COVID-19 information for suppliers
At Cenovus, the health and safety of our people remains our number one priority. After carefully assessing the current public health situation in the communities where we live and work, Cenovus is adjusting some of our COVID-19 protocols for staff and suppliers working at our offices and operations. Our priority is to ensure everything is done in accordance with our COVID-19 health and safety protocols, as well as any new guidance from government, public health officials and our Health & Safety team.
If you’re currently at one of our worksites, or will be returning to work at one soon, it’s important that you familiarize yourself with our updated COVID-19 health and safety protocols, standards and guidelines.
This page was last updated on March 30, 2022.
COVID-19 updates
Mandatory rapid testing | Effective March 31, Cenovus’s onsite Rapid Testing Program will be discontinued for supplier workers in Western Canada. |
Daily Health Check | All office and field workers (staff and suppliers) are required to review the Cenovus Daily Health Checklist prior to the start of every workday or before entering a Cenovus workplace. You don’t need to print or submit the checklist. You don’t need to complete the checklist if you’re working from home. If you answer yes to any of the questions on the Cenovus Daily Health Checklist, you must follow our COVID-19 Reporting and Isolation: Guidance for Workers in Western Canada |
Resources | |
Masks and distancing | Effective March 1, masking and physical distancing will no longer be required in our field and office locations, camps and on our buses. N95/KN95 and medical masks will be available to all staff who want to continue wearing masks in the workplace. While masks will no longer be required, we’d like to remind staff to exercise a degree of personal responsibility and good judgment when working around others at our worksites. Where mandatory provincial/municipal mask mandates are in place, you’re required to follow our COVID-19 Mask Protocol. To follow federal regulations, disposable masks or N95 masks must be worn during charter air transportation, including when you’re in an air terminal building.To follow federal regulations, disposable masks or N95 masks must be worn during charter air transportation, including when you’re in an air terminal building. If you wish to wear a face covering in a hazardous classified location, this should be a three-layer (two-layer minimum) fire-rated (FR) covering or three-layer natural fibre face covering. |
Field transportation | We’re operating at 100% capacity for flights and offsite coach buses. Onsite buses at FCCL are operating at 100% capacity. Supplier workers flying with us are responsible for meeting federal, provincial/territorial, and commercial travel restrictions and requirements (e.g., vaccine passports, quarantine and isolation, etc.) and ensuring they arrive at a Cenovus transportation hub on time for their travel to site. See our Aviation and Marine Vessel COVID-19 Vaccination Standard. If you are transiting through the Calgary or Edmonton flight hub, you will undergo a health screening questionnaire as mandated by Transport Canada. |
Transportation to work (Calgary offices) | Face coverings are required while using Calgary Transit. To learn more, visit calgarytransit.com. |
Workspace use | On March 1, the Alberta Government lifted the work from home mandate in the province. As a result, office staff in Western Canada will return to the office regularly on April 4. In Calgary offices, plexiglass remains in place at our workstations and sanitization stations will be available on each floor. We’ll continue to conduct enhanced cleaning in high-touch areas. Hand sanitizer will be provided. Meeting rooms in all office locations that are open may be used. |
Illness reporting | For Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba workers: Illness reporting and quarantine and isolation requirements will continue as per our COVID-19 Reporting and Isolation: Guidance for Workers in Canada. If you’ve been in close contact with a person who has COVID-19 – while at work or on days off, follow the instructions in the Isolation and Quarantine section below. For Saskatchewan workers: Workers must arrive and remain fit for duty. It’s strongly recommended that you don’t come to the worksite if you’re feeling unwell or showing any cold and flu symptoms or don’t pass the Cenovus Daily Health Checklist screening questions. Supplier employers are strongly recommended to report to Cenovus via COVID19@cenovus.com if their workers receive a positive COVID-19 result and they are scheduled to work at Cenovus so Cenovus can continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on our operations. |
Isolation and Quarantine | Alberta has not yet announced the date to lift isolation requirements. Visit alberta.ca/isolation for information on current isolation requirements. When Alberta lifts its mandatory isolation requirements, Cenovus will follow suit. At that time, we expect our people to do the right thing to prevent transmission of the virus and be fit for work. We strongly recommend that workers follow this guidance:
Where mandatory isolation requirements are in place, Cenovus will align with all isolation and quarantine guidance of regional public health orders. Where these requirements are in place: Staff with COVID-19 symptoms or with a confirmed positive COVID-19 test (either lab-based or a rapid test) will be required to isolate for a period of time depending on your vaccination status and location: From the onset of symptoms and/or following a positive test result: Fully vaccinated individuals must isolate for five days or until symptoms resolve, whichever is longer.
Not fully vaccinated individuals must continue to isolate for 10 days or until systems have resolved, whichever is longer. Your isolation time will start from the onset of symptoms, for those who are symptomatic, or from the date of your positive test, for those who are asymptomatic. If symptoms resolve, you must wait for a certain period of time before returning to work, this is 24 hours in Alberta, BC and Manitoba. The FCCL/Sunrise clinics or Disability Management will determine your isolation period and clear you to return to the workplace. For Alberta only - you don’t need to isolate if you meet one of the following conditions: Symptomatic with:
Asymptomatic with:
Staff who are a close contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case (lab based or rapid test) must first notify the onsite clinics (FCCL and Sunrise) or contact Disability Management at COVID19@cenovus.com (other locations), who will facilitate your return to work. Asymptomatic close contacts of someone who have tested positive for COVID-19 (lab-based or rapid self-test) must monitor for symptoms for 14 days but don’t need to quarantine and can continue to work if they meet one of the following conditions:
If you’re a close contact who is asymptomatic and not fully vaccinated and you don’t meet one of the above criteria, you must quarantine for 10 days after the date of exposure. |
Vaccine status | Cenovus may ask workers for their vaccine status in certain circumstances to determine whether reduced isolation and quarantine requirements apply to them. All personal information will be managed in accordance with Cenovus’s Privacy Policy. Vaccines are not mandatory to enter our workplaces at this time, but we strongly encourage everyone who is able to get fully vaccinated, including booster vaccines, to maximize protection. |
Accommodations | Effective March 1: Masks and distancing Recreation facilities Theatres, social hubs, public seating and music rooms are now fully open. |
Pandemic cleaning and disinfection procedures | Disinfection of high touch surfaces will be conducted by janitorial services in most locations. Additional disinfection is performed when there has been a confirmed COVID-19 case in a workplace in the preceding 24 hours. In some locations and for some shared items, workers may be asked to conduct disinfection themselves. Follow the best practice for cleaning potentially contaminated areas and items – including hard surfaces, shared Cenovus vehicles and offices. The best practices are set out in Pandemic Cleaning Procedures (COVID-19). |
Masks and distancing | Our COVID-19 Mask Protocol must be followed in locations and situations where masks are required. When working indoors: A mandatory mask-while-moving policy will be in place in offices and camps. You’re required to wear a mask when you leave your workspace or camp room and when you’re in common areas. In all other locations and scenarios, including working in indoor process areas, you’re required to wear a mask where you may not be able to maintain two metres of distance with another person or there’s no barrier in place.
When working outdoors: A mask isn’t required but strongly recommended when physical distancing can’t be maintained and there are no barriers in place. A decision to mask will be made based on a hazard assessment where workers must be in close proximity to complete work activities. When traveling: Masks are still required for charter air travel, buses and carpooling. Mask type The mask you wear must meet the requirements outlined in the COVID-19 Mask Protocol. Disposable procedural masks are required at all Cenovus worksites, reusable masks will no longer be accepted. Disposal procedural masks or N95 masks must be worn during charter air transportation, including when you’re in an air terminal building and off-site buses. For the purposes of COVID-19 precaution, a non-fit-tested N95 or equivalent (e.g., KN95) tight-fitting respirator is offered as an option and as an alternative to a medical mask. It may be used where a medical mask is used. Some staff may feel more confident wearing it in some situations (for example, prolonged interaction in small, poorly ventilated space). If a worker is required to use an N95 for any aerosol hazards, then a non-fit-tested N95 must not be used and Cenovus’s Respiratory Protection Equipment Standard applies (which requires fit-testing). The type of mask that’s required will depend on the setting:
In addition to the mask protocol, two-metre physical distancing must be maintained in indoor spaces whenever feasible. |
Transportation | As per Transport Canada, health screening will continue to be a requirement at our air terminals. See our Aviation and Marine Vessel COVID-19 Vaccination Standard for details regarding aviation and marine vessel vaccination requirements. |
Health assessments and illness reporting | All office and field workers (staff and suppliers) are required to review the Cenovus Daily Health Checklist prior to the start of every workday or before entering a Cenovus workplace. You don’t need to print or submit the checklist. You don’t need to complete the checklist if you’re working from home. Illness reporting and quarantine and isolation requirements will continue. |
Screening and rapid testing | Rapid testing for symptomatic workers and close contacts will continue. |
Vaccine status | Please follow Health Canada guidance regarding precautions to take based on your vaccination status. Cenovus may ask workers for their vaccine status in certain circumstances to determine whether reduced isolation and quarantine requirements apply to them. All personal information will be managed in accordance with Cenovus’s Privacy Policy. Unless covered in our Aviation and Marine Vessel COVID-19 Vaccination Standard, vaccines are not mandatory to enter our workplaces at this time, but we strongly encourage everyone who is able to get fully vaccinated, including booster vaccines to maximize protection. |
Pandemic cleaning and disinfection procedures | Disinfection of high touch surfaces will be conducted by janitorial services in most locations. Additional disinfection is performed when there has been a confirmed COVID-19 case in a workplace in the preceding 24 hours. In some locations and for some shared items, workers may be asked to conduct disinfection themselves. Follow the best practice for cleaning potentially contaminated areas and items – including hard surfaces, shared Cenovus vehicles and offices. The best practices are set out in Pandemic Cleaning Procedures (COVID-19). |
All workers in the U.S. will continue to follow their site-specific practices. Please talk to your leader or Health & Safety Advisor for protocol details.
U.S. mandatory rapid testing | Effective April 1, 2022, Cenovus will discontinue mandatory testing at our U.S. sites. If applicable U.S. counties reach “High” levels of Community Spread, testing will be re-evaluated as an additional mitigation. What does this mean to you?
Previously communicated updated COVID-19 protocol changes are not impacted and remain in place. |
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U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) framework for measuring COVID-19 community levels | Recently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a new framework for measuring COVID-19 community levels. The CDC uses these levels to make recommendations on which COVID-19 protocols are appropriate given the risk in a particular community. The new way of measuring COVID-19 infection ranks counties as low, medium or high. The ranks are based on:
Cenovus assets in the U.S. will follow the new CDC guidelines based on the county rankings for masking, social distancing, and cleaning. The county ranks are based on a 7-day rolling average, so if a county’s rank changes, a facility’s guidelines will change. Please check the CDC rankings regularly to be aware of any potential impact to the protocol changes.
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Lima Refinery Contractor Safety Manual |
All other COVID-19 safety measures must be followed at all times while at the Lima Refinery. Safety measures are included in Lima Refinery’s Contractor Safety Manual for reference. The manual is available to contractors upon request from the Lima Refinery Safety Department. |
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Superior Refinery Contractor Safety Manual |
All other COVID-19 safety measures must be followed at all times while at the Superior Refinery. Safety measures are included in Superior Refinery’s Contractor Safety Manual for reference. The manual is available to contractors upon request from the Superior Refinery Safety Department. |
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Travel to Canada from US | Recently, the Canadian government announced that they will stop requirements for rapid testing for vaccinated individuals on April 1, 2022. As long as your personnel can provide proof of vaccination, no rapid testing will be required if they travel to Canada to support our operations there. To learn more about travel to Canada and requirements, please visit the Government of Canada website. |
Workers in the Asia Pacific region will continue to follow their site-specific practices. Please talk to your leader or Health & Safety Advisor for protocol details. |