Important: Requirement for teams to check proof of vaccination for spectators

Hi Coaches, Safety Coordinators and team volunteers,

First of all, thank you very much for your continued cooperation with health and safety protocols over these early months of the season.  Your work has allowed us to get things up and running more smoothly than anyone expected.

To that end, we have recently received a request from the City to begin checking all spectators watching our games and practices at City arenas.  This requirement will apply to practices and to games where we are the home team.

Given that team Safety Coordinators have already checked proof of vaccination for team volunteers and players, as well as for parents who need to enter the dressing room area, the remaining task should be relatively straightforward.  We piloted the checks with a few of our teams this week, and the process went very well. 

Here are a few tips on the approach that we took this week:

• The Safety Coordinator or volunteer stood at the entrance to the arena or the ice surface where the team was playing and asked all spectators for proof of vaccination.
• Coaches, team volunteers and players do not need to be checked at the door, as that should be done already.
• The Safety Coordinator kept a running list of parents, guardians and other spectators as they checked proof of vaccination, so those individuals will not need to be re-checked at future games.

Please note that our volunteers are not expected to enforce the City requirement.  If a spectator refuses to comply (which has not happened), the volunteer can disengage and flag the issue to arena staff. 

We have been advised to expect spot checks from provincial inspectors beginning next week, so it will be important for teams to get this in place quickly.

As always, if you have any questions, please email riskandsafety@ocmha.ca.

Thanks again.