Explore Job Site Sanitation Best Practices in New Video Toolbox Talk

Sanitation and personal hygiene have been at the forefront of global public consciousness nearly all year. But proper job site sanitation is extremely important even without a pandemic and should be a focus of site supervisors moving forward. “The health and safety of anyone setting foot on a construction site have always been of the upmost importance," said Tony Cellucci, SVP, Safety & Compliance at United Site Services. “Now safety has taken on a new meaning since everyone has the responsibility of preventing the spread of germs and viruses.”

NAHB has developed a new video toolbox talk in English and Spanish that provides job site sanitation best practices and helpful tips for maintaining worker hygiene, including appropriate restrooms and handwashing stations. OSHA requires at least one restroom for every 20 workers, but the best industry practice is one restroom per eight workers working a standard 40-hour work week. The restrooms should also be serviced twice per week. Other best practices to consider:

• Adequate handwashing stations must also be provided on construction job sites, and workers should wash hands with soap and clean water frequently.
• Clean drinking water will also need to be provided on construction sites.
• Plan for the adequate disposal of trash; provide each job site with a trash dumpster suitable for the project size.
• The job site should be cleaned up after major tasks or at least daily; pick up all trash, scrap materials and debris, and put them in the dumpster to prevent fire and tripping hazards.