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

The 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 on into what almost seemed like recovery in early June.

By the end of July, the provincial numbers began to rise again, but the BC government gave construction sites the green light to carry on with social distancing and other measures in place, including heeding Dr. Bonnie Henry’s gathering limit of 50 people in a space where people can be 2 metres apart.

Most importantly, progress meant innovation.

“For example, how do two workers cooperate to hang a door that measures five feet across and still achieve the goals of physical distancing?” asked McKenna in his article.

A forced air respirator proved essential to completing the task for one work team, and companies shared safety knowledge with each other, with industry associations, and with jurisdictions across the country.

“We worked closely with WorkSafeBC to establish new protocols and educate employers and workers on what they needed to do to work safely,” McKenna said. “The construction industry’s response has not always been perfect, but it has been successful to date.”

Building Trades Council executive director Andrew Mercier told the Cowichan Valley Citizen that the industry’s williness to adapt and adopt new measures quickly prevented a shutdown, and he credits WorkSafe BC for its swift and decisive action in assigning hundreds of inspectors to enforce standards that keep workers safe on BC construction sites.

“They [WorkSafe] reacted with lightning speed,” Mercier said. “You had workers staying home, you had projects shutting down [in Ontario and Quebec],” Mercier said. “The difference is policy. Without the quick response, we would have had an industry shutdown. It’s a testament to the people at WorkSafe BC.”

Moving into flu season, the industry is holding strong and as the workforce settles into the new normal, early speculation on the 2021 market is cautiously optimistic.

“Despite the significant impacts of COVID-19 on our economy, the construction sector has remained active and has demonstrated its resiliency in these uncertain times,” Rory Kulmala, CEO pf the Vancouver Construction Association told The Business Examiner. “We will continue to be a key element towards our economic recovery.

“We expect total building permits could post a small gain in 2020 and a larger one in 2021. However, if a second wave occurs or pandemic restrictions extend well into next year, large surges in construction activity will likely remain low this year and possibly next year.”

A construction worker’s job is never done. As the industry continues to follow and refine provincial directives, the framework for a new normal will eventually become clear, and there is no doubt the sector will be at the forefront of progress.

“As BC positions itself for a phased re-opening over the next 18 to 24 months, the construction industry provides a template for doing so safely,” McKenna said. “We offer our hard-won knowledge as a resource so that we can work with other businesses and industries to lead an economic recovery—with a mix of optimism, caution, and expertise—together. ▪

Construction Safety Toolkit Available

The BC Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA), BC Construction Safety Alliance (BCCSA), and other organizations have partnered to develop a free psychological support toolkit available to construction workers and their families who may be struggling with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The toolkit will include information packs, checklists, and access to recordings of an industry expert summit distributed online in five parts in September and October. The BCMSA has also created an online discussion forum so the conversation about mental health and COVID-19 can continue.

“We just want to be able to support workers and employers to ensure that this is an item they are considering,” said Mike Roberts, executive director of the BCMSA. “And it’s not just about the worker. If these tools help a partner or a family member, that’s the ultimate goal—to have mental health help that people can access.”

When Roberts reached out to various industry sectors develop the program, the BCCSA was on of the first to sign on.

“Construction people don’t generally want to talk about their feelings or mental health, but this has really been brought to our attention by industry,” said Mike McKenna, BCCSA executive director. “It’s not something we have manufactured or pushed to make a salient topic. The industry has come to us.”

The team worked together to ensure the program is applicable to the construction environment and uses direct, problemsolving language that those who spend their days on jobsites are used to.

For more information visit, www.bcmsa.ca/psychologicalsupport-toolkit-for-workers-and-employers/

*Created with files from the Journal of Commerce and the BC Construction Safety Alliance.