The latest news is we’re in for national lockdown number two, as a new strain of COVID-19 spreads like wildfire. Many non-essential businesses are shutting up shop for the foreseeable future, while others adapt and try their best to keep their staff and customers safe. Scorpion Scaffolding, as an essential part of the construction trade, will continue to put into practice some of the techniques that scaffolders throughout the UK have developed to do just this, so we can ensure our clients in Esher and its surrounds receive safe scaffolding suited to the unique challenges of 2020 and 2021.
But what about the end users of our scaffolds, once we’ve packed up and moved onto the next project? That’s the subject of today’s blog: what workers at height on scaffolds can do to minimise the risk of spreading COVID. If you’ve stumbled across this blog post searching for a scaffolding specialist covering the Esher area, and wish to speak with our scaffolding contractors directly, cut right to the chase by calling 01483 235 514 or 07932 919 200.
Sanitisation – Before and after working on scaffolding, we recommend thoroughly disinfecting / sanitising your hands with an effective anti-bacterial soap or gel. Due to work on scaffolding being so tactile, with the poles, work surfaces, tools and materials all being handled during the course of the average construction or development project staged around Esher, there’s a high potential for transmission if workers fail to sanitise their hands. Even if recent tests have confirmed being COVID negative, simply heading to the shops on a lunch break could see transmittal occur later on, when returning to the scaffolding site.
PPE – Gloves and goggles are often employed on scaffolding, protecting fingers from sharp edges, scrapes and knocks, or eyes from dust and shrapnel. The mask is also not uncommon for its filtering out of fine and potentially dangerous substances. All three of these pieces of PPE take on a new significance now, protecting our eyes from being inadvertently rubbed, our lungs from inhalation of dangerous pathogens, and our hands from picking them during the course of our daily routine. So we recommend all those in Esher working at height consider incorporating scaffolding PPE for both the traditional reasons, and these new ones!
Smaller Teams – A busy scaffold sees many parties come into contact within close distance or contact of each other. If individuals, companies and contractors around Esher believe that particular tasks can be completed by individuals or smaller teams than would usually be employed – then consider this option. You can accomplish this by staggering shifts. Projects might take slightly longer, or require hours being moved about, but risk of transmission will fall.
Appropriate Self-Isolation – The culture of working in the UK often sees individuals “tough it out” and head into work with various symptoms of colds, flu and migraine; now COVID is our everyday reality, we simply can’t take this approach anymore. If an individual to be working on scaffolding has any of the officially recognised symptoms, or has been in contact with someone around Esher who has, then insists they get a test before coming into work.
Monitor Advice – Official advice is constantly changing, so there may be more health and safety measures introduced within your particular sector between the time of publishing this article, and you reading it. So keep your fingers on the pulse and regularly check to see what the latest and most relevant advice is. It could have entirely changed!
Welcome to the Scorpion Scaffolding home page. We are a scaffolding company based in Guildford, covering all locations in our hometown as well as Woking, Farnham, Godalming, Weybridge, Cobham and the Surrey area.
