A Parent’s Guide to Back to School COVID-19 Safety

Lee-Anne Bartley-Lyon AKA “Safety Diva” has the Q&A’s that every parent should know before sending their child to school during a pandemic

For Immediate Release

(Toronto, ON) – With millions of Canadian children heading back to school this month, health and safety concerns are heighted due to the COVID-19 virus and differing approaches on how to keep students safe. “This is an extremely stressful time for parents,” says Lee-Anne Lyon-Bartley, Executive Vice-President of Health, Safety, Environment and Quality at Horizon North Logistics. “Many are torn, not sure if they are putting their child and their family at risk, but unable to continue to home school due to their own work commitments. They want to make sure every precaution is being taken before sending their child into their school building.”

Lyon-Bartley’s 20 years of experience in the health and safety field has earned her a reputation and the moniker “Safety Diva” for giving straight talk on protection and guidelines. Here are the Safety Diva’s Questions and Answers that parents should put to school administrators:

Ventilation – governments have promised increased funding to make improvements

  • Q. What improvements are being made to the school’s HVAC system?

  • A. We are increasing the amount of time the air changes in the building. We will schedule regular changing of the HEPA filter to reduce contamination. We will be undertaking preventative maintenance of the HVAC system.

Cleaning and Disinfection 

  • Q. How is the school going to be disinfected? What chemicals are being used? How often?

  • A. Disinfection will happen twice a day, with high touch points cleaned at least twice a day. Chemicals are from an approved list on the Health Canada website. Disinfectant wipes will be readily available for teachers to use intermittently throughout the day as needed.

COVID-19 Notification

  • Q. How am I going to be notified if there is a case at my child’s school?

  • A. A notification system has been put in place via the school’s website, email or text message communication with the parent community. Through contact tracing, Public Health will also notify you if your child has been exposed.

Masks & Social Distancing

  • Q. What should I do if I’m not comfortable with the distance between desks? What if my child doesn’t keep their mask on all day?

  • A. If the distance isn’t the required 6 metres, file a complaint with Public Health, your school board trustee, your local and provincial politicians. Realistically, not all children will be able to keep on masks for the entire day. However, adults are more likely to catch and carry the virus. Children have always been sharing germs and exposed to illnesses – COVID-19 is now added to the list.

Lee-Anne Lyon-Bartley is the Executive Vice-President, Health, Safety, Environment and Quality at Horizon North Logistics (TSE:HNL), a leading integrated facilities management, workforce accommodations, forestry and modular building service provider.  She holds a BASc from Ryerson in Occupational and Public Health, she is a CRSP (Certified Registered Safety Professional), a CP-FS (Certified Professional in Food Safety) and is NEBOSH and IEMA certified. Lee-Anne made regular appearances on the Steven and Chris Show highlighting simple safety tips at home. She was recently featured in Canadian Occupational Safety and in the Institute for Work and Health’s 2016 annual report. Lee-Ann volunteers with Workplace Safety Prevention Services on their Commercial Industrial Services Advisory Committee with ‘My Safe Work’ and ‘Threads of Life’ – charities dedicated to health and safety awareness and empowerment. She currently teaches health safety at Seneca College, previously taught at Humber and Keyano colleges and is a Director at Large for the Women in Occupational Health and Safety Society (WOHSS). Under Lee-Anne’s leadership as Vice President of Health & Safety in 2019, Dexterra was awarded Canada’s Safest Employer gold award for young worker safety and Lee-Anne was awarded the Women in EHS award from eCompliance.  In July 2020, she sponsored the “Safety Diva Canada Award” scholarship for student interested in studying occupational and public health.  

Find Lee-Anne on LinkedIN and Twitter @SAFTDIVA

Lee-Anne is available for interviews and can elaborate on all of the above points via Skype or FaceTime.                                                                                               

Fennella Bruce