Social distancing in a construction site?

The corona virus is now a global pandemic. The world is now facing uncharted waters with a virus capable of spreading incredibly fast and shutting down majority of the world’s economies. Currently there are 53 countries in Africa infected with over 12,966 confirmed cases and a tragic 695 deaths. All is not grave as governments have taken swift action through controlled curfews and in extreme cases complete shutdowns of all citizen movements to curb the spread.

Man getting tested. Source:BBC

With such a huge impact that has brought a complete standstill across industries its time for the building and construction industry to take corona virus as a current urgent matter. Until a confirmed virus/cure is discovered the pandemic has forever changed how we move, socialize and work. So how can the construction industry contribute and most importantly safeguard its personnel that form its most integral assets?

Companies are facing a clear dilemma. Do we shut down or carry on with current projects? How do we safeguard the health of our employees faced with a contagious pandemic? The answers aren’t simple and can only be handled based on the guidelines provided by the health organs and governments in each country as per the spread. However its not business as usual and the pandemic must be taken very seriously.

Based on the World Health Organization corona virus(COVID-19) pandemic guidelines, social distancing is the safest option for work sites for your current employees but what does this mean?

Social distancing in a construction site

Ways to enable physical distancing of 1.5 m to reduce in-person contact of workers

• Careful scheduling of work to produce distance between working personnel and individuals e.g schedule some tasks to alternate rather than concurrently.
• Minimize number of workers or team size i.e reduce workers on a particular task.
• Ensure fixed work spaces are away from areas with high traffic , people and amenities.
• Change of lunch breaks, start times and end times to reduce large gathering of individuals.
• If a large part of the project needs to be undertaken requiring large numbers of workers i.e slabwork let it be done within a specific day or timeframe.
• Encourage good hygiene practices such as washing taps in sites.
• Cancel non-essential activities and large face to face meetings.
• Limit any unnecessary visitors to site.
• Encourage flexible working arrangements and leverage collaborative technology where possible.

Communication

• Keep staff informed on changes and why they are important to them.
• Communicate effectively with client and stakeholders so that they are well informed of any new policies and procedures put in place.
• Promote preventive actions by your staff. Lead by example.
• Display educational materials.
• Plan for procedure of when workers arrive sick at work and communicate to the workers e.g set isolation room.
• Plan for increased levels of staff absences.
• Actively encourage sick workers to stay home.
• Keep up to date with measures and advice on how to prevent spread of Covid-19, including any restrictions on normal business activity.

How to keep you and your workers safe?

• Provide washing taps with soaps and sanitizers for use on entering the working site,after using bathrooms, after lunch breaks, after sharing equipment and regularly throughout the day.
• Limit sharing of tools and equipment and where necessary, provide gloves or sanitizing products.
• Increase routine environmental cleaning of the workplace-vehicles, equipment, shared working areas.
• Clean and disinfect high touch surfaces regularly e.g machines, plant control panels, star trails, toilets , bathrooms, meal areas and offices.
• Provide access to toilet paper, tissues and cleaning supplies.
• Where possible provide good ventilation, open windows enhance airflow , air conditioning in work stations.
• If providing food, ensure hygiene practices among food handlers and suppliers.
• If change rooms are provided do not share items like towels.

The world is facing an unprecedented invisible enemy that doesn’t discriminate . Its our goal to do our part in laying measures that prevent spread, protect others and work hard to bring things back to normal.

In our next article we will showcase great ways the building industry has stepped in to stop previous and current epidemics and some lessons we could learn from how the future of the industry might change.