What restrictions Corona is imposing on construction site operations – and how construction companies can respond to them
The coronavirus pandemic still has the world in its grip. The construction industry in Germany has come through the crisis relatively unscathed so far. Nevertheless, there are challenges for the industry. In this article, we summarize what is important on construction sites during corona – and how digitalization can help companies.
Auch wenn der Baubetrieb während der Coronapandemie im Hoch- und Tiefbau weitergeht: Für viele Unternehmen entstehen durch Corona zusätzliche Anforderungen und Kosten. Du musst Hygieneauflagen erfüllen und Mitarbeitern die Arbeit unter Social Distancing ermöglichen. Dafür sind Anpassungen des Arbeitsalltags nötig.
Shift operation and small columns in many companies due to corona
According to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, employers must continuously assess the risk of danger to their employees in order to protect their health and safety. If there are specific risks associated with the work, you as an employer must therefore take measures to combat them as effectively as possible. This also applies to the risk of contracting COVID-19.
Where possible, entrepreneurs therefore rely on smaller columns in shifts, for example. Important: There should be a break between two shifts so that employees do not meet. Shared work equipment should be disinfected at the end of each shift.
The division into shifts makes communication on the construction site much more complicated. Seamless documentation in real time is important to ensure that important information is not lost. A digital communication facilitates the processes:
A digital Time tracking for example, enables employees to record their working hours and their wages to be paid – contactlessly, reliably and in real time. Planning and Task management can be implemented much more efficiently digitally anyway. In times of coronavirus, it makes smooth collaboration all the more possible.
Construction companies must provide masks on the construction site during Corona
In order to further reduce the risk of infection in the workplace, the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has included the following in its Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance published measures for the protection of employees. Important innovation: Medical masks or FFP2 masks replace the previously required everyday masks. Protective masks must also be worn on construction sites, especially indoors.
Employers must provide employees with medical face masks (mouth and nose protection) as a minimum.
This regulation must be observed, especially in the winter weeks when renovation and interior work is increasingly taking place. But even when working outdoors, masks protect against the cold and the risk of infection from new virus mutations. As annoying as they are: Masks help the individual employee and therefore the entire workforce. The German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the construction industry (BG BAU) therefore also started distributing FFP2 masks to employees in the construction industry and construction-related services nationwide at the beginning of the year.
Contractors restrict journeys between construction sites during Corona
The requirement to limit contacts is less strict in the work context than in private life. Nevertheless, reducing all contacts is one of the most effective ways of containing the pandemic. Entrepreneurs are therefore well advised to keep the number of journeys between different construction sites and the office as low as possible.
Digitizing processes significantly supports construction site coordination because it enables efficient collaboration, even during the pandemic. Documents are always up to date and all stakeholders can access them from anywhere. Digital collaboration makes it possible for many processes to continue uninterrupted – even during a pandemic.
Delayed building applications due to Corona
If construction companies are currently experiencing a decline in orders, particularly in the municipal sector, this may be due to delayed processes in the offices. The already thin staffing levels in some areas mean that processing times are currently longer. This is more likely to be a delay caused by the pandemic than a genuine decline in demand.
Construction industry experiences supply chain disruption
Like other sectors of the economy, the construction sector is subject to disruptions in the supply chains. Temporary border closures and production stoppages can lead to supply bottlenecks or higher material costs. Since the start of the pandemic in spring 2020, however, this risk has been comparatively mild.
Despite the corona crisis: construction industry strengthens economy
The crisis has been omnipresent since the beginning of 2020 and is creating an unprecedented mood of crisis. But how is the construction industry doing? The ifo business climate index nevertheless rose to 86.2 points in June, up from 79.7 points in May, according to the company survey conducted by the German Construction Federation (ZDB).
However, the construction companies surveyed reported a downward trend in commercial and public construction in particular. Only in residential construction is the order backlog still described as “sufficient”.
But the figures speak for themselves: the main construction industry set a record for incoming orders in October 2020. This was determined by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Long-term forecasts are not yet possible. The construction industry is thus stabilizing the German economy during the coronavirus crisis.
“The construction industry in particular, with its decentralized structure, is very well suited to contributing to the stabilization of the economy. Therefore, construction sites must not be closed”,
says Reinhard Quast, President of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry.
Speech by Reinhardt Quast, Chairman of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB)
You are currently seeing a placeholder content of YouTube. To access the actual content, click on the button below. Please note that data will be passed on to third-party providers.
More informationLong-term changes: New architecture due to Corona
It is already clear that architecture and the construction industry will have to change fundamentally – due to the current situation and the risk of further pandemics in the future. Architects and planners will have to pay more attention to how people will be able to live and work in the future when social distancing and working from home become part of everyday life. However, the coronavirus crisis is already showing ways in which companies can better position themselves for the future and become more competitive by digitalizing their processes.
Would you also like to master the challenges and easily digitize your construction site?
Image credits: saravutvanset / RooM via Getty Images; Chanin Wardkhian/Moment via Getty Images
