Coronavirus: Builders get the hard word on sloppy safety standards
Builders are being urged to dob in competitors blatantly breaking coronavirus safety rules on construction sites.
Tradies returned to work under alert level 3 a week ago, and by Saturday WorkSafe had received just six coronavirus-related complaints about construction sites, mostly about physical distancing failures.
But some members of the construction industry are unhappy about operators flouting the rules and taking shortcuts to save time and money.
Auckland franchisee of Cambridge Homes Mike Lough said it was frustrating seeing other builders ignoring safety standards, such as the need for workers to keep at least one metre apart, and allow only one sub contractor on site at a time.
Christchurch's Te Pae convention centre has had to reduce workers to 200, but it will ramp up to more than 300 over the coming weeks. Pre-coronavirus there were between 400 and 500 workers on site.
"In our industry we get money when we achieve milestones and builders are encouraged to build fast.
"Under level 3 there's about a 70 per cent decline in productivity because I cannot have a carpenter and an electrician in the same house on the same day at the same time."
Lough said the amount of cleaning required added up to about two hours work a day for his staff because once a house was enclosed, touch points such as vanities, door handles, and window catches had to be wiped down.
"Our team is spraying down the portaloos every few hours."
Fowler Homes managing director Ivan Stanicich said it was easy to spot rule breakers in residential subdivisions because their sites were not fenced, and sub contractors should simply refuse set foot on sites without appropriate health and safety measures in place.
"As horrible as it sounds I would encourage anybody to dob their fellow builder in if he's not doing the basics, the rules are not hard.
"There was a bit of a shot gun start last week, employers thought, 'great, we can get back to work,' and it's bloody hard to tether these guys and say 'you can't do that any more under level 3; you're putting my business at risk if you all show up at the one time."
Construction companies are also cautious about how much extra leeway a move to level 2 will give them.
Leighs Construction has eight major projects underway around the country, ranging from the Langlands Hotel in Invercargill to Rangiora's metro sports centre.
Managing director Anthony Leighs said productivity was down significantly under level 3 and he did not believe it would change much under level 2.
"But we will have to see what the Government guidelines say.
Site Safe chief executive Brett Murray said the safety measures were a steep learning curve for many businesses, but the aim was to reduce the impact further down the line.
"It was never going to be easy or inexpensive, and productivity was always going to take a hit compared to the environment pre-lockdown."
Murray said level 2 restrictions would be "slightly less challenging" and Site Safe was working with a cross-industry working group on new protocols.
Exactly who will cover the extra costs associated with Covid-19 also remains to be seen.
Master Builders chief executive Dave Kelly said his organisation was urging its members to talk to residential clients about "sharing the cost and the pain."
For larger commercial construction, contracts might allow them to claim extra costs.
Kelly said the Government was looking at how it would handle Covid-related cost escalations for its contracts, and he hoped its stance would provide some leadership on the issue.
* An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Leighs Construction is building Christchurch's metro sports centre. This centre is being built by CPB.
Article Supplied by Amanda Cropp at STUFF