Construction Projects and COVID-19

We are getting a lot of calls from contractors regarding COVID-19 requirements at job sites now that much of the Bay Area has allowed construction projects to resume.  The counties and municipal health departments are requiring that construction sites prepare a new or updated Site-Specific Health and Safety plan to include a COVID-19 “community spread reduction plan”.  The Plan must include a daily screening protocol for arriving workers, cleaning and sanitizing practices, prohibiting the sharing of PPE, carpooling, use of microwaves, water coolers and other shared equipment.  The Plan must be posted and must be translated so that non-English speaking workers are able to understand the plan.  Each project must also have a Safety Compliance Officer (SCO) assigned to the jobsite who is tasked with ensuring implementation of the COVID-19 program at the site.  The SCO must be on-site at all times.  There are no specific training requirements for the SCO other than knowledge of Plan requirements.

One of the more controversial requirements is that each “large construction” jobsite must have a COVID-19 Third Party Jobsite Safety Accountability Supervisor (JSAS) who is to complete a written assessment certifying to the county health department that the job is COVID compliant. “Large construction” is defined as projects with 5 or more workers. The written assessment by the JSAS must be retained by the jobsite employer and upon request sent to a designated health department official. The JSAS must, at a minimum must hold an OSHA-30 certificate and be first-aid trained within the past two years. If you have any questions of plan requirements, SCO or JSAS requirements please give us a call.