Construction workers take precautions to stay at work
by Magnus Leonard
Boston-area trade workers are doing all they can to stay clean in order to stay employed.
Workers in all trades are necessary workers, as they should be, but a lot of them are having trouble finding the work that they need. Stephen Leonard, who works in Marshfield, MA, and is the owner of SAL custom building, said, “Unless you were already working on a job, a lot of your work was canceled once the shutdown happened. People don’t want you in their house, which is understandable.” The lockdown has caused people to eliminate these workers from fixing the neccesary problems in their house, which can leave their house completely open to the elements.
(photo: Dan Mccarthy)
“ Well, I have work but only so much of it, once this is over I’m not sure what I’m gonna do.” said Leonard, who is currently redoing a house. This same problem has struck trade workers all over the country.
Dan McCarthy, an Iron Worker in the greater Boston area, said “Everyone is required to wear a mask and gloves at all times and are only allowed in work areas. Anyone caught breaking these rules is removed from the job… Last Monday they started taking everyone’s temperature at the beginning of the day.”
Another big issue on a job site is the amount of people that you can have working in close quarters. In any given house you can have carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and metal workers. The social distancing rules means that their jobs will have to be spread out throughout a week, instead of a few days.
This situation hurts the homeowners just as equally as it hurts the workers. There are homeowners who could have a leak, storm damage, or an unsafe porch that will stay like that until the social distancing is lifted.
construction yards are also a huge concern for workers. While a lot of them remain open, a lot of them have been talking about closing if this gets any worse, which would leave almost all trade workers out of a job.
Magnus Leonard is a J1 from Marshfield Ma. He has spent much of his time doing school work.
