Industry guide PREVENT CORONAVIRUS INFEC- TION ON ...€¦ · The employer is responsible for...

Branchefællesskabet for arbejdsmiljø i Bygge & Anlæg

Industry guide

21/05/2020

PREVENT CORONAVIRUS INFEC-TION ON CONSTRUCTION SITES AND IN PRIVATE HOMES


3Prevent coronavirus infection on construction sites and in private homes

CONTENTS4 Introduction

4 Responsibilities and obligationsEmployer obligations ��4Employee obligations ��4Developer obligations ��4

5 How to prevent infection Precautions for prevention of coronavirus infection on construction sites ��5

10 Provide instructions to employees and carry out inspections

10 Other stakeholders/partnersSuppliers delivering materials to the construction site ��10

10 Working in private homes

Introduction


4 Prevent coronavirus infection on construc-tion sites and in private homes

INTRODUCTIONIt is important to follow the guidelines published by the authorities on prevention of coronavirus� Work-ing on the basis of these guidelines, guidance is provided here on how you can prevent coronavirus infection when you are working on construction sites and carrying out renovation work and minor repairs – even in private homes�

RESPONSIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONSEmployer obligationsThe employer is responsible for ensuring that the company’s employees are able to work without risking their safety or health� This includes keeping them safe from coronavirus infection� Coronavirus infection is a new risk that has to be assessed, and on this basis work has to be organised so that employees are protected effectively from coronavirus infection� This is applicable to both indoor and outdoor work� Coronavirus infection can also be risk-assessed as part of a workplace assessment (WPA)�

Work must be organised in consultation with employees� If the company has a health and safety orga-nisation (HSO), this must be involved as far as possible�

The arrangements must be agreed and coordinated between companies on construction sites with several employers: the safety meetings can be used for this, for example� See also the section on the developer’s obligations�

Employee obligationsEmployees are obliged to comply with the instructions and guidelines that they are given or that are agreed in respect of protection against coronavirus infection� Compliance is required during their actual work, when arriving and leaving, when getting changed and during breaks�

Developer obligationsThe developer must ensure coordination and definition of boundaries with a view to preventing coro-navirus infection� This must be done via the health and safety coordinator on construction sites where such a coordinator is required� This is particularly applicable in shared areas, including shared access roads and welfare arrangements�

However, the developer must also help to ensure that health and safety legislation can be observed throughout the entire construction site� In this context, this means that the developer must coordinate the collective initiative involving both the developer and the contractors�

Joint guidelines and agreements provide a basis for good cooperation on the construction site� This includes, for example, agreements on the frequency of cleaning of all welfare arrangements on site, regardless of whether or not they are shared�

For more information about the developer’s obligations, please see byggeproces�dk

Introduction

https://byggeproces.dk



HOW TO PREVENT INFECTION A number of precautions to prevent coronavirus are described below� These have been devised speci-fically for construction sites� Adapt the guidelines to your business and activities so that they are abso-lutely specific� By all means designate an officer for this�

Precautions for prevention of coronavirus infection on construction sitesStay at home if you have any symptoms of disease• Stay at home if you are ill or have symptoms of coronavirus infection� The typical symptoms of early

and mild disease resemble general flu symptoms and symptoms of other upper respiratory tract infection, which include a sore throat, malaise, muscle pain, and possibly a dry cough and fever�

• If you are in a particular risk group and suffer from a chronic moderate or severe disease, talk to your own doctor about whether you should stay at home

Keep your distance• Make sure you can work while maintaining social distancing, remaining at least 1 metre apart� This is

applicable to both indoor and outdoor work� In the case of physical exertion, staying in confined spaces with limited mobility, poor ventilation, etc�, the distance must be increased to a minimum of two metres� Also maintain a distance between the various teams�

How to prevent infection



• There may be a number of you working and moving around a construction site� In this case, you should do the following:• Make a list of who will be on the construction site and when�• Divide up the work areas and mark which companies/trades and employees are to have access to

the work areas, and when� • Make sure that other precautions involving social distancing and limiting the number of people

present can be taken when transporting materials, etc� For example, one or a couple of people from the team can bring materials to the work area�

• Stagger meetings, breaks and home time� This will make it possible to minimise the number of people who are together and allow the necessary social distancing to take place�

• Make sure that good access roads and conditions are maintained so that people do not have to walk close to one another� Access road can be made one-way if necessary�

• Stick to the agreements you enter into in the health and safety plan (HSP), for instance, or in safety meeting minutes� Make sure that everything is accessible for employees�

• Communicate over the phone or via videoconferencing wherever possible�• If possible, hold meetings – construction meetings, safety meetings and project reviews, for example

– over the phone or via videoconferencing� If physical meetings have to be held, they can be held either outdoors or on sufficiently large premises; in the building you are working on, for example� Keep your meetings as brief as possible� Under all circumstances, make sure you maintain social di-stancing and stay at least 1 metre apart, maintain good hand hygiene and make sure you wash both before and after the meeting� Avoid shaking hands with anyone�

• Keep car sharing to a minimum� Find modes of transport where you can maintain social distancing� If car sharing is necessary, observe the advice on hygiene and keeping clean�




• Give priority to outdoor work, where possible�

Keep people/teams together• As far as possible, try to keep the same people/teams together in order to reduce the risk of spreading

infection�

Avoid unnecessary contact• Make sure that deliveries to the construction site are in appropriate quantities, and preferably when

needed for use� This will make it possible to avoid moving products unnecessa-rily and hence touching the materials prior to installation�

• Limit sharing of tools, etc� If this is not possible, items shared should be disin-fected frequently�

Work from home• People on the construction site who are

able to work from home should do so as far as possible� Project planning and purchasing, for example, can often be handled from home�




Clean and disinfect items• Higher priority must be given to the usual cleaning of canteens, toilets, changing facilities, bathing

facilities, door handles, plugs and other typical points of contact� Disinfectants such as soap or sani-tisers must be used for cleaning� Where appropriate, place a notice on the door indicating the time at which cleaning was carried out�

• Machines, hand tools, IT equipment, office workstations etc� should also be wiped down frequently with disinfectant when a number of people use the same machines and tools�

Personal hygiene• There must be access to hand washing facilities with soap or hand sanitiser on the work site� Everyone

should wash their hands or use hand sanitiser frequently�• Cough or sneeze into your elbow� • Changing facilities should be used while maintaining the minimum distance of 1 metre� Contact

surfaces (surfaces, handles, etc�) in changing rooms, etc� should be disinfected immediately after use� • Used disposable face masks with a filter function must be discarded in a manner that prevents others

coming into contact with them� This can be done, for example, by placing them in a plastic bag which is then sealed and thrown away�

• Protective equipment that has to be reused must be disin-fected before and after being used by others� This includes helmets, goggles and ear defenders�

Items can be disinfected using:• General detergents• Other disinfectants such as sanitisers (70-80% alcohol)

Always follow the supplier’s instructions, including requirements relating to protective equip-ment�

Forebyg smitte

Vask dine hænder ofte

Vask hænder tit og grundigt.

Brug håndsprit, hvis du ikke er i nærheden af

vand og sæbe.

Luftvejsinfektioner, som infl uenza og ny coronavirus, spreder sig bl.a. via håndtryk eller små dråber fra hoste

og nys. Beskyt dig selv og andre med disse to råd.

Dæk mund og næse, når du hoster eller nyser.

Brug et engangslomme-tørklæde eller dit ærme

i stedet for din hånd.

Host eller nys i ærmet

sst.dk

Poster from the Danish Health Authority


https://www.sst.dk/da/udgivelser/2020/forebyg-smitte---plakat





Special information about breaks/lunchtime• Have breaks and eat lunch in small teams made up of people who are already working together�

Ideally outdoors, if possible�• Make sure the minimum distance of 1 metre is maintained� • Wash your hands or use hand sanitiser both before and after breaks� Dividing food into portions is

recommended in canteens� • Make sure that the facilities are disinfected before and after each team uses them� These facilities

include tables, chairs, handles coffee machines, etc�, as well as toilets, changing facilities and bathing facilities�




PROVIDE INSTRUCTIONS TO EMPLOYEES AND CARRY OUT INSPECTIONSProvide instructions to employees on how they should work while also limiting the risk of infecting others and being infected� Underline the importance of sticking to the guidelines, and repeat this in-formation if necessary� Remember to ensure that foreign employees have also understood the guideli-nes� Carry out inspections to make sure that employees are complying with the guidelines�

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS/PARTNERSApart from the fact that there may be a number of employers on the construction site that measures relating to prevention of coronavirus infection need to be agreed and coordinated with, there may be other important stakeholders who need to be provided with information, or guidelines may need to be prepared for them or agreements made with them�

Suppliers delivering materials to the construction site Drivers should remain in and around their vehicles as far as possible, and they should maintain a distance of at least 1-2 metres from other people�

The general recommendation is that:• Drivers should unload materials outside the construction site (insofar as this is possible, and by agre-

ement), and employees working on the construction site should ensure that the materials are moved� In this regard, it is necessary to ensure that the necessary technical facilities are available and used�

• When delivery of materials is to be acknowledged, a process must be implemented where there is no risk of infection� Photo or video documentation can be used, for example�

When working in private homes, the same guidelines apply as when working on larger construction sites� A risk assessment of the actual work to be carried out must be performed� The risk assessment should define the following:• Whether an agreement can be made with the resident to do the work when they are not at home,

e�g� in the case of short jobs�• Whether a key can be left outdoors so that the employee can lock themselves in and so avoid contact� • How contact can be avoided if the resident is at home� For example, it is possible to agree on which

rooms the employee is to walk through and work in to be able to get the job done�• How any breaks can be taken with no risk of infection�• The need for disinfection and/or cleaning of the work area before and after work�

Provide instructions to employees and carry out inspections

WORKING IN PRIVATE HOMES



• Whether there is any need to have a meeting with the resident� If possible, hold meetings over the phone or via videoconferencing� If physical meetings have to be held, these can either be held out-doors or on sufficiently large premises� Keep your meetings as brief as possible� Under all circumstan-ces, make sure you maintain social distancing and stay at least 1-2 metres apart, maintain good hand hygiene and make sure you wash�

• If a number of trades will be working on jobs, they can offset their start times or the work area can be divided up so as to avoid a number of people having to work in the same room�

In addition, what precautions should be taken by both parties to avoid infection with coronavirus should be agreed with the customer� In this case, this agreement must be made before work begins and it can be followed up by information in writing, where necessary�

Make sure that the employee has access to soap and water and paper napkins and/or hand sanitiser in their service vehicle�

Give priority to outdoor tasks and bring forward orders for outdoor work, where possible�

The work should be postponed if anyone in the household is confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 or anyone in the household is self-isolating� The work can be done in emergencies, e�g� if a water pipe has burst or the power supply has gone off� However, employees should not work in the same room as anyone who is infected� If there is a risk of coronavirus infection, it is also necessary to clean the work area with disinfectant and wear gloves, and hands must be washed and sanitised thoroughly and fre-quently�

Working in private homes




Bygmestervej 5, 2. sal2400 Copenhagen NV

Tel.: 51 91 14 00

Email: [email protected]

ISBN: Product number: 05.2020

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?Lots of information on health and safety in the construction industry can be found at www.bfa-ba.dk, and you can sign up for our newsletter there as well�

See also the authorities’ recommendations for preventing coronavirus infection:• coronasmitte�dk• sst�dk\corona• at�dk - prevent coronavirus infection on construction sites• at�dk - get answers to questions about coronavirus

The Danish Working Environment Authority has reviewed the guide and finds that the contents – in-cluding text and photos linked to health and safety – meet the requirements specified in health and safety legislation� The Danish Working Environment Authority has merely assessed the guide as it stands and draws your attention to the fact that there may be health and safety issues and requirements that are not discussed in the guide� The Danish Working Environment Authority has reviewed the guide in compliance with regulations and practice as at 3 April 2020�

https://politi.dk/corona/

https://www.sst.dk/corona

https://at.dk/nyheder/2020/03/forebyg-coronasmitte-paa-byggepladsen-1/

https://at.dk/spoergsmaal-svar/spoergsmaal-og-svar-om-corona/

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