• As of today, Caltrans intends to keep road construction and maintenance operations going as usual, with the expectation that contractors will be expected to exercise additional safety measures and caution to protect workers in accordance with guidance provided by public health officials.
• The State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO issued interim health and safety guidelines late on on March 17 related to the COVID-19 situation and construction workers. You can view those guidelines HERE. CalAPA will continue to seek more formal health and safety guidance from state and federal occupational safety and health officials specific to this situation and relay that information to members.
• Caltrans released additional guidance today with regard to how the pandemic will impact the Joint Training & Certification Program for materials technicians. That guidance was shared with the JTCP Advisory Committee, of which CalAPA is a member. That guidance includes more specific information with regard to class cancellations, certification extensions and the possibility of a "provisional" certification. You can read that guidance HERE.
• The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), a CalAPA partner, has sent a letter to the Federal Highway Administration today on the subject of continuity of construction work and also the seeking flexibility on certification processes and other related issues. You can view that letter HERE.
• Health officials in Orange County issued a sweeping "Health Officer's Order" late yesterday similar to one previously issued for the San Francisco Bay Area (details are in the March 16 CalAPA Member Alert HERE). A link to the Orange County announcement and order is HERE. CalAPA confirmed with Orange County Public Works Officials today that road construction is considered an essential function exempted from the order, and that road construction had not been shut down.
• CalAPA continues to contact members to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 situation on operations. In general, there have been no major disruptions reported to the association today, but there were concerns about availability of workers, supplies and raw materials.
• CalAPA has been in constant contact with other construction trade association representatives to coordinate messaging on two key fronts: work must continue under the "essential services" clause now appearing to become commonplace, and that there must be maximum flexibility on the part of public agencies with regard to enabling the industry to function under extraordinary circumstances.
• One construction trade association in California, United Contractors, has assembled some crisis response resources on their publicly-facing website. They can be accessed HERE.
• For smaller companies without extensive HR capabilities, CalAPA's attorney has offered to share free a sample remote work policy for those companies forced to have more of their employees work from home. Contact CalAPA at info@calapa.net to request more information.
• CalAPA continues to contact agencies and members to assess the impact of the health emergency statewide on operations and will continue to compile and summarize that information in upcoming "Member Alerts" as conditions warrant.