Back to work after COVID 19: Top Worker Administrative Controls You Need For Construction Site Safety During COVID-19

Back to work after COVID 19: Top Worker Administrative Controls You Need For Construction Site Safety During COVID 19: 3 minutes

With both essential and non-essential construction sites reopening or continuing work amidst the ongoing global pandemic, we look at the top administrative controls and job site practices required for a safe construction site.

As both essential and non-essential projects reopen or continue with work, it’s more important than ever to ensure a safe work environment for those operating on a construction site.

Construction companies truly focused on safety realize that now is the time to reevaluate how work gets done on the job site. Construction projects are rapidly adopting and implementing solutions that facilitate or ensure the safety and efficiency of their operations.

Here’s what you should keep in mind to ensure a safe work environment for construction workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

See how GoContractor helps keep workers safe with online safety training and more.

Top administrative controls to consider and implement for COVID-19 safety for construction workers

1. How will you onboard, educate, and train your workforce when you go back to work after COVID 19?

Registering worker information puts both you and your workers at risk when completed on the physical job site. The exchange of documents, sharing of pens and close proximity to others leaves you and your workers in danger of COVID-19 exposure and contraction. 

Registration, including worker information, paperwork and credentials can be submitted and stored online via tools like GoContractor. By moving an administrative process like this online, you lessen the risk of exposure for everyone on the job site.

What comes next after registering workers?

Site safety training needs to be complete before those registered can begin work.

Before working on a job site, every worker should receive adequate safety training necessary for construction. Orientations or inductions are mandatory for most projects. How is your job site conducting this safety training? 

Unfortunately, safety training on the physical job site now puts your workers at risk. Gone are the days of gathering into a trailer or office to educate your workers on slips, trips, and falls. You need to ensure quality safety training in a socially distanced manner. 

GoContractor can be used as a digital tool to deliver your site safety training online to ensure construction site safety during COVID.

GoContractor offers complimentary generic safety materials to utilize on our online platform. Our complimentary generic safety materials cover the following topics and make it easy to get started on the GoContractor platform. We have materials that cover:

• • COVID-19 what to know and how to protect yourself
  • Generic Human Resources Information
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Slips, Trips, and Falls
  • Working at Heights
  • Manual Handling
  • Lifting Operations
  • Fire Awareness
  • Electricity
  • Chemicals
  • Incident Reporting

With GoContractor, you can customize your safety training and deliver it all online, directly to your construction workers. Do you have safety training videos or PowerPoint slides you’re already using for safety training, orientations, or inductions? No problem. You can upload videos and powerpoints directly to GoContractor. You can even create custom quizzes.

See How GoContractor Online Orientations Work. Schedule a demo.

2. Does your access control need to change when you go back to work?

Access control turnstiles can quickly become covered with germs if not cleaned properly after repeated use. Look at your current access control systems and determine whether or not an alternative solution is necessary. Any area of the job site that is touched frequently or requires physical check-in by staff security increases your physical interactions and risk of contracting and spreading the coronavirus. 

Alternative and supplementary solutions for your existing access control exist, and it can be contact-free. GoContractor can protect workers from your more frequently touched devices. 

Your workers do not have to risk contamination with our contact-free check-in and check-out feature when used on the job site. 

Construction sites can use GoContractor as an access control solution by having site security scan a unique QR code assigned to a worker who registers with GoContractor. This scan can be done with a mobile device, removing the risk of touching contaminated paperwork and equipment for all involved. GoContractor also integrates easily with common access control systems. 

3. How will you communicate critical information to workers quickly?

When you go back to work, you or your team need to be able to quickly communicate with your workforce in the event of an emergency. What if a worker discloses a positive COVID-19 diagnosis or test result? 

It is essential that you communicate a protocol for your workers to follow in the event of exposure to COVID-19.

The ability to quickly communicate with your workers is key to the safety of your job site. How will you rapidly communicate the risk of exposure, new procedures on the job site, or closures of specific work areas? 

A plan needs to be put in place to enable rapid and accessible communication of critical information to everyone on your job site. Will an email suffice? Will a text message work better for those you work with? 

Find, organize, and implement a rapid communication plan to assist with the ongoing immediate communications that need to take place every day as a result of COVID-19.

With GoContractor, you can make certain qualifications necessary, alerting workers of new requirements when assigned:4. How do you communicate to workers your new COVID-19 working conditions and procedures when you go back to work?

Safety practices and procedures will vary from site to site, depending on numerous factors such as work required and local regulations. What will be the same on every job site, however, is the implementation of new worksite practices and habits. 

Ensure your construction workers are aware of and adequately trained on new practices, such as staggered site entry times, best practices in common areas such as bathrooms and break areas, and any social distance guidelines and procedures. 

First, identify through local guidelines what is required or suggested for safe COVID-19 working conditions. Next, develop a plan to ensure enforcement on the job site. You’ll also need to communicate these new practices to workers to make sure best practices are understood and followed. 

Get ahead of the growing amount of coronavirus related project delays and disruptions while ensuring safety for those on your job site with GoContractor. Learn more.

Only you can know the appropriate safety solutions for your project, but an improved ability to communicate and train workers is something every construction project should strive for. By embracing the impact of covid on construction projects, the industry may happily benefit from a long-needed shift to adopting more digital solutions.