91视频

With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading rapidly across the United States, states are restricting public movement and shutting down swaths of the business sector.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Monday ordered citizens to essentially stay in their homes and leave only for work, supplies or medical necessity. However, a number of industries 鈥� including construction 鈥� were declared essential and allowed to stay open, subject to stringent social distancing and safety practices recommended by Oregon OSHA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the Portland-metro area, builders are proceeding. But they’re taking measures to try and prevent the spread of the virus.

The big question is: Are such actions enough?

On Tuesday, Hoffman Construction Vice President Dan Drinkward confirmed that a subcontractor’s employee working on a project at Intel’s Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro tested positive for COVID-19.

“The worker had limited contact with other employees,” Drinkward stated in the email. 鈥淗e was working on the exterior of the building. The individuals he had contact with have been notified and are self-quarantining. All workers on site were notified yesterday.鈥�

A change in routine has since taken place at the site, said Willy Myers, executive secretary and treasurer for the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council, an organization that represents trade unions in and around the Portland-metro area.

鈥淲e’ve taken some pretty extreme actions out at Intel for social distancing measures that have been recommended by CDC and OSHA,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re taking those actions and encouraging the general contractors to also take those actions. We want our members to be safe and not be exposed. But we’re not going to overreact either.鈥�

New protocols call for sanitized buses to transport workers to the site, and common areas used by workers on the site to be sanitized at least three times a day. Even the lunch tents, which normally have space for some 2,500 workers, now have spots marked with tape six feet apart for people to sit and eat.

Workers’ shifts have been staggered to prevent too many people from clustering together, while jobsite meeting sizes have been limited and the number of people allowed in man lifts and elevators has been cut.

Hoffman Construction has been implementing an increasing array of safety measures on jobsites over the past several weeks, Drinkward said.

鈥淚t’s an extremely dynamic situation,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’ve been increasing our social distancing measures over the last 10 days and we’re constantly evaluating what we’re doing. In addition to following CDC and OSHA guidelines, we’re constantly talking about this as a company and getting feedback from people and trying to improve.鈥�

The situation is anything but normal, Drinkward said.

鈥淲e’re taking pretty extraordinary measures, and where we’re not going to operate safely, we’re not going to do it,鈥� he said.

Intel has done a 鈥減henomenal job鈥� of taking care of workers, said Jim Anderson, business manager for Operating Engineers Local 701. Its members are running several large tower cranes on the jobsite.

鈥淭hey’re such a good player,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd a lot of the contractors are as well. They changed to the staggered lunches and a lot of other measures. And we said, 鈥榊ou guys do what you gotta do so we can keep people employed and have a safe jobsite.’ These are special circumstances and special times, and everybody’s coming together. The thing about it is we have to keep building. If it’s safe, we have to keep building,鈥�

Intel’s Ronler Acres is a large jobsite, Myers added, but there’s no reason these protocols can’t be adopted on smaller sites.

鈥淲e’re getting the word out,鈥� he said.

Many contractors are taking initiative, such as creating task forces to address the crisis and implementing their own policies. General contractor/construction manager JE Dunn Construction, for instance, has taken multiple coronavirus-related precautions at its jobsites, including adding more handwashing and sanitizing stations, and implementing social distancing for morning stretch-and-flex routines. These were already in place before Brown issued her order, according to Amy Winterowd, a JE Dunn Construction vice president for client solutions.

鈥淚ndeed, it’s true that most everything that is already in place remains in place,鈥� she stated in an email. 鈥淭hings are fluid and we are all responding as rapidly as possible.鈥�

Nevertheless, some workers are questioning why jobsites remain open. One who provided comments on condition of anonymity said that keeping crowded jobsites safe from spread of infection isn’t feasible.

鈥淲e have many older workers, and construction is impossible for social distancing,鈥� one electrician wrote the 91视频 via email. 鈥淗ow is this a good idea during Covid? As long as they’re open, I’ll come get a paycheck, but it seems reckless from the perspective of greater good.鈥�

Robert Camarillo, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council, said jobsite culture traditionally has been for workers to ignore illness and injury and just keep working. Plus, sick days often are limited. As a result, tradespeople are more hesitant than most to blow the whistle on uncomfortable or even dangerous conditions.

鈥淭hat’s the type of workforce we develop,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s similar to our first responders; we just power through these things. But what we’re doing is making sure our folks know they don’t have to go to work if they feel sick or don’t want to stay home. That’s why we fought so hard to makes sure unemployment benefits were expanded. With that in place it does give the workers some security to stay at home if they’re impacted by COVID-19.鈥�

In Portland, however, there are few signs of work slowing. The largest sites in the city, including Block 216, various jobs at Portland International Airport and others are running largely as normal.

鈥淚t’s so fluid it’s changing daily,鈥� Camarillo said. 鈥淛ust when you think you have some facts, they change. Obviously these are unprecedented times for us as well, just like everyone else, and we’re doing everything we possibly can to ensure our members are not put in vulnerable places or high-risk places without safety precautions.鈥�

Michelle Brunetto is the safety director for general contractor Bremik Construction, as well as chairwoman of the safety and health council for Associated General Contractors‘ Oregon-Columbia chapter. She told the 91视频 that Bremik and other contractors are enacting many safety measures. They include increasing handwashing stations, minimizing use of enclosed job trailers, sanitizing radios and tools and other objects and hard surfaces multiple times per day, maintaining minimum physical distances between workers on site, and ordering those who feel even slightly sick to stay home.

鈥淲e’ve come up with a list of best practices,鈥� Brunetto said. 鈥淏ut this is such a moving target; how do we do this? There’s not a rulebook on this. We haven’t been faced with this before by any stretch of the imagination. So being aware of those types of concerns and trying to head those off as best as possible with continued communication is important.鈥�