Colas has begun weekly rapid covid testing of all site operational staff as an additional safety step amid concerns about the higher transmission of the new variant.
Lateral flow tests give workers results within 15 minutes
The firm is using lateral flow testing kits which deliver results in 15-30 minutes and allow staff to continue working in the knowledge their colleagues are not at risk. The move to regular weekly testing comes as trade body Build UK also announced it had partnered up with Eurofins, a diagnostics, forensic and pharmaceutical laboratory testing services, to offer lateral flow tests to its member firms at a cost of £25 a test. While 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 to 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.