ACPA Concrete Pavement Progress Quarter 3 2020

www.acpa.org Quarter 3, 2020 13 Reinforce Use of Masks, Sanitizer, Precautions “Our supervisors shared information on prevention every day in their safety huddles, which were held with everyone standing six feet apart,” says Wright. Prevention guidelines included equipment operators cleaning equipment before and after use with sanitizer provided by the company, spraying cleaner on portable toilet doors, and reminding employees not to come to work if they are ill. Establish Plans to Address Sick Employees “We work in a lot of rural areas, far from hospitals in some cases, and far from employees’ homes,” says Howard. “Our biggest concern was that crews would go home on the weekend and be exposed to the virus no matter how well we protected them onsite.” Employees who became ill while at work were told to stay in their hotel room or RV, and crew mem- bers, foremen, and HR representatives checked on them regularly. Each foreman knew where the nearest medical center was in case the employee became very ill, says Howard. P A V I N G I N T H E A G E O F S O C I A L D I S T A N C I N G Evaluate Housing Arrangements Arranging hotel or other housing for crews working on jobs in rural areas or far from home is another issue addressed by contractors. While most crew members are provided a per diem, from which they pay for a hotel room, it is common practice for people to double up on a room to save per diem dollars for other uses. Many contractors moved to a system of paying the hotel directly for a room for each employee to ensure that contact was minimized. »