Hockey gear manufacturer Bauer gets green light to make visors for medical staff
Equipment to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic would be produced at the company's innovation centre in Blainville, Que.
Bauer said on Twitter: “Right now, we’re all on the same team. We’re repurposing our facilities to make face shields so that medical professionals battling COVID-19 can safely continue to help those most vulnerable.” PHOTO: BAUER Hockey/Twitter @BauerHockey
MONTREAL — Canadian hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer says it has received government authorization to produce protective gear for medical staff and first responders.
The company says it has modified its production line to make full-face, single-use visors.
However, it needed to notify the provincial Ministry of Economics and Innovation and get the green light to operate as an essential business.
All non-essential businesses in Quebec have been closed under order of Premier Francois Legault.
Dan Bourgeois, Bauer’s vice-president of product innovation, says he received an email from the government at 2 a.m. on March 26.
Bourgeois adds that demand has grown, meaning the company will try to ramp up its daily output in the hopes of producing 500,000 units.
Quebec’s federation of medical specialists said in a statement it is happy to see businesses such as Bauer lending a hand in the fight against COVID-19.
The federation salutes “the initiatives of private companies that are offering their resources to the health network, notably to ensure we have reserves of protective equipment,” spokeswoman Clementine Maes said. “To face this crisis, all help is welcome.”
