For months, we’ve known that COVID-19 respiratory droplets can travel up to six feet, and that’s why we keep a physical distance of six feet from each other. Health experts also have recommended limiting contact with others to less than 15 consecutive minutes to avoid the transmission of the coronavirus.
But now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is updating that guidance.
The federal agency is cautioning that respiratory droplets, which spread when someone with COVID-19 coughs, sneezes, talks or breathes, can be transmitted beyond six feet in certain indoor environments. According to the CDC, these small droplets and particles can linger in the air for minutes to hours, and they can infect people even after the individual with COVID has left the space.
And it has updated its definition of “close contact” to mean contact within six feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. That means a person with COVID could infect somebody else if they are in contact for just a few minutes at a time over a day for a total of at least 15 minutes.
For worksites, these new recommendations mean managers and supervisors will need to take another look at the safety measures in place to ensure they’re doing all they can to keep workers safe. Here’s what you can do to shore up worksite safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Proper PPE
Many workers have long donned personal protective equipment — from face masks to safety glasses — to keep themselves safe as they work around harmful materials. Now they need them to protect against COVID-19 too.
Face masks are proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends their use, along with other personal protective equipment, on jobsites. PPE ensembles, OSHA says, also can include gloves, eye protection or face shields.
The federal agency notes that it may be impractical for some workers to wear a single mask during an entire day because of the nature of their work. The mask might get dirty, sweaty or otherwise contaminated. Employers should provide clean cloth face masks or disposable options for workers to replace coverings that might need to be removed during the course of the day.
Social distancing
To limit the spread of the coronavirus, the CDC recommends that we stay at least six feet away from others when possible. Now we also need to be mindful that, according to the new guidance, aerosol droplets could spread the illness farther than six feet from an infected person.
Keeping others at an arm’s length or farther is tricky on a worksite where some tasks require people to work together in tight quarters. That’s another reason why face coverings and PPE are so important. But it also means we need to continue to be mindful of our physical distance from others, including on elevators and in trailers, vehicles and other spaces where workers may congregate. The CDC recommends limiting the number of people in those spaces at any given time.
When social distancing isn’t possible, try to limit close contact between workers to less than 15 minutes every 24 hours, according to the latest CDC guidance, which can reduce the risk of transmission.
Cleaning
It’s less likely that an individual will catch COVID-19 by touching their own mouth, nose or eyes after contacting another surface with virus particles on it, but it’s possible.
Surfaces that are regularly touched or shared must be cleaned and disinfected. Think tools, machines, vehicles and equipment, along with ladders, handrails, doorknobs and portable toilets. For construction sites, the CDC recommends that these areas are cleaned at the beginning and end of every shift and after anyone uses a vehicle, tools or workstation.
At the same time, it’s important to encourage proper hand-washing among team members and provide alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol across a worksite.
Ventilation
With new guidance that COVID-19 can be transmitted through airborne particles, managers should take another look at the ventilation and air filtration provided inside any indoor spaces.
When possible, the CDC recommends:
- Opening windows to allow for air flow.
- Operating bathroom fans continuously.
- Upgrading HVAC filters to the highest-rated filter the system can accommodate.
- Continuously running the fan that comes with your HVAC system.
- Using air purifiers to cut down on airborne contaminants.
Contact Tracing
When an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19, robust contact tracing is critical to identify individuals who may have come into contact with them, so you can ensure that the virus doesn’t quickly spread across your team. That could lead to serious health impacts for your workers and potentially halt work altogether.
Contact tracing starts with the local health department, who is responsible for leading contact tracing and investigating outbreaks, according to the CDC. To ease the process, the CDC recommends that employers establish a COVID-19 coordinator or team, create a response plan and be ready to quickly provide information and records to the health department.
Need help encouraging your workers to keep a social distance? Wondering how you’d ever conduct contact tracing after an employee tests positive for COVID-19?
Triax’s Proximity Trace solution alerts workers when they get too close together. It also collects information about worker interactions, including how long they were together, and has the ability to show aggregated durations over a 24-hour period. As the CDC redefines what “close contact” is, Proximity Trace’s ability to track worker interactions over 24 hours can speed up contact tracing if someone tests positive and allows for quick action to ensure the illness doesn’t spread among your workforce.
Learn more about how Proximity Trace can help keep your worksite safe and productive be downloading the factsheet below.
