Facing the impacts of COVID-19 in construction. The case of Chile
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Date
2023
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Routledge
Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis has impacted all activities, both economic and social, in most countries. The construction industry, characterized by its intensive use of labor, has been particularly affected, receiving various negative impacts and having to seek different actions to face them. The aim of this work is to describe how the Chilean construction industry was affected by COVID-19 and how this pandemic has been faced both at the institutional level and at the level of each company to protect the health of workers and maintain the activity working productively. This description has been carried out by means of a literature review of local publications and reports. An analysis of these actions is included. Additionally, and according to available institutional studies, the effects of COVID-19 are reviewed in three important dimensions: the economic impacts of the pandemic, contractual impacts in the construction industry, and actions implemented to face the impacts of COVID-19. The information presented in this work can be used by the construction sectors of other countries as lessons learned as follows: a) to promote the industrialization in construction to reduce the exposition of people at the site; b) to increase the use of technology to supervise workers and help protect them; c) to disseminate good practices for handling the pandemic and apply new business models to maintain the operation; d) to accelerate the digital transformation of the industry to facilitate teleworking for many of its activities; e) to work collaboratively with suppliers; and f) to have contracts with greater clarity regarding the consequences resulting from a pandemic like COVID-19.