Although there have been no positive cases of Ebola reported in Canada yet, a union request that flight attendants be allowed to wear disposable medical-grade gloves aboard flights has been granted by Air Canada.
The union wants its members to don gloves for tasks such as food handling, cleaning bathrooms and collecting cabin waste.
The airline said it had no objection to this in principle.
In a letter to the union Samuel Elfassy, the airline’s senior director for corporate safety wrote: "We have no objections for the elective use of gloves under these circumstances," but stated that the use of gloves should not replace other protocols such as ‘effective hand-washing.’
Gloves have always been available aboard Air Canada flights but have primarily only been used when assisting someone who is bleeding.
President of the union Michel Cournoyer said flight attendants feel at risk even though the airline does not fly to the Ebola-hit regions in West Africa and the chance of contacting Ebola on a flight is very low.
"I don’t think the risk is too elevated but the concerns are (on people’s) minds," he said.
