Michigan Construction, Outdoor Work, and Real Estate Opening May 7th

Governor Whitmer announced the MI Safe Start Plan, aimed at safely reopening some critical work forces in Michigan.

The three major lanes of work that will be starting to reopen are construction, real estate, and outdoor work. The common theme is that the majority of this work is handled outside where proper social distancing is easier. You can read a complete copy of the executive order here, or watch the full press conference below.

The MI Safe Start Plan is the first step toward restarting the economy in Michigan, and will hopefully relieve some of the tension that is building between Gov Whitmer and her opposition.

There are some very important guidelines in the MI Safe Start program laid out on the Michigan.gov Coronavirus page.

• Designating a site supervisor to enforce COVID-19 control strategies.
• Conducting daily health screenings for workers.
• Creating dedicated entry points, if possible, or issuing stickers or other indicators to assure that all workers are screened every day.
• Identifying choke points and high-risk areas (like hallways, hoists and elevators, break areas, water stations, and buses) and controlling them to enable social distancing.
• Ensuring sufficient hand-washing or hand-sanitizing stations at the worksite.

Obviously there will be variations depending on each individual job site, but this is definitely a good move.

I hope that despite differences in opinions everyone will realize that being cautious while we reopen the economy is a very smart thing to do.