A Request of our Owner-Members: Apply COVID-19 Safety Practices

BY: CMAA NCC BOARD OF DIRECTORS & LEADERSHIP

REINFORCING THE NEED AND DUTY TO APPLY AND ABIDE BY ENHANCED SAFETY PRACTICES IN COVID-19 TIMES

To our Owner-Members,

The past weeks and months have been filled with uncertainty regarding personal health and safety, continuity of operations for owners, and profitability for the consultant firms and contractors that build our critical infrastructure. Throughout the ongoing pandemic, many members of our Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) organization and the construction management community at large have continued to support our clients and construction operations in our local communities and beyond. In locales where construction has been deemed an essential critical infrastructure function, construction managers and staff have continued to report to offices and job sites where they interact with workers, clients, and often the public. Despite the challenging atmosphere facing our essential employees, we have observed an unprecedented response to ensuring our workers can continue to deliver high-quality services while minimizing the risk of exposure to and contraction of COVID-19.

At this time, we would like to thank our owner-members for the flexibility and adaptability with which you have approached our industry’s current challenges. We have observed best practices being employed at job sites around our region, and we have benefited from creative procurement and contracting strategies that will allow us to continue our important work in improving the nation’s infrastructure. Our owner-members’ dedication to a culture of safety strongly impacts the safety culture on our project sites, ensuring our ability to continue working in a safe environment, which is of course of the utmost importance to our membership. This dedication is exemplified in the following actions that have recently been taken by our owner-members:

• Continuing to address safety as the first priority/order of business in correspondence with the industry.

• Implementing and enforcing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations and guidance, when permitted by contract. Reference and strongly suggest compliance with CDC recommendations elsewhere.

• Requiring submission of a COVID-19 Health and Safety Plan from contractors and consultant firms, as applicable.

• Requiring reporting of COVID-19 cases or suspected cases to be used to identify exposures or possible exposures, and allow that information to be shared with CM and other potentially impacted parties.

While these proactive actions have set a strong foundation for enhanced safety awareness regarding COVID-19, our membership has reported inconsistent application and enforcement of field safety practices within and between local projects. As stay-at-home orders and government restrictions are relaxed, the safety of our workforce (CM and workers) depends upon continued diligence from owners, consultants and contractors to ensure that safety measures continue to be implemented and followed and that complacency does not derail the measures already in place. Ensuring that our construction managers are provided a safe workplace and that they can maintain control over the working conditions to which they are exposed remains priority number one for our organization. As such, we ask for continued collaboration with our owner-members on the following actions:

• Continue to provide open communication and unambiguous direction in correspondence with contractors and consultant firms.

• Utilize strong language to encourage contractors and consultant firms to institute safety measures that comply with evolving CDC recommendations and US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) guidelines.

• Encourage on-site owner representatives to monitor and communicate both good and deficient practices by contractors to provide an accurate reporting of the state of our job sites and allow owners and construction managers the opportunity to address deficient practices.

CMAA has long advocated a collaborative approach to safety management for construction projects and programs. The COVID-19 global pandemic has presented unique challenges to our industry, but because of our safety first culture, we are uniquely equipped to meet those challenges and build upon our industries body of knowledge related to safety; even as our essential workforce has continued operations in often high-risk settings. Our membership and that of the contracting community deserves reassurance that owners, consultants and contractors are collaborating to create the safest working environment possible during this crisis. As such, it is our continued responsibility to push for consistent compliance and cooperation, and diligent enforcement monitoring of safety measures on our job sites.

SAFETY IS A TEAM PRACTICE DUTY ACROSS ALL STAKEHOLDERS ON ALL JOB-SITES.

Sincerely,

The CMAA NCC Board of Directors & Leadership