PRESCOTT, ONT. -- As more private companies move towards mandatory vaccine policies in the workplace, one eastern Ontario factory is seeing success in theirs.
At HFI Pyrotechnics, north of Prescott, a sign when you arrive states their top value: caring for everyone in the workplace.
By Oct. 12, everyone coming on the property must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
"Our promise to our employees is that no one is going to put you at risk here. this is not where you are going to bring COVID home," said COO Rhiannon Iles.
"Contractors, delivery people, they are going to also have proof of vaccination or follow some really strict protocols while they are here," she added.
A memo asking all employees to be vaccinated was sent out last week, and for those not wanting to get the shot, they would be laid off and still able to collect employment insurance.
"Of course vaccine is a very personal choice and so we've had some employees come forward that don't want to get vaccinated and sort of expressed their concerns," Iles said. "After some conversation, (they) understood that it would continue to be their choice and we hope they would be fine with how our policy was rolling out."
"We are polling the surrounding area of the different businesses to find out which of those are going to have vaccination policies, which are considering them and which are planning not to have them so they can see where there could be possible employment," Iles added.
Vaccination rates among current employees are already very high.
"We have 125 employees on site; as of right now there's 96.7 per cent with their first shot," Iles said. "We have about 81 per cent already with their second shot, so we're well on track to have the majority of the current employees on site vaccinated."
Ninety-one per cent of employees already had their first dose before the policy was announced, a policy which director of organizational effectiveness Stephen Moore says most employees have praised.
"If you can just see some of the faces of people saying thank you because I have a grandmother a grandfather, I have children, they are very thankful," Moore said.
Like two-year employee Vanessa Gonyea.
"HFI has always been ahead of the game with their health and safety policies, trying to keep their people safe so, vaccines are part of that in our new COVID world," Gonyea said.
Both Iles and Moore say there are around five people who have concerns about the policy.
Some reached out to CTV News Ottawa with their concerns, but declined to be interviewed for this story.
Other employees say safety is paramount.
"Just that mental aspect right? Like, everybody's clear you can come in and come work and not have to worry about that," said Brock Walford-Davis.
"Everybody is at least getting tested and then there's nothing major happening so you do feel safer working here," he added.
HFI supplies items like smoke grenades and marine markers for both Canadian and U.S. national defence departments, as well as search and rescue teams. It's a supply chain that cannot be interrupted.
"We're not only doing these efforts for our people here, we're also doing them for the end users of our units because they are the ones on the front line in various places around the world," said Iles.
The company is even offering paid time and transportation for employees to receive the vaccine, with accommodations made for those with medical or religious reasons.
"We were one of the first masked businesses in March 2020 when the pandemic was announced," Iles said. "We've changed all of our HVAC systems to have the highest filtration possible for our air exchange in the area."
"We weren't looking for the conflict (with the policy)," she said. "Everyone here is a member of the same family and we're really just trying to keep everybody safe."
"At the end of the day we're on the right path and we've always been ahead of the curve so that's the right place to be," said Moore.
"The CEO of HFI Pyrotechnics is a real champion of health and safety and the people so he, throughout this COVID pandemic, has really challenged us to lead the curve on how we can protect our people," added Iles.
