COVID-19 is having far reaching impacts on the construction industry’s supply chains, cash flows and workforces. The pace of the change is so rapid that developers and construction participants across the supply chain need to make sure they are on top of their construction contracts, health and safety policies. The UK Government is currently maintaining that construction sites can continue to operate despite the lockdown, provided the requisite measures are in place. The following are some of the construction site operating procedures for UK workforce during Covid-19:
- Stop all non-essential visitors
- Consider introducing staggered start and finish times to reduce congestion and contact at all times
- Plan site access and egress points to enable social distancing –you may need to change the number of access points, either increase to reduce congestion or decrease to enable monitoring, including in the case of emergencies
- Allow plenty of space between people waiting to enter site
- Use signage such as floor markings, to ensure 2 metre distance is maintained between people when queuing; reminding workers not to attend if they have symptoms of Coronavirus (Covid-19)and to follow guidelines
- Remove or disable entry systems that require skin contact (e.g. fingerprint scanners)unless they are cleaned between each individual use
- Require all workers to wash their hands for 20 seconds using soap and water when entering and leaving the site
- Regularly clean common contact surfaces in reception, office, access control and delivery areas e.g. scanners, turnstiles, screens, telephone handsets and desks, particularly during peak flow times
- Reduce the number of people in attendance at site inductions and consider holding them outdoors wherever possible
- Where loading and offloading arrangements on site will allow it, drivers should remain in their vehicles. Where drivers are required to exit their vehicle, they should wash or sanitise their hands before handling any materials
- Consider arrangements for monitoring compliance.
- Allow regular breaks to wash hands
- Provide additional hand washing facilities(e.g. pop ups)to the usual welfare facilities,particularly on a large spread out site or where there are significant numbers of personnel on site,including plant operators
- Ensure adequate supplies of soap and fresh water are readily available and kept topped up at all times
- Provide hand sanitiser (minimum 60% alcohol based)where hand washing facilities are unavailable
- Regularly clean the hand washing facilities
