Colas has announced the immediate roll out of rapid testing on its sites for operational staff.
The company said the safety of its staff ‘remains a priority’, and it will be using lateral flow testing kits which deliver result in 15-30 minutes.
Colas aims to test staff at its project and operational sites weekly in an effort to maintain the already high safety standards that have been in place since March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. This new measure has been taken in light of the new variant and its increased transmissibility and Colas aims to make testing easily accessible for staff and to identify asymptomatic cases.
Whilst cases of COVID-19 within Colas have been low, this measure has been put in place as an additional safety step for its essential keyworker staff who have remained operational in line with the UK Government advice for the construction sector.
In addition to rolling out the rapid flow testing, Colas has this week introduced the use of fogging machines which will sanitise the inside of vehicles, removing COVID-19 droplets from surfaces. The Colas Traffic Management team in the North West have been using the new device which saves time, reduces the using of wipes and reaches all areas within the vehicle, following this successful trial, Colas now plans to roll out more of the devices. The new device has been sourced from a local micro business and Colas are delighted to be supporting small businesses.
