by Covid-19 has pulled all of us down from our daily pace and put the whole world at a stand-still. The inevitable move from Government to lock down so as to enforce social distancing is the only way to control virus spread in a thickly populated country like ours. But, the move has raised concerns around businesses and their future. Construction industry too, came to a halt and the financial stress has impacted all its related sectors thus spreading fear about construction safety.
The pandemic has struck us in the most crucial part of the year – The first quarter. It is the period deciding the overall production and capital formation for rest of the year. The main concern with the disruption of work is the maintenance of labor and with it the supply of materials to the sites.
After this two month lockdown, we have to start afresh and there are certain things we must focus on in the current scenario. Therefore, its always safe to follow the government regulations and engage in our works with precautions which are good for all the individuals involved.
To beat this worldwide pandemic and to break the chain, we must make sure of construction safety. As a start, we have formulated a 16 rule guideline for a Safe Site. Guidelines will be amended as per Government regulations/circulars released:
- Provide adequate number of sanitizers and facility for washing hands with soap at critical locations, in particular at entrance of sites.
- All laborers must clean their body using soap while entering and leaving the site.
- The laborers should use personnel protection equipment (wear mask, goggles and hand gloves) while travelling to the site and also while working to the extend feasible.
- Laborers and staff at site should avoid close contact with others, either with other laborers/staff or public.
- For Engineers/Architects/Contractors using Vehicles for inspection- keep windows open instead of AC as it will reduce likelihood for virus spread.
- Number of persons allowed in four wheeler is 3, and in two wheeler is one.
- Maintain a log with information regarding location and history of each laborer.
- Each laborer should have a “fit to work” medical check/certificate from a Doctor.
- Monitor the temperature of all the laborers and keep a record of it in the log book for future verification.
- Keep laborers updated and educated about the virus spread and its preventive measures. Do report immediately to the person in charge on site if they are not well.
- If a labor is not feeling well he should stay at home, go to a doctor and should contact Government health authority. No one should ignore symptoms and risk infecting others.
- Laborers or staffs should avoid eating in groups or sharing food.
- Urge staff and laborers to not to attend public gatherings and avoid crowded places. Let us keep our families safe and do not expose them to the risk.
- When there is no work at site, staff/ laborers should stay in their accommodation and avoid travelling without urgency.
- Use phone, or conference call whenever possible to discuss issues instead of face to face meetings.
- Collect Labor/Staff Information in the below given format:
- Does the individual have travel history (Inter state/ Inter district) during the past 21 days? If, Yes collect the details and inform health authorities. Ask to stay in quarantine for 28 days.
- Does he/she have any symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, Breathing difficulty, diarrhea, for the past 14 days?
- Place of stay since lock down?
- Did he/she happened to have exposure to people having travel history?
- Current state of health?
Once you have a Safe Site, you need to follow the below steps and checks to restart your Construction project:
1. Revise work schedules
Follow Government regulations to create new work schedule and plan accordingly.
- Arrange materials and laborers as per their availability
- Mobilize the equipment needed for the work accordingly
- Take time and analyze the situation and plan by slowly increasing the pace of the work without rushing in. This will help to avoid defects and breakdowns which will cost you time and money in future
2. Ensure material availability
After finalizing work schedule, the next step is to check material availability. Many production units and factories are also under lockdown and there is chance of huge demand for materials. This may create shortage of materials and high prices. Avoid purchasing of old stock and redundant materials during this time.
3. Site Inspection
Its a must to inspect the work done before lock down and to take inventory at site to analyse the delays and loss that can affect the work schedule.
Also find out whether, the exposure to weather has caused any damage or any change in the work done till now.
Apart from defects due to weather, check if there is theft or damage.
Check whether the material stored at the site is in proper condition, especially the cement, sand and steel stored at site.
These listed out checks can be done to know whether the materials is usable or not:
Checks for Cement can be found here.
Checks for steel
- Rust formation – Due to weathering, steel on site may have rust formed on the top surface. This is due to its exposure to air, water and atmospheric conditions. TMT bars become brownish when exposed to air but never use severely rusted bars or bars with excessive scaling or splits in it.
- Bend test – Bend it in the shape of V. The bar is checked at the opposite side of bend where tension is created. If there is no rupture or cracks formed on the surface then the steel meets the bend test.
- Cleanliness – The bar must be clean from rust , dust , earthly material , paint and oil. Clean the bars using wire brush and water off the rust particles . Provide corrosion resistant coating if necessary.
- Specifications and no of bars – Confirm the no of bars provided and lap length provided are according to the specification and drawings.
- Binding wires – Check whether the binding wires are properly tied and is not rusted. If rusted, replace the binding wires and tie them closely without projecting out of concrete.
- Covering blocks – Check if there are adequate covering blocks.
Check for aggregates
- Moisture content – Moisture content of the aggregates should be checked and noted. If aggregates were open to rain, it can catch moisture in it. It can affect the water cement ratio of the mortar and concrete mixes. Presence of excessive moisture content in sand causes increase in the volume of sand. Fine Aggregate which contains more than 5% of moisture content in its volume is not suitable for construction purposes.
- Deleterious material/Unwanted organic materials can be mixed up when it is open to atmosphere. Clean the aggregates using Sieve to separate of large deleterious material from it.
- Quantity of aggregates – Check the quantity of aggregates, mainly fine aggregates, since it can be washed off easily during rain.
- Presence of clay – Clay makes the sand cohesive and good quality sand will have very few to no traces of clay in it. For testing presence of clay take a glass and put some sand in it and stir thoroughly. Allow it to settle for some time and the sand should form its apparent layer. The presence of clay in sand should be less than 8%.
4. Labor management
The number of laborers deployed at site should adhere to Government regulations/circulars. Maintain labor logs and health as per the guidelines.
5. Follow Government regulations
Make sure to follow all government rules and regulations. The work schedule and planning should be as such we should be ready to shut down any time if and when the Government announces a further lock down. If we plan as such, it will be easy for us to reduce wastage and loss.
If there is any possibility of spread of the virus in the nearby area, immediately alert the government officials.
Please share your thoughts on how we can improve construction safety during this pandemic.
Helpful and very informative