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On March 23, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued Executive Order No. 20-12. 鈥淪tay Home, Save Lives鈥� became effective immediately until further notice.

The coronavirus outbreak and the governor’s order have had an extremely disparate impact on businesses and employees across the state. For the many Oregonians who do not work in high-tech offices, working from home is not logistically possible. Indeed, a person’s ability to work from home is highly dependent on his or her line of work.

Although some people have the capability to work in their homes for the duration of the governor’s order, most construction workers are required to be on jobsites. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 16 percent of construction workers do some or all of their work from home. EO 20-12 has left construction companies questioning how to operate under the order, and when they can resume normal operations.

Here’s some clarity for your business. Oregon did not issue an essential business list. Instead, it has provided a list of businesses that must stop operating because the nature of these businesses make it impossible to adhere to social distancing protocol. EO 20-12 did not list construction as a 鈥渘onessential business鈥� which means the Oregon construction industry can continue operations as currently scheduled and under way.

For your business to comply with EO 20-12, workers must adhere to social distancing requirements. These include remaining six feet apart and designating a social distancing officer (SDO) to establish, implement and enforce social distancing policies. The designated SDOs must be on the jobsite at all times, and must also enforce social distancing policies as they relate to essential visitors. Work in offices is prohibited whenever telework and work-at-home options are available. Businesses are encouraged to require as many employees as possible to work from their homes. If your business has remote-work technology, it must be utilized to the greatest extent possible for those employees able to work from home.

Several recommendations for working safely on the jobsite 鈥� beyond the designation of SDOs 鈥� include staggering work schedules to lower the total number of employees on the site at any given time, requiring the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) on the jobsite, safety vests with social distancing reminders, safety stand-downs designed to make sure every employee knows and follows new coronavirus safety guidelines, frequent cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces around the jobsite, adding additional hand sanitizing stations, prescreening all employees and visitors to the jobsite, and ensuring any employee feeling sick remains home.

With social distancing measures in place, most work will be allowed to continue. However, some tasks and trades may have to wait. There are aspects of physical construction that are impossible to complete while maintaining the 6-foot buffer required by EO 20-12. Tasks and trades that rely on squads of two people or more to lift or install heavy items, such as glass paneling, will run afoul of the social distancing mandates.

As to whether tasks that will violate the 6-foot rule can continue, a great deal of uncertainty remains. Gov. Brown has acknowledged that 鈥渢he six feet of distancing, telecommuting, that probably doesn’t work on a construction site 鈥� But they also have equipment, from masks and helmets, that should provide a layer of protective gear.鈥� Importantly, several guidance documents released by Oregon OSHA have urged contractors to maintain a social distance of 6 feet where possible. Due to the lack of clarity being provided by the state’s messaging, businesses should evaluate their individual situations and projects, and enact best practices designed to protect their workers’ health and safety.

Contractors should continually evaluate the specific hazards at their jobsites in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Oregon OSHA/Public Health Authority recommendations to determine the most appropriate job hazard analysis for the project or task as it relates to the spread and/or transmission of COVID-19. Businesses should develop job hazard analyses (JHAs) related to each activity for each trade 鈥渨hen social distancing is not an option鈥� because the task or activity requires two or more workers to perform the work.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the way we work, few industries are as well suited to protecting workers as the construction industry. Contractors are accustomed to following complex and ever-changing safety rules as well as finding ways to make inherently dangerous work safer. Working safely in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic will require the industry to adopt the best practices detailed above and develop creative solutions to keep key projects on track and on time. Companies with digital infrastructure can remain busy even as physical construction has slowed. Design and pre-construction can continue, as well as development of more robust processes for efficiency and safety. Contractors should review their contracts regarding any notice and documentation requirements for claims for additional time and costs.

Many industry groups, including the Oregon Home Builders Association and Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter have produced job safety resources available on their websites to assist in keeping construction industry members and the community safe.

Keenan Ordon-Bakalian is an attorney in Jordan Ramis PC’s land use and development practice group. Contact him at 360-567-4843 or [email protected]. This column is intended to provide readers with general information and not legal advice. Consult professional counsel for help regarding specific situations.

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither the author nor the 91视频 guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.