Pandemic Brings Health and Safety into the Spotlight on Construction Sites

The pandemic has pushed health and safety requirements into the spotlight. Not only have local governments implemented requirements for job site safety, but contractors often took extra steps to ensure team safety and avoid outbreaks that would require construction to shutdown. OTL, a contractor specializing in water features and fountains, says that safety had always been a priority in construction, but this year, the rules evolved.

“Safety has always been OTL’s top priority and an integral part of our company. We have abided by all health codes that were in place long before COVID-19 to keep the water features we design and build clean and safe for everyone around them, including our team members who design and build them,” J. Wickham Zimmerman, CEO of OTL, tells GlobeSt.com. “The pandemic has brought health issues to the forefront, and we are pleased that we have been implementing measures for quite some time to keep our water features, employees and visitors of our water features clean and safe.”

OTL began implementing new safety measures at the start of the pandemic, including using smaller work crews to ensure social distancing and requiring and supplying PPE materials. “We implemented site-specific protocols for all of our projects across the U.S. so that we could continue to work safely and ensure that our employees and clients felt safe from viral transmission,” says Zimmerman. “The challenges of researching and understanding the varying local requirements and implementing a program that complied were significant. However, in doing so, we were able to continue our work and provide our employees with job security.”

These health and safety measures were necessary for the safety of the crew as well as the success of the project. An outbreak has the potential to shut down construction, costing time and money for the owner. “These rules helped us ensure that should someone get sick, we would not lose the entire crew or have a widespread infection. In addition, we implemented the requirement that all employees wear face masks at all times while on the jobsite—a requirement we had in place long before it became a public mandate in some areas,” says Zimmerman.

In terms of the functionality of the water features, little changed. OTL already implemented filtration and sanitation systems that have become popular during COVID. “In regards to our projects across the U.S., filtration and sanitation systems are routinely incorporated into the water features we construct, and regular maintenance of our water features also helps keep them sterile,” says Zimmerman. “For example, we offer reliable full-service water feature maintenance, from water-quality checks through complex tear-downs and rebuilds.”