Saskatchewan construction companies are building up a stockpile of respirators to hand off to healthcare workers as a last line of defence in the battle against COVID-19. As of Friday, the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association (SHCA) had collected about 1,300 respirators, which protect healthcare workers from aerosol particles during risky procedures. They have been in heavy demand worldwide, and Saskatchewan nurses have raised concerns about their availability.

Shantel Lipp, president of the SHCA, told the Leader-Post that one of her member contractors first got a call from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) on Friday morning.The SHA was seeking additional N95 respirators as part of its planning efforts, she said. According to Lipp’s account, the SHA did not point to a current shortage in its inventory, but to efforts to “plan ahead” in the event that more are required.

She put out a request to all of her members for support, as well as to other organizations like the Saskatchewan Construction Association, Concrete Saskatchewan and local construction associations. She called it a bid to “rally the troops.”

“We know that there’s a lot of members that we have in the heavy construction industries that use these types of masks when they’re working on cutting concrete or working in high-dust environments. So we knew that we would have a supply,” said Lipp.

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