Electrical Industry Adopts Strong COVID Safety Rules
Electrical Industry Adopts Strong Safety Rules
YOUNGSTOWN, OH — Greater emphasis on hygiene, daily health checks and encouraging sick workers to stay home are just some of the changes that electrical contractors expect to remain in place even as the coronavirus pandemic ebbs.
Electrical contractors say they look forward to business getting back to normal – or at least closer to normal – as orders to shelter in place and restrict economic activity in Ohio and Pennsylvania ease.
“We’re actually pretty busy and we’re ramping up manpower,” reports the marketing manager for VEC Electric in Girard, Becky Bertuzzi. The company is bidding for additional jobs as well, she says.
Bertuzzi says VEC had only two in-state projects affected by Ohio’s stay-at-home order, while work on out-of-state projects continued. Crews adhere to any work practices in effect in the states where the projects are.
The recommended distancing of six feet is “pretty simple” to comply with on some projects, she says. In addition, workers aren’t gathering for lunch breaks or meeting in large groups on site, and most office employees are working remotely.
“We’re using video conferencing as much as we can,” Bertuzzi says. “No one is actually meeting in person.”
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In Pennsylvania, electrical contractors are “somewhat back to business, slowly and surely,” says Justin Bruce, executive vice president of New Castle-based Bruce & Merrilees.
The company had been performing work for customers whose businesses had been deemed essential, while a large percentage of business sectors in Pennsylvania had been shut down, Bruce says.
Bruce & Merrilees has work in several states – including Indiana, Maryland and West Virginia – where construction had been deemed essential from the beginning of their business shutdowns, he says. Construction is permitted again on Pennsylvania projects.
Even so, man-hours for Bruce & Merrilees are down about 35% during the pandemic.
The company has effected “all new procedures” to ensure that workers are coming in healthy, Bruce says. They are required to perform a daily self-check to ensure they are not coming to work ill, and Bruce expects some work sites will be requiring temperature checks. Some office personnel will be brought back but he expects most to continue to work remotely.
For out-of-town stays, each person gets his own room, where previously two would have shared one. Rooms are booked for seven days to ensure no one else is using them
“Our team has responded exceptionally to all the changes,” Bruce says. He acknowledges that wearing masks is something that workers are still getting used to, and will become even more difficult as the weather gets warmer.
“It’s hard enough to wear a mask just going to the grocery store.”
Other measures being taken include wiping down tools and color-coding radios so each is assigned to a specific individual. Some customers require paperwork to verify steps being taken, Bruce says. Pennsylvania also requires a designated safety officer on site.
“We’ve got to adapt to our customers’ needs and requirements. Which we are,” he says.
