Builders urge Inslee to allow construction to resume with precautions for COVID-19

Since Gov. Jay Inslee last month ordered the closing of many residential and commercial construction sites to help slow the spread of the new coronavirus, he has explained that he made the call because workers frequently are in close proximity with each other.

“I’ve talked to any number of construction workers who don’t want to go on the job, get infected, and go home and infect their families,” he said.

Since then, trade groups representing construction firms have requested Inslee loosen the restriction without putting workers at risk.

The governor’s order for Washington residents to stay at home and for non-essential businesses to remain closed runs through May 4. All or parts of it could be extended.

Inslee said Wednesday there may be an opportunity to resume commercial and residential construction before May 4 or shortly after. He referred to “bending the curve,” which is the state’s ongoing effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

“If in fact we see this curve going down dramatically, if we look like we’re heading down to the zero we’re searching for, yes, we could consider that as well as other industries as well,” he said at a press briefing.

A plea for change

A work group with members from business and labor this week presented Inslee with a plan to restart existing construction projects that can be performed meeting social distancing requirements. Higher-risk construction would resume later, in phases.

“We’re hopeful we’re making some progress on the issue,” said Jennifer Spall, spokesperson for the Building Industry Association of Washington, one of the groups that sent the plan to the governor. “We’re hearing heartbreaking stories from our members about not only being forced to lay off employees, but the theft and squatters on (construction) sites is just ridiculous.”

On Tuesday, the Whatcom County Executive and the mayors of Lynden, Sumas, and Everson — and the mayor pro tem of Nooksack — asked Inslee to reopen construction if they:

• Have social distancing requirements and relevant markers to ensure workers remain no less than 6 feet from one another while working.
• Require all workers to wear a cloth or other type of mask to prevent transmission. These masks should not be medical grade, nor compete with the scarce supplies needed by the medical community.
• Are equipped with hand-washing stations or have alternate sanitation available, and hand sanitizing/washing of hands is prompted to occur upon arrival and departure of the site, as well as before and after breaks.

“Our staff would routinely and actively inspect local building projects to ensure all protocols regarding social distancing and social hygiene are met. We would assume the responsibility of managing compliance with the directives.

“This will ensure greater compliance and consistency in measures preventing the transmission of COVID-19 throughout our community than the current regulations,” the letter said, which was sent on the letterhead of Whatcom County Executive Satpal Singh Sidhu.

Some construction is underway

The governor’s order has exemptions, including construction of affordable housing and government projects.

A photographer for The Olympian took pictures on March 26 and Wednesday of road crews doing repair and upgrade work for the city of Olympia along Legion Way. Construction workers are closer than 6 feet apart, the minimum required for social distancing.

City spokeswoman Kellie Purce Braseth said the work is being done by a contractor, Aberdeen-based Rognlin’s.

Braseth said the firm on April 8 submitted a safety plan that called for educating road crew members about COVID-19, practicing social distancing on-site, and tracking who is working each day on the project in case contact tracing is needed. Contact tracing involves finding people who recently had interactions with someone diagnosed with COVID-19.

Braseth said she could not comment on whether the road crews had failed to practice social distancing. “I didn’t see it,” she said.

Rognlin’s couldn’t be reached for comment.

Who can work?

Another issue is interpretation of Inslee’s order on what construction firms are allowed to do.

Lacey resident Julie Bronson said she has watched dozens of construction workers finishing concrete on weekdays since April 8 at Toscana Apartments across the street from her home.

Bronson said the workers are “shoulder to shoulder” and she filed a complaint through the state’s website, where residents can report violations of the governor’s stay-at-home proclamation. She said they didn’t wear masks until after she spoke Tuesday with Ken Brogan, the owner of the construction company, to register her concerns.

“I work in the medical field. I’ve made hundreds of cloth masks for people and then they’ve got these people across the road who just don’t care. They’re not doing their part,” she said.

Brogan, owner of Tumwater-based Commercial Property Services, said the work is allowed under a clarification of the governor’s order to prevent “spoliation,” which is the action of ruining or destroying something.

“I only concluded work at the Toscana site in Lacey to complete the foundation work that had rebar exposed to prevent spoilage along with some miscellaneous framing to prevent spoilage of the engineered wood products,” he said.

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 5:45 AM.