measures in place to help protect the employees in the factory, he feels the conversation was never had as to ‘what if’ there was a scare. He feels management put too much of a focus on completing their orders, and not enough on the people in the building.

An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development is ongoing. dePass mentioned that he was contacted by an investigator. Here is a statement to myFM from Janet Deline with the Ministry:

“On July 13, 2020, the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development was notified of an Occupational Illness at Karmax Heavy Stamping located in Milton.  It was reported that four workers have tested positive for COVID-19. A ministry inspector has been assigned to investigate.  The investigation is ongoing.

“Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and its regulations, employers must protect workers — including temporary workers — from hazards in the workplace, including infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

“If an employer believes a worker’s illness is a result of their work they are required to notify the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development and other workers. If the employer does not believe the worker’s illness is from their workplace they are still required to notify co-workers who may have been exposed to this employee. This must be done in a manner that protects private health information.

“Our Ministry is doing everything in our power to keep workers safe. Our inspectors are visiting workplaces today and everyday. Since March 11^th we’ve conducted over 14,600 inspections and issued over 10,700 orders. We have also released more than 170 workplace health and safety guidelines, tip sheets, downloadable posters and other resources for many sectors to protect workers.”

Halton Region Public Health says they are aware of the four cases at Magna Karmax in Milton.

“All case and contact management has been completed and an investigation confirmed that all appropriate infection prevention and control measures are in place at this location. To protect the privacy of the individuals, we cannot share any additional details on this matter.”

myFM News reached out to Karmax Milton General Manager Darren Stewart for comment. He was unavailable to speak on the matter. myFM News has subsequently reached out to Magna International Inc. for a comment. The following statement was provided by Tracy Fuerst, Vice President Corporate Communications & Public Relations.

“With the ramp-up of manufacturing operations around the world, Magna continues to closely monitor developments related to COVID-19 with a focus on the health and safety of our employees and the communities where we operate.

“As such, we recently learned of four employees who work at our Karmax Heavy Stamping facility that have tested positive for COVID-19. These employees have been placed in home isolation and will continue to be monitored. We also immediately conducted contact tracing for those positive cases involving employees working, placing a handful of additional them in home isolation in an abundance of caution.

“Workspaces of those affected employees have undergone comprehensive deep cleaning and disinfection. As part of our Smart Start Playbook and in conjunction with CDC guidelines, we also continue to follow comprehensive protocols on regular cleaning and disinfecting as well as additional safety measures to ensure a healthy work environment.

“Our comprehensive medical screening process occurs daily and applies to all employees and temporary workers, contractors and guests entering one of our facilities.

“All are required to daily temperature check at home and complete a health screening questionnaire through our employee app. Upon a ‘green’ result only, entry into a facility is allowed.

“We also continue to emphasize social distancing, wearing proper PPEs and practicing good hand hygiene not only at work, but also outside of our facilities while at home and/or in public to help stop the spread of the virus.”

Magna has also provided an external version of the company’s playbook. It covers the measures Magna is taking in all of their facilities.

dePass has confirmed that he tested negative for COVID-19, and moved back into his home on Sunday, July 19th.