COVID Contact Tracing and Construction Safety
Jason Anglin, SRMC Board   8-2020

In construction we know the hazards our project teams encounter. We’ve been trained to recognize the dangers of falls, heat stress, heavy equipment and many other hazards that could pose a safety threat. Safe companies have written plans to address known hazards that may be encountered under normal conditions. This year, however, we no longer operate under normal conditions.

Due to the COVID-19 (COVID) outbreak, we’ve had to adapt our work practices to include safety measures to ensure the health of our co-workers and their families such as:

• Social Distancing
• Face Coverings
• Pre-entry Health Screenings

As an industry we’ve taken a proactive approach to reduce the potential risk of COVID. In addition to preparing to prevent COVID exposures we must also prepare for when one occurs. If a suspected case of COVID is reported, we must be ready to investigate the claim.

One of the first steps is social contact tracing. Contact tracing allows for the quick determination of the potential extent of an exposure and taking effective steps to reduce its spread. As managers of construction safety programs, most of us have not been trained to conduct these investigations. Additionally, while contact tracing is an essential part of investigating a COVID outbreak, if done wrong it can allow a potential exposure to continue or cause unnecessary hardship to a worker and their family.

Some of the most important factors to determine when conducting contact tracing are:

• When did the potentially affected person become infectious? (A person is considered to be infectious 48-hrs prior to showing signs of COVID.)
• Who did the affected person come in close contact with during the period they were infectious? (CDC guidance defines close contact as being within 6-ft of a potential infectious person for a period of at least 15 minutes.)

A company should have a developed plan to guide the actions taken after a potentially exposed person has been identified through contact tracing. In cases where a potential exposure has been identified, the individual should be advised to contact a medical professional.

One key for conducting a successful contact tracing investigation is training. John Hopkins University offers a free online training course, which takes approximately 4-6 hrs., reviews the basics of contact tracing, and how to successfully perform an investigation. Using the link below, an organization can train their personnel to better understand the need for contact tracing and how to better integrate the practice into their own COVID safety program.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19-contact-tracing?edocomorp=covid-19-contact-tracing