JSAS Inspections

The State of California has implemented a number of public health restrictions in order to lower the spread of COVID-19. This includes directives that affect construction projects, and may restrict whether you can conduct a project. For small projects, the rules are relatively simple.

For larger projects, however, things become complicated.

What is a Jobsite Safety Accountability Supervisor (JSAS)?

A COVID-19 Third-Party Jobsite Safety Accountability Supervisor is required for all large construction projects. This is defined as residential construction of ten or more units, commercial projects of 20,000 or more square feet, mixed-use projects that meet either of this, and infrastructure projects that require 20 or more workers at a time.

There must be a supervisor for each jobsite, and they must be trained in the COVID-19 requirements as well as any jobsite-specific protocols that have been generated. And they must not be an employee of the general contractor.

What Must the JSAS do?

The JSAS must inspect the jobsite as often as needed, and at least once per week. This is intended to ensure consistent compliance. These inspections have to happen during normal hours when workers are on site.

Within 7 days of each visit, the JSAS must produce a written assessment which identifies any failures to comply with the directive. This must be copied and stored, and can be requested by the County or other local permitting agency. They then must work with your own designated COVID-19 Supervisor to fix the problem as quickly as possible. They’re required to temporarily halt work activity which is not in compliance and must develop a remediation plan, which must also be submitted to the County.

You will be required to post their name and contact information at all entrances to the jobsite. However, the JSAS is not your enemy, but rather a key part of ensuring the safety of your workers in these challenging times.

How do you Get a JSAS?

Because the Jobsite Safety Accountability Supervisor cannot be one of your own employees, you need to hire an outside safety consultant. This is where Esseltek comes in. For years, we have provided environmental and employee health and safety consulting services to residential and commercial construction companies. We offer everything from environmental site assessments to EHS support services.

Because we already have people trained to help your team with site safety and industrial hygiene, we were able to rapidly pivot to supporting COVID-19 response management. Our consultants are trained on the COVID-19 directives and will rapidly learn your own site specific protocols. Our people will coordinate with yours to ensure not just compliance but a higher level of safety for your employees. We can help you avoid being shut down for non-compliance or because you had an outbreak on your site.

This is just part of our construction safety services, but while the public health crisis continues, it is an important part of how we are helping our clients continue work during the pandemic.