COVID-19 DISRUPTION & RESPONSE


Safety & Health Council Stands Up to Support the Industry


By Carol Eaton


going to have widespread jobsite health and safety impacts to the construction industry, AGC of California and its Safety & Health Council jumped into action. Council Chair Steve Phillips,


W


Hensel Phelps, and Vice Chair Donovan Seeber, ACCO Engineered Systems, quickly pulled together a task force to strategize ways the association and the Safety & Health Council could stand up for the industry. Te goal: pool the extensive resources and share best practices of a membership base that represents top construction safety professionals throughout California. One of AGC’s first priorities was


tracking and sharing information about the specific and often differing require- ments for construction operations and safety protocols that had been put in place in cities, counties and jurisdic- tions throughout the state. Early on this was a moving target, with rules changing on a weekly or even daily basis.


Key Resources: Tracking Tool, Jobsite Template


AGC’s Government Affairs team


developed a tracking tool that linked all regional public health orders within a live Google document. “At times we had over 500 people viewing those documents at any given time,” noted Kate Mergen, Associate Vice President, Government Affairs and staff liaison to the Council. As Vice President of Corporate


Safety at ACCO, Seeber found the tool to be an invaluable resource, allowing him to keep track of different require-


www.AGC-CA.org Part of the COVID Flowchart that AGC developed for members. Associated General Contractors of California 11


hen it became apparent in early March 2020 that the COVID-19 crisis was


ments in the many regions his company operates and communicate that to his employees. “Te tracking tool is one resource I use often as a quick reference so I can keep my company up to date,” he said.


“The tracking tool is one resource I use often as a quick reference so I can keep my company up to date.” – Donovan Seeber


In his role as a leader within AGC’s


Safety & Health Council, Seeber was integral to the development of


a customizable jobsite safety plan template, or “playbook” of sorts, based on a similar document that his own company developed. Tis jobsite safety plan template along with an accompanying COVID flowchart diagram outlines the requirements of jobsite protocols, best practices around safety and cleaning procedures recom- mended by CDC, job hazard analysis, daily assessment questionnaires and more.


Kate Mergen Te resources and documents


developed have all been part of a concerted effort to share best practices and resources so contractors can focus on the health and safety of their


Continued on page 12


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24