Coronavirus update: Site operating procedures - protecting your workforce | Features

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The Construction Leadership Council and Construction Industry Taskforce offer advice to manage coronavirus restrictions on site

Andy Mitchell, chair of the government’s Construction Leadership Council and Construction Industry Taskforce regarding construction site operating procedures in light of covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

Construction sites operating during the coronavirus covid-19 pandemic need to ensure they are protecting their workforce and minimising the risk of spread of infection.

This guidance is intended to introduce consistent measures on sites of all sizes in line with the government’s recommendations on social distancing.

These are exceptional circumstances and the industry must comply with the latest government advice on coronavirus at all times.

The health and safety requirements of any construction activity must also not be compromised at this time. If an activity cannot be undertaken safely due to a lack of suitably qualified personnel being available or social distancing being implemented, it should not take place.

We are aware that emergency services are also under great pressure and may not be in a position to respond as quickly as usual.

Sites should remind the workforce at every opportunity of the Site Operating Procedures which are aimed at protecting them, their colleagues, their families and the UK population.

If a site is not consistently implementing the measures set out below, it may be required to shut down.

Self-isolation

Anyone who meets one of the following criteria should not come to site:

Has a high temperature or a new persistent cough - follow the guidance on self-isolation
Is a vulnerable person (by virtue of their age, underlying health condition, clinical condition or are pregnant)
Is living with someone in self-isolation or a vulnerable person.

Procedure if someone falls ill

If a worker develops a high temperature or a persistent cough while at work, they should:

Return home immediately
Avoid touching anything
Cough or sneeze into a tissue and put it in a bin, or if they do not have tissues, cough and sneeze into the crook of their elbow.

They must then follow the guidance on self-isolation and not return to work until their period of self-isolation has been completed.

Travel to site

Wherever possible workers should travel to site alone using their own transport and sites need to consider:

Parking arrangements for additional cars and bicycles
Other means of transport to avoid public transport e.g. cycling
Providing hand cleaning facilities at entrances and exits. This should be soap and water wherever possible or hand sanitiser if water is not available
How someone taken ill would get home.

Site access points

Stop all non-essential visitors
Introduce staggered start and finish times to reduce congestion and contact at all times
Monitor site access 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
Remove or disable entry systems that require skin contact e.g. fingerprint scanners
Require all workers to wash or clean their hands before entering or leaving the site
Allow plenty of space (two metres) between people waiting to enter site
Regularly clean common contact surfaces in reception, office, access control and delivery areas e.g. scanners, turnstiles, screens, telephone handsets, desks, particularly during peak flow times
Reduce the number of people in attendance at site inductions and consider holding them outdoors wherever possible
Drivers should remain in their vehicles if the load will allow it and must wash or clean their hands before unloading goods and materials.

Hand washing

Provide additional hand washing facilities to the usual welfare facilities if a large spread out site or significant numbers of personnel on site
Ensure soap and fresh water is readily available and kept topped up at all times
Provide hand sanitiser where hand washing facilities are unavailable
Regularly clean the hand washing facilities and check soap and sanitiser levels
Provide suitable and sufficient rubbish bins for hand towels with regular removal and disposal.

Sites will need extra supplies of soap, hand sanitiser and paper towels and these should be securely stored.

Toilet facilities

Restrict the number of people using toilet facilities at any one time e.g. use a welfare attendant
Wash hands before and after using the facilities
Enhance the cleaning regimes for toilet facilities particularly door handles, locks and the toilet flush
Portable toilets should be avoided wherever possible, but where in use these should be cleaned and emptied more frequently
Provide suitable and sufficient rubbish bins for hand towels with regular removal and disposal.

Canteens and eating arrangements

With cafés and restaurants having been closed across the UK, canteens cannot operate as normal.

Whilst there is a requirement for construction sites to provide a means of heating food and making hot drinks, these are exceptional circumstances and where it is not possible to introduce a means of keeping equipment clean between use, kettles, microwaves etc. must be removed from use.

The workforce should also be required to stay on site once they have entered it and not use local shops.

Dedicated eating areas should be identified on site to reduce food waste and contamination
Break times should be staggered to reduce congestion and contact at all times
Hand cleaning facilities or hand sanitiser should be available at the entrance of any room where people eat and should be used by workers when entering and leaving the area
The workforce should be asked to bring pre-prepared meals and refillable drinking bottles from home
Workers should sit 2 metres apart from each other whilst eating and avoid all contact
Where catering is provided on site, it should provide pre-prepared and wrapped food only
Payments should be taken by contactless card wherever possible
Crockery, eating utensils, cups etc. should not be used
Drinking water should be provided with enhanced cleaning measures of the tap mechanism introduced
Tables should be cleaned between each use
All rubbish should be put straight in the bin and not left for someone else to clear up
All areas used for eating must be thoroughly cleaned at the end of each break and shift, including chairs, door handles, vending machines and payment devices.

Changing facilities, showers and drying rooms

Introduce staggered start and finish times to reduce congestion and contact at all times
Introduce enhanced cleaning of all facilities throughout the day and at the end of each day
Consider increasing the number or size of facilities available on site if possible
Based on the size of each facility, determine how many people can use it at any one time to maintain a distance of two metres
Provide suitable and sufficient rubbish bins in these areas with regular removal and disposal.

Avoiding close working

There will be situations where it is not possible or safe for workers to distance themselves from each other by 2 metres.

General principles

Non-essential physical work that requires close contact between workers should not be carried out
Work requiring skin to skin contact should not be carried out
Plan all other work to minimise contact between workers
Re-usable PPE should be thoroughly cleaned after use and not shared between workers
Single use PPE should be disposed of so that it cannot be reused
Stairs should be used in preference to lifts or hoists
Where lifts or hoists must be used:
Lower their capacity to reduce congestion and contact at all times
Regularly clean touchpoints, doors, buttons etc.
Increase ventilation in enclosed spaces
Regularly clean the inside of vehicle cabs and between use by different operators.