The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an alert listing safety tips employers can follow to help protect construction workers from exposure to the coronavirus.
Measures that can help protect employees working in construction include:
- Encouraging workers to stay home if they are sick;
- Training workers how to properly put on, use/wear, and take off protective clothing and equipment;
- Allowing workers to wear masks over their nose and mouth to prevent them from spreading the virus;
- Continuing to use other normal control measures, including personal protective equipment, necessary to protect workers from other job hazards associated with construction activities;
- Advising workers to avoid physical contact with others and directing employees/contractors/visitors to increase personal space to at least six feet, where possible. Where work trailers are used, all workers should maintain social distancing while inside the trailers;
- Promoting personal hygiene. If workers do not have immediate access to soap and water for handwashing, provide alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60 percent alcohol;
- Using Environmental Protection Agency-approved cleaning chemicals from List N or that have label claims against the coronavirus; and
- Encouraging workers to report any safety and health concerns.
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