Some construction can resume with COVID-19 worker protections, Inslee announces

Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday began to reopen Washington’s economy, announcing that low-risk residential and commercial construction can resume as long as builders protect their workers from the new coronavirus pandemic.

“We have been working toward this measure for some time and this work has allowed us to create a very comprehensive safety plan because we are thinking of everyone involved in construction,” he said.

Inslee said he could not say when other closed businesses can reopen. The governor’s order for the state’s residents to stay at home and for non-essential businesses to remain closed runs through May 4.

Before work begins, construction firms are required to develop and post at each job site a comprehensive COVID-19 exposure control, mitigation, and recovery plan. Only work that can be done while social distancing is maintained can move ahead, he said.

But the governor said work could begin as soon as a safety plan is in place, as early as Friday.

The state’s safety guidelines were developed by organizations representing builders and union labor, which joined the governor at a news conference Friday.

The safety plan created by those stakeholders includes policies regarding the use of personal protective equipment, on-site social distancing, hygiene, sanitation, symptom monitoring, site decontamination procedures, COVID-19 safety training, and exposure response procedures.

“Their work, I believe, has served as a model of how to reach consensus and strict safety guidelines for other industries,” Inslee said.

The governor said the decision on when to open other businesses will be determined by “real data,” not “arbitrary dates.”

“The day of reopening our whole economy is not today. It would be way too dangerous,” he said. Data shows that reopening the entire economy would result in an increase in infection rates and more deaths, he said.

The governor’s office and the state Department of Commerce will convene stakeholder groups in other business sectors to develop reopening plans similar to the one crafted by the construction industry, Inslee said.

He began his news conference by referring to a Crosscut/Elway Poll published Friday that found 76 percent of voters believe the pandemic restrictions are working, and 61 percent are concerned about lifting them too soon.

“The reason the people feel that is they have seen the evidence. They have seen our mutual success. They have seen us bending the virus curve down as much or more than any other state in the country. They have seen us saving lives and ultimately that’s what this is about,” Inslee said.

The statewide poll consisted of 405 registered voters who were asked questions on the phone and online from April 18-20. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 11:54 AM.