OSHA Provides COVID-19 Guidance for Construction Workers
June 1, 2020
This week the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) created a webpage for COVID-19 related guidance for both construction employers and employees. The OSHA website includes information on how to prevent the spread of coronavirus on job sites including:
- Using physical barriers (i.e., walls, doors, or plastic coverings) to separate workers from individuals experiencing signs or symptoms;
- Keeping in-person meetings as short as possible while limited the number of workers in attendance and complying with social distancing;
- Screening calls when scheduling indoor construction work to assess potential exposures and circumstances in the work environment before entry;
- Requesting that shared spaces in home environments with construction activities being performed, or other construction areas in occupied buildings, have good air flow;
- Staggering work schedules, such as alternating workdays or extra shifts, to reduce the total number of employees on a job site at any given time and to ensure physical distancing.
Similar additional advice is available on the OSHA COVID-19 webpage. Employers should be mindful of the quagmire of federal employment laws that may affect their business and seek guidance from knowledgeable attorneys in navigating these laws. If you have questions or require assistance in managing your contracting or projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, call Capell & Howard at 334-241-8000 and ask for one of our Construction and Procurement lawyers: Lister Hubbard, Brooke Lawson, Allen Sheehan, or Blake Brookshire. Or, visit our web page at capellhoward.com for contact info and the latest alerts.
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