CNESST – COVID 19 construction sites

In order to protect the construction sector and its workers from the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the CNESST committee for COVID-19 construction sites was created. The committee was created with the help and involvement of the public health department as well as union and employer organizations in the construction sector.

This committee was set up for the following reasons:

The creation of this committee is linked to the resumption of activities in the construction sector. The CNESST will follow the evolution of COVID-19 in Quebec and publish regular updates to keep companies in the sector informed about best practices and solutions.

If you are a construction worker or if you have a construction company, you can consult the daily checklist that the commission has developed in order to ensure the application of appropriate measures on site.

Preventive measures

Employers in the construction industry are responsible for taking the necessary preventive measures to protect workers and ensure their safety and health. As for workers, they must also take good measures to protect their health and safety and that of those around them.

If a company does not comply with government standards and advice regarding the COVID-19 context, a CNESST inspector could order the temporary closure of the workplace until the necessary modifications are made.
Hygiene measures to be implemented on construction sites >>

How to check the health of workers on construction sites?

Every day, the employer must make sure to check the health of all his workers. To do this, he must ask each employee a few questions when he arrives at the workplace:

If the worker answers yes to any of these three questions or if he experiences symptoms, he should return home. The answers to these questions are confidential and must be protected by the employer.

Conditions for an employee that has had COVID-19 to return to work

The public health department authorizes return to work if the following 3 conditions are met:

How to respect social distancing on construction sites?

Employers are responsible for implementing the necessary measures to maintain a social distance of 2 meters between each worker at all times. To do this, it is important to control the presence of workers in the workplace to ensure that there aren’t too many workers at the same time in the same place.

During a short period of time, it is possible that the minimum social distance can’t be respected. If this is the case, the worker must make sure to cough in his elbow and refrain from touching his face. As for transportation to work, the vehicle occupancy rate should be reduced to 50%. The CNESST also recommends avoiding face-to-face meetings and encouraging virtual meetings.

What are the preventive measures to adopt if work must be carried out in a place contaminated by COVID-19?

If emergency work (electricity, plumbing, etc.) must be carried out, you must respect the minimum social distance of 2 meters. Also, make sure to wash your hands frequently and clean your tools when you leave the premises.

Is personal protective equipment (PPE) against COVID-19 on construction sites necessary?

No, PPE (mask, gloves, etc.) is not necessary, except in the case of a specific situation. However, workers should wash their hands frequently and refrain from touching their faces.

Hygiene measures recommended by the public health department

Need help managing work schedules or calculating hours worked during COVID-19?

Mobile Punch makes life easier for business managers and employees by simplifying the management of timesheets, payroll, project tracking and by creating detailed reports.

Knowing how to properly lead a work team, whether big or small, is not an easy task. Each person in a team is a unique individual with a personality and temperament that sets them apart from others. This is why, when we group together different individuals on the same team, it can sometimes lead to communication problems or confrontations in the workplace. Unfortunately, these situations often end up affecting the productivity of your employees.

However, if you proactively manage these situations and take your role seriously, your team will succeed in achieving its professional goals. You will not necessarily get everyone on the team to love one another, but your employees will be able to work together to achieve a common goal.

No matter how productive your team is, there are always useful strategies to maximize your productivity. Before analyzing these different strategies, it is important to understand the difference between productivity and efficiency:

Productivity and efficiency are absolutely essential to create a good work ethic. Balancing productivity and efficiency may seem problematic at first, but once you do, some tasks will stop being a burden to you and your business will flourish.

Here are some practical tips to increase the productivity of your employees:

1. Know the strengths and weaknesses of each member on your team

As a leader, knowing how to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each member on your team is paramount to unleashing the potential of each of your employees. Each individual is talented and knowing how to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each member of your team will help you allocate tasks more efficiently and improve your team’s productivity and commitment.

In order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your team, it is important to listen carefully and observe your employees. The goal is to train employees who know what they are good at and what they need to work on. In this way, you will create an environment that invites people to share their mistakes, so you can learn collectively and gain in productivity.

h2 Improve communication

Good communication is a key factor in a team because it allows companies to be productive and work more efficiently. If your employees feel comfortable raising their hands when they have doubts and you clearly communicate the objectives of the company, there will be less confusion within the team and your employees will be more productive.

As a manager, it is your responsibility to maintain good communication within the team and to ensure that everyone understands their professional duties and responsibilities.

2. Invest in technology

Time management and organizational culture are essential to improving the productivity of your team. It is equally important to ensure that your team has the right technology to work with. Creating digital workspaces will help your employees collaborate more effectively. This is extremely important if your workers are spread across multiple sites. Take a look at our application, Mobile Punch. By using the software on their mobile phone, each member of the team can exchange data, information, and assign tasks in real-time in a simple and effective way. In addition, the leader of the group is able to create new projects, enter cost details and calculate the sum of labor expenditures.

Make sure your company has effective video conferencing technology as well so they can meet and share their ideas easily. Invest in quality mobile technology – smartphones, tablets and laptops – to help your teams be productive no matter where they work.

Finally, you also have to make sure to train your team to use these different technologies. Remember, technology is an investment.

3. Organize team building activities

The motivation and productivity of your team will vary depending on the synergy that exists within the team. If your team gets along well with each other, it will strengthen team spirit and make the work environment more dynamic. There will be better cohesion between your team members, which will translate into higher productivity.

When different people work together in the same team, there is a good chance that some people will not get along. In order to promote harmony within your team, you can organize team-building activities. This will allow your employees to get to know each other better and to ease interpersonal conflicts at work.
h2 Offer incentives to your employees

Employees tend to be more productive when they have incentives and feel that their efforts are rewarded. Several companies choose to put in place an incentive program to motivate their teams. There are many different types of incentives such as monetary incentives, paid vacations, flexible hours, restaurant dinners, extra holidays, and so on.

4. Create a good work environment

It is not easy to find a balance between work and personal life. Most of the time, stress and work pressure can affect the mental health of your employees. That’s why creating a healthy environment to work in is essential to your team’s success.

Happy employees are loyal employees, and loyal employees can accomplish great things in your company. In addition, a healthy work environment improves productivity and reduces costs related to absenteeism, staff turnover, etc.

5. Congratulate your employees

Different things will motivate your team members, but most of the time it’s enough to acknowledge their efforts and congratulate them when they do their job well. Positive reinforcements can be given individually or collectively.

Congratulating an employee for a good job in front of the entire team is a good way to motivate and inspire others to excel. It also promotes a healthy work culture in the organization, which will help increase team productivity.

6. Give feedback to your team members

Performance evaluations and constructive feedback are essential to increase the productivity of your team. If your employees do not know that they are inefficient, it is unlikely that your team’s effectiveness will increase.

It’s important to be open with your employees and tell them about the different opportunities within the company to motivate them to change the way they work. Once you have shared your feedback with them, encourage dialogue and ask them how you can help them in return.

7. Communicate effectively

Direct communication is essential to increase the productivity of your teams. All members need to understand what the priorities are – in the short, medium and long term. Team members also need to understand the hierarchy of goals to be achieved and the efforts that need to be made.

In addition to direct communication, communication must also be open and transparent in both directions. As a manager, you must foster an honest culture of communication. It is important to create an environment where everyone feels free to express themselves and share their fears and ideas.

Once again here, mobilepunch.ca can help you. Indeed, thanks to the application, all the members of the team will be able to transfer information via the application (description of projects … Photos, plan, etc.) in order to increase the quality and the speed of the communication, this will have a very beneficial effect on productivity.

8. Trust your team members and give them responsibilities

If you want to improve your productivity, be sure to empower your employees and let them make their own decisions from time to time. They will soon realize that their work can have a direct impact on the team’s performance so they will adjust the way they work.

In addition, by doing this, your team members will feel that you trust their judgment skills and they will develop higher self-esteem, this will positively affect their productivity.

In conclusion, there is no single solution to improve a team’s productivity. You have to create your own recipe and mix some strategies to see what works best for your team. What is certain is that if you offer your employees constant support, good listening, encouragement, and constructive feedback, you will see a considerable increase in your productivity.

Contact Us

Mobile-Punch saves thousands of companies time and money. Call us to find out how we could do the same for yours!

We are located at:
5955, rue Saint-Laurent
Lévis, Quebec
G6V 3P5