COVID-19 PREVENTION PROCEDURES WHILE WORKING ON A TLN CONTRACTING CONSTRUCTION SITE

Hygiene Practices 

  • Clean your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds – before you eat and at the end of the workday, during the work shift whenever possible, and when you get home from work. 

  • Do not shake hands; avoid physical contact. 

  • Do not share food, drinks, cigarettes, personal hands tools. 

  • Do not touch your face, eyes, nose, mouth with unwashed hands (i.e., smoking, drinking water, eating, etc.) 

  • Follow good respiratory etiquette by covering your mouth and nose with a disposable tissue or the crease of your elbow when you sneeze or cough. 

  • Regularly clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces and tools. 

Project Orientations 

  • Limit the number of persons in the orientation – a chair spacing between workers. This may require hosting the video orientation sessions more often. Where practical, move orientation outdoors and conduct a verbal orientation – reinforce physical distancing. 

  • Use the BCCSA Health Screening Tool to verify that workers are not feeling sick and so they are aware of what the symptoms are so they can self-monitor. 

  • Disinfect used pens, tables, chairs after each orientation. 

As part of the verbal orientation, discuss: 

  •  Physical distancing of 2 meters. 

  •  Hygiene, and location of hand washing and hand sanitization stations. 

  • What the company is doing at the site to promote a safe workplace and remind them that their health is important to us. 

  • Where the safety posters are located. 

  • The importance of reporting to their supervisor if they are feeling unwell and leaving the project. 

Health Verification of Workers 

  • At start of shift, Supervisor to confirm the health status of contractor workers. Document issues. 

  • Supervisor, each day, to ask for updates of workers that have left the site for self-isolation. Document changes. 

  • At end of shift, Supervisor to confirm the health status of contractor workers. Document status.

  • If a worker on-site is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, direct them to go home and use the BCCDC COVID-19 Self-Assessment Tool. Document this incident and clean and disinfect any surfaces in the area where the worker was working. If the worker is confirmed to have COVID-19, further cleaning may be required by a professional remediation team. 

Health Verification of Visitors Prior to site Access 

  • Question all site visitors on the current status of their health – use BCCSA Health Screening Tool. 

  • All site visitors (owner, consultants, inspectors, etc.) should limit site visits unless necessary for Business Continuity reasons. If visits are required, please:
    a. Give site representatives 24 hours’ notice that you are visiting the site.
    b. Practice physical distancing (2 meters). 

Stairwells 

  • Avoid passing each other on the stairs. Wait on the landing until person has exited stairs. 

  • Consider designating directional stairs if possible. If there are separate up and down stairs this will reduce the possibility for people to pass each other on the stairs.

When wearing gloves 

  • Do not touch your face, eyes, or mouth. 

  • Make sure that hands are washed thoroughly or disinfected with hand sanitizer as soon as possible after gloves are removed. 

Meetings at Site 

  • Hold outside in open areas. 

  • Where possible conduct meetings by phone or web-conferencing.

Work Locations 

  • Maintain physical distancing between workers. 

  • Stagger work crews to reduce the number of people on site, if possible 

  • Where possible, reduce the number of partner workers. 

  • Don’t mix workers on crews. 

  • Post signage promoting proper physical distancing protocols. 

Tools 

  • Avoid sharing tools or equipment. 

  • If you have to share equipment, clean and disinfect points of contact on the equipment. 

    Example: on a shared extended work platform, before use wipe down controls, gate, guardrails and any other parts touched by hands. Disinfect it when you are done. 

First Aid Treatment 

  • If conscious and capable of answering, ask the worker the BCCDC COVID-19 Self-Assessment Tool questions to verify current status of their health. 

  • Workers who are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 should be isolated from other workers until they are able to be transported home or to a health-care facility 

  • Workers who are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 should wear a surgical mask while they are in isolation and during transportation to reduce the spread of droplets from their exhalations, coughs or sneezes. If a surgical mask is not available a cloth face covering could be used. The area should be cleaned and disinfected as soon as possible after treatment has completed. 

Handwashing and Hand Sanitizing Stations 

  • Install handwashing stations complete with soap and water in strategic locations on the project site. Install hand- washing posters at each location: 

  • If hand-washing stations are not practicable, hand sanitizer stations may be installed. Make sure that wipes are provided to allow people to remove dirt and soiling from hands prior to sanitization.