Employer Worried about COVID-19?
As people are due to return to work in England, it is important for employers to consider new measures to protect employees and visitors to site.
There are lots of companies offering employers 'accredited' schemes or 'Covid audits.'
Every single piece of information that you need to manage COVID-19 can be found for free, and we will point you in the right direction here!
- Health and Safety Executive has a free COVID-19 risk assessment for you to review and adapt to your business requirements: https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/assets/docs/risk-assessment.pdf
- UK Government has free guidance for lots of industry sectors which you can access here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19
- Mental health support information for employers and employees can be found here: https://www.matesinmind.org/assets/uploads/MinM_COVID-19_Team_Briefing_Tool_2.pdf
Better Safety has been supporting essential workforce clients to work throughout COVID-19 best advice we have found to be effective across multiple industries (engineering, food manufacturing and processing, laboratory support, medical, construction).
The very simplest, and highly effective advice that we have seen strong evidence of either eliminating or reducing infection rates is as follows:
Regularly wash hands
Before you come to work
When you enter the workplace
Throughout the day, between customers if possible
Before and after meals, smoking and toilet breaks
Before you leave work
As soon as you return home
Keep your distance
Try to keep at least 2 metres distance from people where possible (2 big strides)
If you cannot keep 2 metres distance, keep the contact limited to short time periods (less than 2 minutes)
If you have to be less than 2 metres to a person regularly, consider either facing away from each other or having protective screens in place
Clean down contact points
Contact points include door handles, kitchen appliances, taps and toilet flush handles, tables, keyboards, computer mouse, chairs, telephones.
If possible, keep contact points restricted to individuals (desks, etc.).
If you have communal areas, consider placing hand sanitise stations at the entrance of kitchens.
Clean areas more than twice per day.
Restrict number of people in communal areas
Meeting rooms should allow for 2 metres between participants. Place a maximum occupancy notice on the meeting doors and stick to them.
Same applies for toilets, locker rooms, canteens and kitchen areas.
Space out breaks and have a traffic light system in areas where you cannot see how many people are inside.
Communicate with your people
Essential to any business is keeping open lines of communication with your people.
Regular toolbox talks or daily / weekly briefings to discuss what is happening (it does not have to be a long time - 10 minutes is a great start)
Information put in places people can access it (posters in canteen, locker rooms, toilets)
Make sure employees know the door is open to them if they need to talk about concerns or issues they are having (including protecting vulnerable people in their household).
Policies in place
Having a policy for different circumstance such as:
Working from home (DSE assessments, equipment)
Testing positive for COVID-19
Returning to work after absence
Reviewing PPE
Referring employees to support services such as occupational health or mental health support services
Although this is not an exhaustive list of advice, these have been some of the key points Better Safety has adopted to keep our clients safe....long before government advice was issued and long since too.
If you need advice or support on COVID-19 or any aspect of health and safety in your business, we offer a free, confidential telephone discussion. No contract.. No commitments. We want to get you back into work...SAFELY!
Call 0330 0948 848 to chat today.