As lockdown restrictions are gradually lifted across various industries, there are more and more construction sites looking to reopen and start work again. It’s important that you consider guidelines for staying safe and making sure your construction site caters towards social distancing and reducing excessive contact between workers.

The advice shows that you are less likely to transmit or contract coronavirus in outdoor environments, which is likely the reason for many construction sites getting back to work. With that in mind, here are some helpful tips for staying safe when working on a construction site.

Getting back to work

It’s key to consider who really needs to be on-site, and who can continue to work remotely. For example, support or administration staff may be able to work from home and keep updated via phone.

You should consider planning for the minimum number of people needed to be on-site. Think about your workforce carefully in terms of workers and supervisors and decide how many people you will limit it to, in order to keep everyone safe and not overcrowd areas.

There may be high risk workers amongst your staff, as well as those who may need to self-isolate. It’s so important to support these staff and either allow them to work from home if possible, or offer them the safest on-site roles that will adhere to social distancing measures.

Social distancing

Social distancing measures are still very much in place wherever you go, and this should include construction sites as much as possible. You may want to consider things like staggered start and finish times for staff, to avoid crowding in and out of the workplace. Similarly, you may want to create multiple entry and exit points.

Keeping a 2 metre distance is still important, so separating groups of workers to work on a specific task may be a helpful way of reducing contact between staff.

You should also ensure workers are increasing their hand washing routine and keeping surfaces clean. Many places have begun to install hand sanitising stations at the entry point, which can be a very helpful prompt for staff.

Common areas

One of the most important areas on a construction site is the welfare unit, which can provide a place for staff to have a break and eat. However, this is now an area that must be treated carefully.

You may want to consider staggering break times between staff, to avoid a crowded and busy break area. Similarly, if you have seating and table areas, ensure they are spaced accordingly. To achieve this, you might need to hire more welfare units to ensure staff have ample space.

Construction sites are also often home to portable toilets. It’s important to ensure the area is sanitised after each use, and consider hiring enough units to avoid multiple staff using the same unit.

For times when equipment needs to be shared or passed across, designated drop off points can be helpful to reduce the amount of direct contact. Sometimes the use of shared tools and materials cannot be avoided, so it’s important to find a safe way for this to occur.

If you need special requirements to ensure your construction site is safe for staff to return to work, get in touch with us today and let us help.