Covid-19 Control Plan Contractor.pdf

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Contractor Responsibilities for a Coronavirus (COVID-19) Prevention and

Control Plan if Performing Construction and/or Maintenance Related

Activities in Smithsonian Institution Facilities

I. Overview and Responsibilities

This document outlines measures the Smithsonian requires shall be taken by all Smithsonian contractors performing construction and/or maintenance related activities in Smithsonian facilities to protect worker health and to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease

2019 (COVID-19). For contractors that have a site-specific safety plan (SSSP), a project-specific

COVID-19 Prevention and Control Plan shall be developed. Contractors on projects with a previously approved SSSP shall develop a COVID-19 Prevention and Control Plan as an addendum to their previously approved SSSP

Smithsonian Contracting Officer’s Technical Representatives (COTRs) are responsible for disseminating these guidelines to contractors and shall ensure that prevention and control measures are appropriately implemented to meet project-specific conditions. Separate but aligned guidance has been issued to

Smithsonian COTRs. The guidelines contained within this document are to detail the contractor responsibilities as they work with the Smithsonian through their COTR on matters related to COVID-19

Prevention and Control Plans

To support implementation and maintenance of the most stringent prevention and control measures possible, all Smithsonian contractors with a SSSP shall designate a site-specific COVID-19 officer who will perform a daily audit of onsite controls and personnel behavior. These individuals shall be familiar with all prevention and control measures that are employed onsite and shall have the authority to take prompt corrective measures. Contractor shall designate at least one person and one alternate as the site-specific COVID-19 officer requited to be onsite whenever work is occurring. Multiple contractor

COVID-19 officers may be required depending on the scope of work and nature of the contract.

The COTR and/or the Office of Protection Services (OPS), per specific site requirements, will ensure that all individuals who are working in a Smithsonian facility or property are recorded on an access log. These logs shall be maintained for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic for the purpose of contact investigations.

II. Training and Worker Education

All contractors with a SSSP shall develop and provide up-to-date education and training on COVID-19 risk factors and protective behaviors to onsite personnel. Please note that in-person training/education must follow social distancing guidelines. Training shall be presented in a manner and language that the employee is able to understand. Training/education shall include, but is not limited to:

• Site-Specific Safety Briefings – include COVID-19 information, controls, and prevention:

o Overview of the disease, symptoms, and methods of transmission.

o Control methods based upon site-specific conditions.

o Procedures for reporting symptoms or a confirmed positive test of COVID-19.

o Training resources examples available from the National Institute of Environmental

Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Training Program (WTP).

https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/covid19worker/ https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/covid19worker/

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• Stand Downs/Toolbox Talks – conduct regular training for all workers on the controls and prevention measures which are project and task-specific.

o Example toolbox talks in English and Spanish from the CPWR Center for Construction

Research and Training.

• Posting informational signage throughout worksites o Area-specific signage shall be considered for restrooms, handwashing stations, and break/eating spaces.

o Example signage from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

III. Prevention and Control Methods

All contractors shall employ all available prevention and control measures, following the hierarchy of controls, utilizing the most effective controls whenever possible.

Source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

Prevention and control measures include, but are not limited to:

A. Social Distancing – Every effort shall be made to limit the number of individuals onsite. Contractors shall eliminate, reduce, or alter operations which place workers in close contact to maintain at least a six-foot distance between individuals. Examples of social distancing controls include, but are not limited to:

• Modify work schedules by staggering shifts or offering alternate days of work or extra shifts to reduce the number of workers on a site at one time.

• Institute telework and flexible work schedules for employees with remote-work capabilities.

• Replace face-to-face meetings with virtual communications.

• Reconfigure offices, work areas, and communal spaces to maintain social distance requirements.

• Stagger break and lunch times to reduce the number of individuals in one area.

• Stagger site safety orientations and toolbox talks to maintain social distance requirements.

• Restrict site visitors to essential personnel only. Cease group tours and non-essential walkthroughs.

• Identify choke points where workers are forced to stand together, such as hallways, hoists, and elevators. Consider implementing one-way travel in narrow corridors.

https://www.cpwr.com/sites/default/files/publications/TT-COVID-19.pdf https://www.cpwr.com/sites/default/files/publications/spanish/TT-SP-COVID-19.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/factsheets.html

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• Minimize interactions when picking up or delivering equipment or materials. Organize the placement of materials to minimize movement on the work site.

• Encourage workers who are defined as high-risk, per CDC guidelines, to stay at home. These include adults 65 years and older and people with serious underlying medical conditions.

• Instruct workers to self-identify symptoms of illness using the following checklist, and require sick employees to stay at home. It is not necessary for the answers to be recorded.

Health Screening Questions

1. Since you last came to work, have you had any of the following NEW or UNUSUAL-

FOR-YOU symptoms?

Fever of 100.4 or above, or possible fever-like symptoms like alternating chills and sweating

Frequent cough (not smoker’s cough or your normal seasonal allergies)

Trouble breathing, shortness of breath, or severe wheezing

Muscle or body aches that are not exercise related

Sore throat

New loss of smell or taste

Headache

2. Have you or anyone in your household tested positive for COVID-19?

3. Does anyone in your household have symptoms of COVID 19?

4. Since you last came to work have you traveled internationally?

Employees who answer “no" to all the questions should come to work as scheduled. If the answer to any of the questions 1 – 3 is “yes,” require employees to stay home, contact their healthcare provider and follow the healthcare provider’s advice. If employees test positive or are diagnosed by their healthcare provider with COVID-19, follow the instructions for reporting a positive test result in section “IV. Detection and Reporting Guidelines” below. If the answer to question 4 is

“yes,” the employee should stay home for 14 days in accordance with CDC guidance.

• Individuals with a fever and/or symptom of acute respiratory illness shall not report back to work until one of the following conditions is met, whichever duration is longer:

1. They are 72 hours past the end of their fever, without using fever reducing medications AND at least 7 days after the onset of any symptoms, OR

2. as determined by their health care provider.

B. Routine Cleaning and Hygiene Practices – all contractors shall employ routine cleaning and provide workers with access to appropriate hygiene facilities.

• Routinely clean frequently touched surfaces, restrooms facilities, and shared tools/equipment onsite. Consult the CDC cleaning and disinfection guidelines.

• Allow workers access to handwashing stations and encourage frequent handwashing, particularly before breaks/eating. If handwashing stations are not available onsite, provide an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with greater than 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol. Soap and water shall be used if hands are visibly dirty.

• Promote good hygiene and respiratory etiquette through posting of signage and during regular training. This includes avoiding touching your nose, mouth, and eyes, avoiding handshaking and other close contact, and covering your mouth and nose with the inside of your elbow or a tissue when coughing or sneezing.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-at-higher-risk.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/after-travel-precautions.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/cleaning-disinfection.html

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C. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – proper usage of PPE can help reduce the spread of the virus and shall be employed based upon a site-specific hazard analysis. Certain categories of PPE that may be employed specific to COVID-19 include:

• Use of disposable or reusable gloves may help prevent surface transmission. Reusable gloves shall be of a nature that allows for regular cleaning and disinfection between uses. Gloves shall be of the appropriate type to protect against other known hazards associated with work tasks.

• Respiratory protection: OSHA has issued interim enforcement guidance regarding the use of N95 filter facepiece respirators (FFRs). Employers whose employees are required to use or are permitted voluntary use of respiratory protection must continue to manage their respiratory protection programs (RPPs) in accordance with the OSHA respiratory protection standard

(1910.134) and shall pay close attention to shortages of N95 FFRs. Employers shall reassess operations to identify changes they can make to decrease the need for N95 FFRs. If respiratory protection must be used, employers may consider use of alternative classes of respirators that provide equal or greater protection.

D. Cloth Face Coverings

• The CDC recommends the use of cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, and to slow the spread of the virus by persons who are infected but are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic.

• On Smithsonian owned or leased property, it is mandatory to wear cloth face coverings when entering and exiting a facility, and while near other people in common spaces and shared workspaces. Examples of common spaces include entrances/exits, lobbies, walkways, elevators, stairwells, bathrooms, locker rooms, meeting rooms, break rooms, cafeterias, kitchenettes, etc.

• Contractor employees and subcontractor employees shall keep at least one cloth face covering in their possession for use while on site and continue to practice social distancing while wearing a cloth face covering.

• The cloth face covering does not take the place of PPE (like an N95 respirator) that employees may currently wear to perform specific job tasks.

• Cloth face coverings are not to be considered respiratory protection and shall not be used in place of social distancing and hygiene measures. Cloth face coverings are recommended to protect the community, not the actual wearer. The CDC advises not using surgical masks or

N95 FFRs in place of cloth face coverings as these are critical supplies needed by healthcare workers and frontline responders.

IV. Detection and Reporting Guidelines If a contractor is notified by an employee, or subcontractor employee, that they have received a confirmed positive for COVID-19 (by lab test or diagnosed by a health care professional), they must immediately:

1. Isolate the infected individual from other staff and send them home, if the infected individual is on site.

2. Notify their COTR and provide the following information:

a. the number of positive cases,

b. the company, building and project, and

c. the dates the COVID-19 positive individuals worked on site and the date their symptoms started.

3. Conduct contact tracing and provide COTR with the following information:

https://www.osha.gov/memos/2020-04-03/enforcement-guidance-respiratory-protection-and-n95-shortage-due-coronavirus https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover.html

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a. the number of all primary contacts within the contractor’s company, including subcontractors, who were on SI property going back 48 hours before symptoms occurred, and

b. a list of all suspected Smithsonian employee primary contacts going back 48 hours before symptoms occurred.

Upon identification, contractor must remove from site all of the Contractors’ employees and subcontractors identified as primary contacts, and ensure they do not return to site until their quarantine period is complete, if they remain asymptomatic.

During the quarantine period, if a primary contact tests positive or is diagnosed with COVID-19, the contractor must immediately report the additional positive case(s) to the COTR according to the preceding instructions.

At the conclusion of the 14-day quarantine period, the contractor must report to the COTR the COVID-19 status of all primary contacts.

The contractor must ensure any individuals who are COVID-19 positive or ill do not return to the site until the individual is:

• 72 hours past the end of their fever, without using fever reducing medications AND at least 7 days after the onset of any symptoms, OR

• as determined by their health care provider.

During normal business hours the COTR shall E-mail si-coronavirusinfo@si.edu, with the subject

POSITIVE TEST. The COTR should include a description of what is being reported to the inbox, and a phone number they can be reached at, and a COVID-19 team member will respond within the day.

After hours or on the weekends, in addition to e-mailing the COTR, they should call the 24-hour

Smithsonian Communications Center at 202-633-9300 so the SI Public Health Officer can be notified.

mailto:si-coronavirusinfo@si.edu