Coronavirus: What Sanitary Measures should be taken in Construction Works?

You want to know what sanitary measures must be taken on construction sites? East type of projects They can rarely be postponed as they have very strict hours and contracts, and the hiring of staff is temporary in most cases.

Currently, because of Covid-19 virus, there are many restrictions and limitations in most areas, especially where there is a greater risk of contact between employees. Fortunately, several countries are in phase 2, successfully resuming a large part of their work activities.

There are new regulations to avoid the risk of contagion and a new wave of virus expansion, which is why the current preventions for the resumption of construction works they have changed quite a bit. If you want to know what these measures are, keep reading this post.

General health measures for the care of employees

The preventions determined by the government have been created based on the recommendations offered by various international health organizations, according to the risks of each work area.

These must be fulfilled by construction companies to guarantee the well-being of their employees, while preventing a second expansion and the possible regression to the phase 1.

Sanitary measures are divided into several processes, which must be carried out at certain times, from the arrival of the employees, until the moment they end their Workdays.

Entry of workers to the works

On a daily basis, the employer or personnel manager must ensure that they follow actions such as:

• Keep a strict control of the conditions of the personnel at the time of admission.
• Before starting the start time established by the employer, each of the employees will be questioned through a survey about the existence of possible symptoms (cough, difficulty in breathing normally or weakness) and your body temperature will be taken.
• Those with a temperature above 38 ° C will not have access to the plays, including technical personnel and other professionals. The worker in question must be separated from places of common use, and the case must be reported to the authorities.
• The outings destined to purchase supplies or food must be coordinated by the company and a delegate, assigning a single employee to make purchases of at least 10 colleagues.
• The entry line to the work must be in accordance with the social distancing regulations given by the WHO, that is, with a separation of 1.50 meters between each worker.
• The entrance hours to the work must be varied and timed to avoid crowds.

General sanitary measures

These measures are for both personal and community care within the common work areas. The supplies must be provided by the employer, who will ensure at all times that the employees comply with them:

• The employer must inform by various means about the exclusive preventions to be taken into account to avoid risks of occupational contagion.
• All employees must wash their hands constantly, not only at the beginning and end of the day.
• The employer is obliged to provide the implements to maintain hygiene, clean water and soap, and gel alcohol.
• The use of mobile devices or similar objects is prohibited, if they cannot be avoided, they must be disinfected before and after being used.
• Employees must maintain a distance of at least 1 meter between them during the entire working day.
• Gloves and mouth covers should be used throughout the working day.
• Tasks that absolutely need collaborative actions should be performed with as little contact as possible between staff, and after the completion of this task should proceed to cleaning with soap and water, or alcohol gel.
• A manager must be appointed to maintain cleaning and disinfection schedules, both for work areas and for employees.

Organization of common spaces

The changing room, bathrooms and dining room areas are the most prone to a risk of contagion, this is due to that contact between staff, or with objects of common use is more frequent and practically inevitable. That is why they must be administered in order:

• Street clothes must be insulated and ventilated when work clothes are put on.
• At the end of the working day, the cleaning staff must disinfect the place, so that it is completely sterilized for the next day.
• Bathrooms should be stocked with liquid soap and paper towels.
• The hours for the use of the dining room should be organized to avoid having more than 2 or 3 people per table.
• The tables located in the dining room must be lined with nylon, it must be removed during each new meal time.

How to guarantee the health of the employees?

It is important for employers to ensure that staff are aware of potential hazards, guaranteeing them the means of being informed and being able to maintain hygiene within the construction site facilities, the same must:

• Put up posters with preventive information, visual recommendations on how cleaning should be and what measures should be followed.
• Delegates, managers, and cleaning crews should be trained to understand disinfection methods and organization, and also to provide answers and guidance tools to employees.
• To clean common spaces, those in charge of these tasks must be supplied with bleach, water drinking water, liquid alcohol, containers and sprays, gloves, disposable cloths for cleaning tables, floors and Similar.
• These solutions used are flammable, therefore, the use of lighters or any other object that generates fire is prohibited.

Construction works are important, but they are one of the jobs with the highest risk of contagion because employees have a lot of contact with each other to be able to carry out their tasks corresponding. That is why their safety must be guaranteed within common areas, giving them the opportunity to comply with their working hours without worrying about contracting the Covid-19.