The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) have announced the joint development of two guides aimed at helping engineering and building services contractors manage coronavirus-related issues on site.
According to Paul Reeve, ECA’s CSR director and a member of the CLC’s working group on site safety measures, the two guides represent “the start of joint ECA and BESA activity to produce more detailed, sector-relevant information that’s desperately needed by many engineering services contractors.”
The freely available guidance is aimed at contractors working across construction and FM in “specific environments” (where there may be higher risk of Covid-19 transmission) and “close proximity working” (where there is a need to work less than two metres from others).
Drawn up with the support of a Covid-19 expert panel made up of BESA and ECA safety practitioners, the two guides do not recommend the deployment of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) for general site activities, most notably where social distancing is possible; and recommend that any decision to deploy RPE should be based on risk assessment.
Rebecca Crosland, BESA health and safety advisor, said: “Businesses must exercise their duty of care under legislation to ensure all workers are protected and ensure that any critical information related to their health and safety is communicated clearly and then implemented.”