Barrie, April 3, 2020 — The Simcoe County Home Builders’ Association and the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) support the provincial government’s announcement to restrict construction to only active sites on the essential businesses list.  This new measure will reduce activity in the sector and enhance COVID-19 prevention measures, while enabling the completion of new homes and renovations that are moving towards completion. 

“The Simcoe County Home Builders’ Association has been focused on the health and safety of everyone on jobsites by sharing information with our members,” said Sandy Tuckey Executive Officer. “Following the recent release by the Ministry of Labour of new health and safety guidelines for construction sites during COVID-19, members immediately went to work to improve site conditions including additional requirements for sanitization, physical distancing, illness reporting and limiting the number of workers on individual sites.”

Both The Simcoe County Home Builders’ Association and OHBA support the government’s increased inspection activity. We endorse shutting down sites that do not meet the Ministry of Labour requirements and place everyone on the jobsite at risk.

“We all want safe jobsites,” said Joe Vaccaro, OHBA CEO. “Across Ontario, industry members have been enhancing their COVID-19 protocols as required by government. With the new provincial restrictions on active job sites, members will continue to focus on worker safety and delivering keys to the thousands of families waiting for their homes to be completed. Let’s keep each other safe. We are all in this together.”

The Simcoe County Home Builders’ Association Statement

The Ontario Home Builders’ Association is the voice of the residential construction industry in Ontario, representing 4,000 member companies organized into 27 local associations across the province. The residential construction industry contributes over $51 billion dollars to Ontario’s economy, employing more than 330,000 people across the province.