12/15/2020

COVID Safety Checklists for Employers & Supervisors

As cases of Covid-19 surge across the country, there is growing concern about keeping our employees safe at work. As an industry, we continue to educate ourselves about practices we can implement to keep our employees as safe as possible, both in the field and in our offices.  Because we are in the construction business, we are in a medium risk business as determined by OSHA. OSHA has a hierarchy of methods which may be taken to protect employees from hazards, including the hazards presented by Covid-19. In the order of preference, they are engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment. Since we are in the construction industry, the engineering controls recommended by OSHA may be feasible in our offices, but they are not feasible in the field.  As a result, our industry must rely upon administrative controls to keep our employees safe in the field. 

Abigail White, of Auman Mahan and Furry has provided for our members two checklists based upon the Guidance Document issued by the Department of Labor/OSHA and the Department of Health and Human Services/CDC for our industry.

The first checklist is designed to be a quick-reference guide for use by those tasked with enforcement of Covid-19 safety on your jobsites and in your offices.  The purpose of this checklist is to ensure your company is taking the minimum, basic required steps to keep employees safe, whether they are working in the field or in the office. It is not designed to encompass every single scenario you might encounter, nor is it intended to ensure your compliance with every federal, state or local regulation you might be subject to.  The purpose of this checklist is to cast a broad net, and help you to implement practices that will protect the greatest number of employees from Covid-19 exposure, no matter what type of job you are working on. 

The second checklist is to be communicated to employees in the field, via a toolbox talk.  This is also designed to serve as a concise and easy reference for employees to remind them of the procedures they must take each and every day to prevent the spread of Covid-19.  You will need to ensure that your site supervision is enforcing these rules on each jobsite.  Do not assume that employees will follow these rules – your active oversight and enforcement is required. This is to be used in connection with the bullet point summary (below) that should be distributed to employees in the field. 

Click Here to Download the Checklists

If you have questions or need specific guidance, you can contact Abigail White at Auman Mahan and Furry at 937-223-6003 or email: akw@amfdayton.com.