BC CONSTRUCTION SOLDIERS ON
Despite changing directives and logistical challenges, the BC construction industry has remained healthy and at work these past several months By Jessica Kirby
By / Jessica Kirby
T
he provincial government has launched a phased recovery plan for British Columbia, and businesses, schools, and institutions are opening cautiously, with vigorous plans and restrictions in place. While some businesses survived—and even thrived—others did not, and as a new horizon for BC unfolds, the construction industry is watching from a cautious viewpoint—for now. “Declared an essential service by the provincial government, BC’s construction industry has been working through the pandemic, developing and improving safety practices and protocols that demonstrate that businesses can work safely, even as they face unfamiliar challenges,” said Mike McKenna, executive director, B.C. Construction Safety Alliance in an editorial for The Vancouver Sun. Since March, essential industries and services like construction have understood their responsibility to the province, and continued to operate throughout daily changes in health directives while implementing health and safety protocols as required. “The BC construction industry continued to build essential infrastructure to serve its people, ensuring that construction projects already underway were taken to a point where they were safe and secure and ensuring that the core of the province’s economy continued to operate,” McKenna said. “Given an opportunity to retrench or move forward, many construction companies and their workers continued to report for work voluntarily.” Of course, the construction industry represents a significant number of employees in BC—220,000 workers in total,
including 183,000 tradespeople. In early March there were disruptions in the labourforce as individuals and companies struggled to understand the scenario and quell their fears, but within two weeks, most were forging forward. Despite its reputation as an industry hesitant to adopt new protocols or technology, the industry’s pivot with quick and fearless. Its existing hinge in safety was likely a huge support as companies large and small set to the task of sourcing health and safety materials, equipping and informing their crews, and in many cases, building new health and safety practices from scratch. According to McKenna’s article, physical distancing became the new normal, schedules were adjusted to accommodate day and night shifts where possible, facemasks were deployed, and sanitizing stations erected. “Work crew transportation was limited to fewer workers per trip and a number of worksites introduced non-contact temperature screening to identify possible symptomatic carriers,” McKenna says. “Construction workers were also assigned to isolated work ‛pods’ in which they would only work with a small group of workers each day. If any worker believed they were infected, only the workers in that pod needed to self-isolate.” The diligence and tenacity that defines the construction industry paid off. Despite climbing numbers in other industries, as of the end of May no outbreaks or clusters were reported in construction and as of May 13, WorkSafeBC had recorded only one incident of a construction worker contracting COVID-19 on a job site. The industry soldiered wallandceiling.ca » Fall 2020 » 9
