Public health measures have been part of our life for the better part of 2 years now, and the situation is not likely to change anytime soon. Every time we think we see the light at the end of the tunnel, a new variant emerges (Delta, Omicron, etc.). Face coverings, hand sanitizer, remote work and social distancing are all elements of workplace control measures that businesses put in place to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Unfortunately, every workplace is at risk of COVID-19 transmission. COVID secure worksites are work settings that are as safe as possible for employees, customers, and site visitors. COVID-19 transmission risks must be identified, evaluated, and minimized.
Here are 7 tips to make your worksite COVID-19 secure:
Employers must conduct a COVID-19 risk assessment of their workplaces as quickly as possible according to the government in order to develop and implement effective workplace control measures. Here are three types of control measures that can be put into action to reduce the risk of transmission in your workplace:
Workplace control measures that should be applied vary depending on the type of economic activity being performed, but this article covers some of the most common ones. It’s important to gather information from different departments and write the findings of the risk assessment so that this knowledge can be easily shared with workers after you’ve identified what must be amended to the workplace safety plan.
Employers should inform their employees of the results of their risk assessment. Employees will feel safer at work if you share the results of your COVID risk assessment, and they will be more likely to take an active role in reducing transmission risks. While employers are primarily responsible for workplace health and safety, employees also play an important role to make sure safety measures are followed.
Risk assessment results might be communicated via email, training, meetings, or site instructions. Employers can also display a notice in their workplace to demonstrate that they have followed government instructions on managing COVID-19 transmission risks.
The government’s initiatives to get people back to work rely heavily on physical distancing. The risk of viral transmission through the air can be greatly minimized by keeping staff and customers at least two meters apart. Businesses may install social barriers, or limit the number of employees and customers allowed in the workplace.
Signage can also serve as a reminder to keep a safe space between people. If certain professional tasks are impossible to do while physical distancing, you should consider whether the personal protective equipment provided to your workers mitigate the risk of exposure. It’s important to make sure all work tasks can be performed in a safe environment!
How do you introduce new technology into the workplace?
Returning to work should be done in stages to ensure that health and safety measures are in place and that you provide a secure work environment for the limited number of employees that will be back in the office. Only vital employees should be encouraged to return to work at first. Anyone who has the ability to work from home should work remotely. For organizations that require employees to operate in construction sites or restricted quarters, limiting the number of employees returning to work is especially critical.
It’s crucial to manage employees as they return to work while also reducing the number of unnecessary visits to the office. Customers and site visitors should be informed of the social distancing measures in place and businesses can limit the number of people allowed on-site at one time. Companies should minimize close contact by implementing one-way flow routes through buildings, controlling worker arrival and departure times, and optimizing work schedules.
Workplace hand hygiene and a solid workplace safety plan have never been more important. Surfaces should be cleaned and disinfected regularly, hand sanitizer dispensers should be available at key locations on the worksite, and face coverings should be worn by everyone on the premises.
Waste must also be considered; if your employees use tissues or disposable PPE, these must be put into closed bins and disposed of in a sanitary manner. By using posters, meetings, and training sessions to promote hygiene in the workplace, you can persuade employees to take additional hygiene precautions.
The tips mentioned in this article are just a few of the safeguards that can help you ensure COVID-19 secure workplace. Any advice generated expressly for your industry, such as sector-specific government guidance or advice from trade organizations should be taken into account. For example, the Canadian Construction Association has developed a set of COVID-19 site operating procedures tailored for construction sites.
How Technology is Changing the Construction Industry
As Canada’s most popular time-tracking application, Mobile Punch can help you create a safe workplace environment for employees in the office and those who work remotely. Businesses of all sizes can use Mobile Punch to better manage their workforce, schedules, and tasks. Moreover, a health form (compliant with CNESST and INSPQ requirements) is also included in the application to ensure that employees who come into work do not have symptoms.
Mobile Punch helps employers keep track of their employees’ arrival and departure times as well as track their trips to work sites using a geolocation feature. Clocking in is safer as it is contactless.
Here is an overview of the services available in our time tracking app:
The Covid-19 pandemic crisis has acted as a development gas pedal in all sectors. Particularly in the construction sector, which has suffered a big blow and faced unprecedented situations. In 2021, digitalization and the use of new technologies have become the norm in the construction sector. With the adoption of technology come many advantages in organization, efficiency, time, and energy saving.
The pandemic crisis has demonstrated how technology has enabled both business continuity and remote project delivery. In this article, we highlight 7 new technology trends that will transform the future of the construction industry.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most fascinating and promising technologies that will transform the world. The use of AI and machine learning (ML) in construction allows for remote project and construction site work by automating repetitive tasks. It creates « digital twins » of buildings that take into account more factors than a human being can.
This translates into better project design, better planning, and better safety and efficiency on the job site. This innovative solution has enabled remote worker reassignment while optimizing 24-hour machine monitoring from powerful dashboards that ensure compliance and quality.
Virtual reality is an immersive technology that immerses us entirely in the digital experience, while augmented reality adds digital elements to what we see live. Using these new technologies can be very beneficial in construction because by immersing your team and the client in the digital version of the project from the beginning, you improve understanding of the project, anticipate problems that may arise, and avoid costly changes after construction has begun.
Thanks to accurate and fast simulations of the changes you want to make to the project, you benefit from real-time feedback in terms of feasibility and risk assessment, allowing you to ensure a safe and controlled environment for workers on the site. In addition, digital reality greatly enhances team collaboration, as they can work together on the project wherever they are.
Building Information Modeling or BIM is a process based on 3D modeling to create and manage project information. It is a key innovation in the development of the construction sector as it allows the preparation of the digitized construction project using all the information necessary for the realization of the project from planning, design, budget, human resources and scheduling.
Each aspect of this process can be linked to related information such as photos, manuals, etc. This technology has the potential to completely change the construction process as it allows professionals to create detailed plans, anticipate changes, detect problems in advance and stay on budget.
Robots are primarily used to perform repetitive and automated tasks. Today, they are especially useful in masonry, painting, vehicle loading and other areas where there is less manpower. In large-scale construction, the most widely used robots are drones.
Indeed, drones have made surveying large construction sites easy and fast. By having a wide and high view, drones can track the progress of projects, locate danger zones, but also deliver materials directly to the construction site, reducing the number of vehicles and people needed.
It is more of a concept than a specific technology. Indeed, intelligent buildings use a set of information technologies to stay connected to the building’s systems, the people who occupy it and its environment. These buildings use sensors, microchips and other automated devices to control the building’s air conditioning, heating, ventilation, lighting and security systems, making it nearly autonomous. This allows building owners or occupants to optimize the use of the building in terms of space and energy consumption.
Sustainable development is at the heart of current concerns and a priority for all sectors. In this sense, many companies in the construction sector are adopting measures to reduce their environmental impact and build energy efficient buildings. One of the first measures is the adoption of automated processes, since this automation leads to the implementation of eco-responsible solutions that consume less energy and are environmentally friendly.
The design and construction of energy efficient buildings requires collaboration between all project stakeholders to ensure that the overall design of the building is environmentally friendly. This includes the use of energy efficient materials and technologies as well as the reduction of carbon emissions and energy consumption.
The integration of mobile technology on construction sites allows time tracking and improves team organization. Thanks to its accessibility and ease of use, Mobile-Punch, the best time tracking application in Canada, allows companies to simplify time management, gain productivity and manage their construction projects in real time.
No longer do your team members have to slow their progress to record their schedules, with the geolocation feature, your employees can punch in and punch out from the job site. With this feature, the administrator ensures that the times are associated with the right project and that the employees were on the job site at the right time. In addition, the application allows you to break down your time into tasks by project and employee. By organizing your tasks in an efficient way for the whole team, you optimize profitability.
Mobile Punch also gives you the ability to generate work orders, quotes and invoices. Here are some of the advantages of using this mobile technology:
Employee productivity
Your employees will no longer have to worry about manually punching in their hours. With the Mobile Punch application, they just have to click a button from their cell phone and their work hours are automatically recorded. This gives them the ability to focus on their tasks and the progress of different projects.
Reliability
Streamlined timekeeping ensures that no mistakes are made and that all employees keep to their schedules and hours worked.
Accurate labor costs
By having an accurate and reliable record of your employees’ timesheets, you have a clear picture of your labor costs. The application communicates the information to your accounting software, which calculates the amount each employee should receive and produces your payroll.
Time saving
Automated time tracking takes away all the repetitive tasks: manually entering employee arrival and departure times, collecting timesheets, entering them into a spreadsheet and sending them to an accounting software. Mobile-Punch takes care of all these data transfers and centralizes them in a single secure location.
Legal security
One of the main benefits of time tracking applications is that they enhance legal security, as they allow you to keep a complete and accurate record of all hours worked and thus avoid litigation situations. Mobile Punch gives you a solid and reliable set of information that you can present as proof of compliance with the rules, while respecting the work provided by your employees by ensuring fair and equitable payment.
Several other benefits include:
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
