Construction Sites... The day after COVID-19

As COVID-19 has travelled through the world with less than three months using our traditional social habits resulting in more than 1,700,000 confirmed cases and more than 100,000 death cases in different countries over the world. To prevent and to stop this virus, it is needed to change some of our habits especially the direct social contact in any society.

The construction companies (main contractors, Engineers, employers, and sub-contractors should provide new systems for their construction sites concerning COVID-19 exposure with additional measurements and precautions which can reduce the risk of spreading this virus between their employees. Some of these precautions can be:

1. Establishing medical unit at the entrance of the construction site provided with primary instruments and trained prevention staff. The main function of this staff is to check all the construction staff with symptoms of COVID-19 such as sore throat, fever, sneezing, or coughing and allowing them to self-isolate at home for 10 days, as well as anyone advised by public health to self-isolate.

2. The prevention staff is responsible for continuous checking of the project contacting surfaces and places which can be shared between the work-staff like offices, tables, desks, light switches, windows and door handles and working tools.

3. The prevention staff is responsible for continuous checking of the working staff to put the appropriate face masks and gloves.

4. Providing and increasing the available hand-washing facilities on site for all workers and ensuring their location is visible and can be reached easily.

5. Revising and adjusting the work schedules and reorganizing work tasks to maintain two meters distance between workers as much as possible and distributing the break interval between workers so that to reduce the risk of contamination between large number of workers at the same time in the same break location.

6. Minimizing meetings and gatherings in person in closed places. Holding such conventions can be done in open and well ventilated spaces with least number of attendance.

7. If the contractor is responsible of transporting the workers to the construction site:

a. The number of shuttled buses and vehicles should be increased in order to ensure the required social distance between the riders. It is preferable that each worker can sit in one isolated seat and the total number of the riders to be minimized.

b. The buses should be complied with the instructions of the preventing staff (ventilation, cleaning, sanitizing .. etc)

c. It is preferable to use the private transport if available.

8. In case, the workers are living in work camps, this can be a great reason for faster spreading of the virus unless effective infection prevention and protection ways are used perfectly to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.

Many of the up listed measurements are stated in the publications of the international health centers to reduce the risk of COVID-19. These instructions should be followed even after the vanishing of the virus.

Hoping a rapid disappearing of this serious disease and a healthy and peaceful world for all the people on the planet.