LOCAL

Coronavirus Florida: Palm Beach urges contractors to follow safety guidelines

William Kelly

wkelly@pbdailynews.com

Though much of Palm Beach business is shutdown for the coronavirus pandemic, construction crews continue work on residential and commercial buildings throughout town, including these structures just north of Gulfstream Road at South Ocean Boulevard on March 25.

Town officials say some contractors and construction workers haven’t been following physical distancing guidelines needed to keep people safer from the potential spread of the coronavirus.

Contractors contacted for this story said they are taking steps to make their job sites as safe as possible, including maintaining at least 6 feet between workers as recommended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the town isn’t taking chances. Interim zoning chief Wayne Bergman sent a letter March 31 to all contractors warning them that “failure to abide [by the CDC distancing goal] may result in an order to cease construction activities until further notice.”

“There are concerns with multiple tradesmen and workers on the construction sites,” Bergman wrote. “The town has received numerous complaints of alleged unsafe work practices at many of the island construction sites involving workers not following the social distancing practices.”

Open construction sites and contractor services are deemed essential and are allowed under the town’s emergency declaration order.

Elected officials are receiving many complaints from residents who want the town to shut the construction sites down to promote public safety, Town Councilwoman Julie Araskog said.

But she said the town can’t override Gov. Ron DeSantis or Palm Beach County, who have listed residential and commercial construction among the services that are exempt from emergency orders to close non-essential businesses.

“We have no authority to shut down the construction,” Araskog said.

She called on DeSantis to allow local governments “to put a stop to construction and building at this critical point to flatten the curve” of spiraling infection numbers.

Town officials have repeatedly urged all sectors of the public to practice social distancing, wash hands frequently, avoid non-essential gatherings and to limit contact with those at higher risk for contracting COVID-19 disease.

There are about 2,500 registered contractors who work on the island, Bergman said. Currently there are 110 new residential construction projects, 264 residential alterations and 78 commercial projects, he said.

“We have pushed out instructions to nearly 2,500 contractors that regularly do business in town,” Town Manager Kirk Blouin said during Wednesday’s live report from Town Hall. “’I’m happy to report they are stepping up. They want to be active participants in the solution.”

Hugh Davis, owner of Davis General Contracting, which is building five single-family houses on the island, said his company is posting signs reminding workers to maintain distance from one another.

“We have installed hand sanitizers, hand-wash stations and are screening workers each morning to make sure they feel healthy,” he said. “We are getting thermometers so we can monitor temperatures.”

The company also is asking employees to bring their lunch each day instead of going to Publix or other lunch destinations, he said.

Job site access is being limited to those employees necessary to get the work done, he said.

“We’re taking every reasonable precaution there is, while keeping the jobs open for our clients and for the economy, so that people can get paid as well,” Davis said.

Davis said he’s spoken to a half-dozen other contractors who are putting the same protocols in place. “I do not know of any contractors who are not complying,” he said.

Tim Givens, owner of Tim Givens Building and Remodeling, said he’s been in contact with Davis and is following a similar safety protocol.

“We have told all 42 of our employees to wear gloves, masks and eye protection,” he said. The masks aren’t medical-grade, “but the whole idea is to keep them from touching their faces with their hands,” he said.

The company has told superintendents at all five of its residential construction job sites to enforce social distancing between the workers, he said.

“We spoke to all of our employees, telling them they need to be cognizant,” he said. “My guys all want to work and they don’t want to get sick. So everybody is kind of aware. A few have decided to take some time off and see how all this plays out.”

Clark Beatty and father Keith Beatty, who co-own PBB Island Property, voluntarily halted construction at their Palm Beach job site on March 20 until they could figure out how to implement practices to discourage the spread of the virus.

The Beattys are building a single-family house on an oceanfront lot at 901 N. Ocean Blvd.

“At any given moment, we had 60 people on the site,” Clark Beatty said. “We just thought it was socially responsible to shut that down and rethink how to manage the process and curb the spread of coronavirus.”

Work resumed on Monday with a much smaller crew, Keith Beatty said.

Hand-washing stations are in place and supervisors are reminding works to stay at least 6 feet apart. They are still trying to get masks for the workers, some of whom are using bandanas that will at least help prevent them from touching their face.

“We’re trying to control it by controlling the number of people,” Keith Beatty said. “It’s definitely far better than before, when we just had people on top of each other all day long.”

But he said there’s still instances where employees are working closer than 6 feet to one another. “It’s construction. It’s going to happen. I don’t know how you stop that entirely.”