By Katie Lannan
April 2, 2020
Virus forces big adjustments in building trades
BOSTON (SHNNS) – Leaky roofs, clogged pipes and busted radiators won’t take time off during a pandemic.
The workers who respond to and repair such urgent home problems are, in many cases, deemed essential personnel allowed to continue their operations during the current state of emergency, and are often taking extra precautions in hopes of keeping themselves and their customers safe from the highly contagious coronavirus.
Gov. Charlie Baker on March 23 ordered all non-essential businesses to close their brick-and-mortar operations, and on Wednesday he extended that closure into early May.
The most recent list of essential services that are allowed to continue operating includes “Workers such as plumbers, electricians, exterminators, builders, contractors, HVAC Technicians, landscapers, inspectors and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences, businesses and buildings such as hospitals, health care facilities, senior living facilities, and any temporary construction required to support COVID-19 response.”
Hardware, home improvement and appliance retailers are allowed to remain open, as are auto repair shops.
Utility workers are also deemed essential, and Eversource and National Grid have both announced a series of steps they’re taking to adapt their services.
Both utilities have suspended non-essential work — National Grid says that includes planned maintenance and service visits like manual meter reads, oil-to-gas conversions, gas service upgrades, and meter changes that “may decrease the ability to keep social distance.”
National Grid is continuing to respond to outages, downed power lines and gas leaks, along with customer-requested services like turning off gas or electricity before a move, subject to any municipal restrictions. On home visits, its employees are wearing disposable gloves, avoiding handshakes, and asking “that every person on the premises maintains a personal distance of six feet or more at all times,” along with other measures.
Eversource officials said in a press release that the utility “has integrated its social distancing, hygiene and enhanced sanitation measures to safeguard health and well-being into its emergency response planning while continuing to prepare for and respond to potential emergencies.”
“While taking precautions under our COVID-19 pandemic plan to safeguard health, we continue working to replace and upgrade natural gas lines, repair leaks and perform other essential work,” Eversource President of Gas Operations Bill Akley said in a statement. “Ensuring that our customers have access to the reliable service they need and continuing to prevent emergencies is paramount during this unprecedented time.”
Smaller businesses, too, are adjusting their protocols.
“Please be assured that we are working hard to make sure you are protected from our contact with others,” the West Springfield-based Berkshire Heating & Air Conditioning wrote in an advisory to its customers. “In keeping with CDC and local health official’s advice, we will be limiting direct contact with our customers while in their home.”
The company is directing all of its service employees to wash or sanitize their hands after visiting a customer’s home and asking customers to sign using their own pen when a signature is needed.
Aspinwall Plumbing in Quincy is screening its customers with a series of questions about recent travel and potential virus exposure when scheduling appointments, and employees have been instructed to take precautions including frequent hand-washing and use of hand sanitizer and keeping distance from anyone who is self-quarantined or sick.
The Executive Board of the Massachusetts Building Trades Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to call on the governor to declare a statewide suspension of all regular activity on construction sites from April 3 through April 30.
The council is advocating to let only “emergency and certain essential work” proceed, including work to address emergencies like gas leaks, water leaks or sinkholes; new utility connections to occupied buildings; work at health facilities and shelters; and “other work necessary to render occupied residential buildings fully habitable.”
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