All businesses in the construction industry in the commonwealth are permitted to resume in-person operations starting Friday, May 1 – one week earlier than previously announced. Yesterday evening, the Wolf Administration issued guidance for all construction businesses and employees to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
The Governor’s guidance permits local governments to impose more stringent requirements than those contained in the guidance and in such instances, businesses must adhere to those more stringent requirements. As of the time of this email, we are awaiting a response from the City of Philadelphia to explain how they will respond to the Governor’s guidelines surrounding the May 1st reopening of construction statewide. The City will have final say for the conditions and requirements imposed on all projects located within the City of Philadelphia.
All businesses and employees in the construction industry must adhere to the Secretary of Health’s order providing for business safety measures, which requires that every person present at a work site wear masks/face coverings and that protocols be established to address an exposed or infected person on a jobsite.
All construction projects must maintain proper social distancing and provide hand washing and sanitizing stations for workers, as well as cleaning and sanitizing protocols for high risk transmission areas. Businesses must identify a “pandemic safety officer” for each project or work site, or, for large scale construction projects, for each contractor at the site.
For commercial projects, the number of individuals permitted on enclosed portions of a project varies depending on the size of the enclosed site. Commercial construction firms should also strongly consider establishing a written safety plan for each work location containing site specific details for the implementation of this guidance to be shared with all employees and implemented and enforced by the pandemic safety officer.
Businesses that have questions about whether this guidance applies to them may email the Department of Labor and Industry at RA-LIBOIS-BUILDINGS@pa.gov.
GBCA will continue to monitor the situation and send updates as more information becomes available regarding any additional local guidance in the Philadelphia region.
