The construction industry has not been immune to the impact of social distancing measures, with many sites across the country reducing their output or closing altogether. But now as conversations shift to how lockdown might ease, the construction industry is looking to ensure they do not put their employees, customers and the general public at any risk.
Peter Cox have been able to continue essential emergency and repair work throughout the lockdown period, and have maintained the stringent hygiene standards put in place to prevent cross contamination issues. With this in mind, we wanted to publish the steps Peter Cox will continue to take to ensure the safety and hygiene of our colleagues and customers.
Risk assessment procedures
Before any work can commence, we ensure that it is as safe as possible for our teams and the customers we are carrying out the work for. This starts with the creation and authorisation of a Coronavirus Risk Assessment Report for each and every site.
This risk assessment report covers government guidance as well as the Construction Leadership Council’s Site Operating Procedures, assessing factors including hand hygiene, social distancing and the presence of vulnerable persons. This means that use of washroom facilities, site access times and employee break times is different on each project, to ensure optimal safety precautions can be effectively maintained.
Our team also receive Coronavirus Operational Guidance Updates, and all employees have completed the Rentokil Initial hand hygiene eLearning video training.
Protecting our colleagues on site with RPE and PPE
All Peter Cox colleagues receive face-fit testing by an external qualified provider for their Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE), to ensure that equipment they use is properly fitted to them. We also have a clean-shaven policy to ensure RPE can work effectively, and we also maintain a high level of compliance as well as satisfying all our legal duties as an employer.
We require all frontline colleagues to wear additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while working. PPE includes safety glasses or goggles, a disposable mask, latex gloves and safety boots. The health and safety of our team and that of local communities in which they are working is our priority, and this protective equipment is designed to ensure our team can work in the safest way possible.
Onsite safety
To adhere to government requirements, our team maintain social distancing while on a site. Colleagues travel to and from work in individual vehicles and once onsite all team members look to maintain a two metre distance from one another. Where this distance is not possible, the appropriate PPE is worn to protect the team. On top of this, we also have cleaning measures in place onsite throughout the day. All mechanical equipment is wiped down after use and all colleagues are supplied with large quantities of hand sanitiser.
Specialist disinfection services
We work with our sister business Rentokil Specialist Hygiene to support our customers and ensure we have the most stringent, advanced disinfection procedures in place. This means we can advise on specialist disinfection services on our sites, and the specific disinfection services required in different communal areas, meeting rooms and vehicles.
Our technicians have the appropriate PPE, RPE and specialist disinfection equipment to effectively treat a site that has had a confirmed or suspected case of Coronavirus, or to undertake an all-purpose disinfection service prior to site employees returning back to work.
Final words
We follow every step to ensure health and safety is prioritised. The health and safety of our employees and the public remains our number one priority. We are ensuring that we have suitable and sufficient procedures in place to mitigate and minimise the current Coronavirus risks that we face. Our company motto is ‘ensuring everyone gets home safe’ and we are fully committed to achieving this.
If you’re interested in finding out more about a deep clean with Rentokil Specialist Hygiene, visit www.rentokil-hygiene.co.uk/
By Richard Walker, National Technical and Development Manager at Peter Cox
