You cannot afford to drop your guard!

Even as India is weathering the pandemic storm better than most other countries around the world, we, at L&T, have to a large extent controlled the spread of COVID-19 infections and achieved significant progress since the unlock. However, reports about subsequent waves and countries being forced to retreat into lockdowns reveal that the danger is still clear and present. The recent spike in numbers is largely because people have become careless, disregarding the safety advisories, falsely believing that the good old days are back. Nothing can be further from the truth. With a vaccine still in the making, the reality is that it will be dangerous for people to drop their guard for by doing so they will endanger both their lives and of those around them, not to mention the latent threat of asymptomatic people infecting others.

Being a respiratory illness, transmitted to people in close contact through droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks, the onus on our project and office teams has been to control the spread, even though thousands of people work together in proximity at hundreds of construction sites and offices. “The world is still learning about COVID-19 and so all efforts to stay safe is certainly work in progress,” observes Dr G Sathappan, Chief Medical Officer at the Manapakkam HQ. “It is a well-established fact that one sure way of staying safe is to break the transmission chain by staying at a safe distance from other people and, at the same time, religiously follow all the advisories issued by the WHO, the governments, Central & State and the local authorities.” The encouraging news is that these strictures have been strictly enforced at project sites that has gone a long way to control the spread. “Positive cases are showing a declining trend with very few cases reported recently,” confirms Dr Sathappan, “thanks to all the precautions we have been following.”

Stay away

If ill, stay away. Of course, progress is critical, but it cannot be at the cost of the lives and health of the workforce. By the very nature of the virus, a person can knowingly or unknowingly infect others and hence it is vital that if one feels or suspects having COVID or flu-like symptoms, he/she must stay away, seek medical counsel, get tested and, if found positive, get quarantined and return to work only after being medically certified to be free from infection. Each employee and workman must be their own judge. This holds good even if someone in one’s family or home or neighbourhood in close contact with is showing symptoms.

Maintaining strict social distancing at a project site

Keep safe distance

While it is relatively easier to shift to ‘virtual’ meetings, conference calls and video conferencing in offices to maintain social distancing, it is far more difficult at project sites where multiple hands are required to perform tasks. “Project sites have realigned and re-worked their processes in planning, working in shifts, increasing number of entries & exits at sites and modifying sequence of work to ensure that people are able to maintain a safe distance from each other,” remarks
P Nagarajan, Head – EHS, B&F IC. “Modified protocols and systems have been discussed with clients and consultants for smooth operations,” he adds. With the everpresent pressure to keep things ticking along, site leadership and management have realized that it pays to stay safe rather than being reckless in the pursuit of progress.

Re-arranging accommodation at labour colonies, reducing the number of people working in restricted spaces, introducing alternating workdays or extra night shifts, increasing transport facilities so that less workmen travel together are some other safety precautions taken at sites. An effective ploy, for example, adopted by several sites of MMH SBG has been to introduce ‘COVID Watchers’ drawn from workmen mandated to ensure compliance with the COVID SOPs. “They report into our COVID Warriors who are our medical and EHS staff,” explains Dr K N Sen, Head – EHS, MMH SBG, “who in turn apprise the COVID task force to ensure control.” The creation of a COVID Crisis Command Centre at MMH’s Mansourah Massarah Gold Project involving the client, the consortium partner, the senior management, the medical team and staff members has lent muscle to their effort to combat the pandemic.

Cover faces, keep hands clean

Though cumbersome, unfortunately a mask has become a mandatory accessory for some time to come as is practicing ‘hand hygiene.’ It is essential to keep washing hands before and after shifts and/or breaks, after blowing one’s nose, after using the rest room, before eating, after preparing food, after touching objects like tools and equipment that are being handled by co-workmen, before donning or taking off gloves, before donning or doffing eye or face protection like safety glasses, goggles, etc. and putting on, touching, or removing masks with sanitizers containing 60% alcohol. Make eyes, nose and mouth hands-free!

Implement, assess, ensure and review

The success of any system lies in its effective implementation and the continued effectiveness of the COVID precautionary measures depend on how well everyone aligns to them. The laxness of even one individual can be disastrous for an entire office or site.

“We conduct regular risk assessments to determine if hazards exist at our workplace,” shares Nagarajan with the onus sitting squarely on Medical and EHS personnel to determine, select, provide, train both workmen and employees on the correct use of COVID PPE. “Employees and workmen are provided with a platform for reporting hazards or giving suggestions for improvement in the workplace related to COVID-19,” he elaborates.

“The pandemic is not going anywhere in a hurry,” warns Dr Sathappan, in conclusion, “and hence it is extremely important for every one of us to be constantly on our guard, not letting it down even for a moment because you never know where and how COVID-19 will strike.”

Let us all at L&T Construction take this warning to heart and continue to stay safe while we push forward to make up lost ground.