November 25, 2020
HED announces changes to its COVID-19 CA Guidelines
As we face the evolving situation of the COVID-19 health crisis, we are continuing to support our clients during while keeping the health and safety of our employees at the forefront. Due to the changing concerns around this outbreak, HED has modified its updated CA Guidelines, initially issued on March 26, 2020.
HED has made modifications to two prior directives pertaining to PPE - the full and updated guidelines are stated here:
• Weekly OAC meetings or other coordination meetings should be handled via Zoom meetings.
• Limited specific on-site services that are required to support construction may include the following:
o Mockup reviews
o Field observation reports
o Pay app reviews
o Punch walks
• Prior to going on site, the Project Manager or PIC needs to ensure that the General Contractor is following CDC guidelines and reinforcing ‘social distancing’ for safety.
• Prior to directing any staff to go to a jobsite, the Project Manager and PIC need to check with the staff know that if they are comfortable with going to the site. If a staff member is uncomfortable going to the site due to COVID 19 related concerns or is in a high-risk group, they should not go to the site and should continue to shelter in place. In this event, please work with your Discipline Leaders to determine an alternate staff member who can make the site visits.
• Any staff member that is ill, should not go to the construction site.
• All HED employees must wear a mask, in addition any site specific items must be observed. A face shield should be worn in addition to the mask if 6 foot distance cannot be consistently maintained.
• When conducting site visits, there will be no requirement to enter construction trailers or confined spaces involuntarily. Physical distancing and mutual wearing of PPE/face mask is a minimum requirement for voluntary site trailer entry. Duration of time in the trailer if entered, should be limited to 15 minutes or less, either intermittently or consecutively, in a 24 hour period.
• For project access on occupied sites, the Project Manager or PIC needs to request that project personnel be provided a separate entry/access point that will allow the project team to better manage the human contact, interaction and social distancing elements.
• If team members are required to traverse corridors or facilities utilized by occupants, for instance in hospitals, the Project Manager or PIC needs to request those corridors be cleared for project personnel to quickly and efficiently perform site work that must be completed.
• If possible, request to conduct the site visits after the tradesman have left the site for the day.
• Make sure that the site visits are organized (e.g. prepare and issue agenda) to avoid protracted and inefficient site visits.
• In certain cases, it may not be required for our staff to conduct a physical site visit to observe construction. Consider having the General Contractor provide photographs for those conditions that are amenable to that type of review.
• Our contracts may require a specific number of site visits, the Project Manager or PIC should check with the Client and General Contractor to determine if less frequent visits can be made as a result of the current circumstance without impact to the quality of work, determination of conformance to the Contract Documents and/or schedule for construction.
• When conducting a site visit, please complete a Site Observation report and make note on the report that the site observation was conducted during the “COVID-19 Outbreak.” This is just good practice to note that we continued to provide site observations during this period of time.
If you have any other concerns or questions regarding any aspect of providing CA services during this time, please reach out to your HED contact for details.
HED has made modifications to two prior directives pertaining to PPE - the full and updated guidelines are stated here:
• Weekly OAC meetings or other coordination meetings should be handled via Zoom meetings.
• Limited specific on-site services that are required to support construction may include the following:
o Mockup reviews
o Field observation reports
o Pay app reviews
o Punch walks
• Prior to going on site, the Project Manager or PIC needs to ensure that the General Contractor is following CDC guidelines and reinforcing ‘social distancing’ for safety.
• Prior to directing any staff to go to a jobsite, the Project Manager and PIC need to check with the staff know that if they are comfortable with going to the site. If a staff member is uncomfortable going to the site due to COVID 19 related concerns or is in a high-risk group, they should not go to the site and should continue to shelter in place. In this event, please work with your Discipline Leaders to determine an alternate staff member who can make the site visits.
• Any staff member that is ill, should not go to the construction site.
• All HED employees must wear a mask, in addition any site specific items must be observed. A face shield should be worn in addition to the mask if 6 foot distance cannot be consistently maintained.
• When conducting site visits, there will be no requirement to enter construction trailers or confined spaces involuntarily. Physical distancing and mutual wearing of PPE/face mask is a minimum requirement for voluntary site trailer entry. Duration of time in the trailer if entered, should be limited to 15 minutes or less, either intermittently or consecutively, in a 24 hour period.
• For project access on occupied sites, the Project Manager or PIC needs to request that project personnel be provided a separate entry/access point that will allow the project team to better manage the human contact, interaction and social distancing elements.
• If team members are required to traverse corridors or facilities utilized by occupants, for instance in hospitals, the Project Manager or PIC needs to request those corridors be cleared for project personnel to quickly and efficiently perform site work that must be completed.
• If possible, request to conduct the site visits after the tradesman have left the site for the day.
• Make sure that the site visits are organized (e.g. prepare and issue agenda) to avoid protracted and inefficient site visits.
• In certain cases, it may not be required for our staff to conduct a physical site visit to observe construction. Consider having the General Contractor provide photographs for those conditions that are amenable to that type of review.
• Our contracts may require a specific number of site visits, the Project Manager or PIC should check with the Client and General Contractor to determine if less frequent visits can be made as a result of the current circumstance without impact to the quality of work, determination of conformance to the Contract Documents and/or schedule for construction.
• When conducting a site visit, please complete a Site Observation report and make note on the report that the site observation was conducted during the “COVID-19 Outbreak.” This is just good practice to note that we continued to provide site observations during this period of time.
If you have any other concerns or questions regarding any aspect of providing CA services during this time, please reach out to your HED contact for details.