Over the past few months, worksites, including construction sites, resumed their operation despite the pandemic. While reducing the spread of the virus becomes our top concern, it can be pretty challenging for construction workers. For one, construction workers can’t work from home — if anything, they have to work closely together. Indeed, construction projects will continue to confront challenges as far as COVID-19 is concerned.
Of course, no business owner wants their business to close doors. But while the operation and your clients’ needs are your prime concern, your workers’ health should still be at the very core of everything you do.
Here are our tips for how you can still best manage a site amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
1. Build a culture of trust
From the very beginning, it was clear that not only would this pandemic impact the health of the clients and employees, but also the health of the construction business. Of course, our main goal is to make sure that everyone is staying safe, even outside the workplace.
To do this, the first step is to build trust within your company. When you trust each other, you will be able to speak up when needed to avoid major headaches — and even save lives. And when concern for each other naturally grows, they will be able to make health-related decisions. Such decisions include staying home if they’re unwell or if they were exposed to the virus. They will even start observing safety measures because they do not want to risk spreading the virus to anyone else.
2. Allow work-from-home set-up if possible
Companies must consider reducing the number of workers in a site due to the contagious nature of the virus. As much as possible, team leaders should determine which tasks they can complete off-site. By doing this, all on-site workers can practice social distancing while sticking to the gathering limits.
3. Establish clear communication
In case you missed it: communication is the key to every successful business. But it is needed more than ever in this time of the pandemic. Make sure that you keep lines of communication open between everyone involved with the project.
Assign a communication representative who will deliver all messages to the team and the client. Then, implement a clear channel where you can share updated policies and procedures as required by the government.
Also, don’t forget to utilize the power of communication by raising safety awareness. You can do this by putting up COVID-19 posters and mandating everyone to report their health conditions and whereabouts.
4. Maintain a clean site
We all have ideas on how to maintain personal hygiene to combat the spread of the virus by now. Nonetheless, you need to provide further knowledge to your employees, partners, and clients.
First, provide handwashing stations on the site. Make sure that the employees understand that they must wash their hands regularly, especially when arriving or leaving the site. It is also worth knowing that the virus can survive longer on surfaces. Instruct the team to wipe down site areas, tools, and trailers after every shift.
5. Expect the worse: symptomatic employees, or worst: positive cases
A worker who shows any symptoms of an illness should be advised to stay at home for 3-14 days. Consider excluding an employee from the project until he is symptom-free without the help of any medicine.
And if worse comes to worst, and an employee tested positive for COVID-19, put an action in place immediately. Have the infected worker leave the site, and make sure to notify the supervisor and the site management.
The management must take action by suspending on-site work and accomplishing the contact tracing form. They must clean all areas and sterilize the whole site. Furthermore, the management must inform the clients and partners regarding the situation while protecting the identity of the impacted employee.
It may seem like we are living in a baffling time, but we must not attempt to open doors without preparation. There are concrete steps you can take to keep your people and company safe. Make sure that you follow these steps to do just that. Most importantly, always follow the basic protocols, such as proper hygiene, wearing masks, and social distancing.