COVID-19 Social Distancing The 2 Metre Rule

For the time being whilst Construction Sites remain OPEN, the environment we work in on site can be managed to comply with the Government guidance on how to stay safe during this Covid-19 situation, but please remember we must all work differently in the short term.

We must all buy into this during these times.

In order to summarise the Government guidance, which we have already sent out as a business, the following things MUST be considered:

• Travel to and from work – We will ensure that all times we follow the social distancing guidelines, i.e. 2m away. This completely excludes any car/van sharing and will lead to an increase of vehicles travelling to site, so be it.
• While at work on the site, whether they are in the site office/welfare or are out on site – We must again ensure at all times we follow the social distancing guidelines – If this means people working away from their ‘normal’ desk, then so be it. If this means we have lines on the office floor to ensure 2m gaps are maintained and/or new rules on welfare use or staggered breaks, then so be it, if this means additional welfare/office space is needed, then so be it.
• All non-key site staff, those who don’t need to be on site to supervise/deliver the works (e.g. PLO’s, Cost Clerks etc.) must not work from site and must work from home. This is in place now, but please ensure this continues.
• No meetings / groups to meet within the office. If you need to deliver a site induction / briefing etc. then it must be done outside to limited numbers and again following the social distancing guidelines, if necessary have more than one induction.
• Split your teams up as much as possible, so you have resilience within the project team and a form of isolation in place within the people on site. If this leads to people using the phone to call each other from within the same office block or using TEAMs, then so be it.
• Covid-19 delivery plans must be in place – Ensuring we keep the driver in the vehicle, and all involved in off-loading maintain the 2m rule.
• Insist on daily site TEAMs meetings, so communication is maintained.
• Ensure the site cleaning is ramped up considerably. Regular cleaning during the day and deep cleans at the end of every day.
• Continue to educate and reinforce the message on all sites the importance of personal hygiene in regards washing hands for 20 seconds, preferably using soap and hot water, or hand sanitiser.
• If we have a site operation on site when operatives are normally close to one another when they are working (e.g. Scaffolding) then the operation needs to be reviewed and changed.
• Risk Assessments and Method Statements – All current and future Risk Assessments and Method Statements for individual operations to ensure they all have a Covid-19 section and we have clearly identified what measures we are going to implement and then ensure these are followed out on site.

Please remember out on sites, you have a huge support network around you so please use them. Board Directors, Regional Directors, Contracts Managers, QSE Advisors and HR are all on the end of the phone if you need any help or guidance or if you are unsure about anything related to this bulletin.

Thanks to you all, stay safe.