CEA - Come Learn How COVID is Affecting Construction Sites

Since COVID-19 hit earlier this year, we haven’t really been able to discuss other topics. And even if we do, COVID-related procedures and measures are always part of the debate. It has disrupted all kinds of markets and has changed all different aspects of social and professional life. The civil engineering arena, which relies heavily on workers performing tasks on-site and meeting deadlines, was also considerably disrupted by COVID. On today’s show, Mark Oakeson, who has been experiencing this ‘new normal’ by himself, sits down to discuss with Isaac how the novel coronavirus has impacted construction sites, from safety protocols to disease-testing procedures.

When the virus first hit back in early March 2020, we had no clue about how bad this pandemic would be, or even if it would, in fact, achieve the frightening high records we’ve seen so far. As the disease started developing from March on, many engineering projects were put on hold not only in the USA but all around the world. This brought the field to a nearly complete halt. As we’ve gone through the summer, this fear started to slowly mitigate with all the safety procedures and standard operations provided by OSHA and the CDC. Therefore, even though things don’t yet feel under control, they are certainly more manageable now, which provides a favorable ground for engineers to safely start their projects back up, with all these new procedures in mind.

Isaac and Mark dive deep into the nuances of the disruption in the civil engineering field caused by the novel coronavirus, what the new standard procedures look like and how they play out in the field, how they handle social distancing and other COVID-related safety measures on construction sites, what happens whenever someone contracts the virus, the many different responses to the virus, and many more. Tune in to know more about how the construction arena is handling this ‘new normal’.

Resources Mentioned

Mark Oakeson - mark@civilengineeringacademy.com

Isaac Oakeson - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com

Engineering News-Record - ENR

Duke University study - Low-Cost Measurement of Face Mask Efficacy for Filtering Expelled Droplets During Speech

ENR’s article about the study - Study Claims Popular Face Covering Could Worsen Virus Spread

CDC - Website

OSHA - Website

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