Resuming In-Person Mediations - Concerns during COVID-19
With the beginning of graduated re-opening of businesses in Ontario, some mediation facilities have also announced plans to re-open in the near future to accommodate in-person mediations.
These facilities have put in place a variety of measures to ensure as safe an environment as possible including: limited bookings, self check-in, staggered start times, enhanced cleaning procedures, mandatory use of face coverings in all common areas, and physical changes to meeting rooms, including reduced seating to ensure appropriate physical distancing and plexiglass barriers in smaller rooms. Video conferencing is also available to facilitate the inclusion of any parties who do not wish to attend in-person.
But, while in-person mediations (where the subtle nuances of human communication in all its forms are far better discerned and evaluated) remain the “gold standard”, are these measures enough? And, are there other physical impediments (such as building access, narrow hallways, small rooms, airflow in confined spaces and common washrooms) to attending an in-person mediation which affect its feasibility.
Some of those concerns include:
1) How to conduct an effective health check prescreening of the participants (including the mediator). Should a mediator be required to have an up to date “clear” COVID-19 test? What risk tolerance do the participants have for meeting with a group of “non-family” people?
2) Ease of building access. Most mediation facilities are located in office towers, which will have their own physical distancing measures in place, including limits on the number of people permitted in elevators and lobby areas.
3) How to ensure appropriate physical distancing in common areas within various areas in the mediation facility (lobbies, hallways, kitchens, washrooms)?
4) What protective gear should be mandatory - masks, gloves, face shields? And, when/where - common areas only, or everywhere?
5) How to ensure adequate air quality/circulation during the course of a mediation, particularly in smaller break-out rooms?
6) Whether, with all necessary protective measures in place (such as masks/physical distancing,etc.), the traditional benefits of an in-person mediation experience will be lost, or compromised?
Faced with these concerns, plus the convenience and reduced costs of virtual mediations that many are coming to appreciate (no travel/commuting time, no facility costs), one must reasonably question the feasibility of in-person mediations at this time.