CONTENTS During these unprecedented times, there are gimmers of hope.


At the time of writing, the country has started it’s fifth week of lockdown amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic that has sadly taken the lives of more than 160,000 people worldwide. In the UK, there have been signs that the spread of the deadly disease is slowing, thanks to a range of measures put in place including social distancing, encouraging regular hand washing and the lockdown itself.


The Government has also opened up three NHS Nightingale hospitals in London, the Midlands and the North West, to help deal with the surge in patients that may need ICU treatment. Although we are some time off defeating this illness altogether, there are reasons to be optimistic.


The rhetoric over the coming weeks is likely to turn to getting the economy back on track, but the Government will take a nuanced and phased approach to this endeavour so as not to see a resurgent second wave.


This is of course, not the first time a virus or influenza has caused disruption to the global order. The Asian Flu of 1957, Hong Kong Flu of 1968 and the Swine Flu of 2009 were all pernicious diseases that affected the wellbeing and livelihoods of populations, but you’d have to go back as far as 1918’s Spanish Flu to really get an inclination as to the severity of Covid-19, not just in terms of mortality rates but of its impact on the world economy. We must not forget that there is a distinct possibility that the inevitable economic fallout this virus will cause is likely to result in more deaths than the virus itself.


Experts had been warning about a pandemic for decades, but politicians refused to listen. Indeed, the HSE had its own plans for an Influenza pandemic in place since 2011. Maybe, once the horror of this situation is over, governments will start to listen to the experts first, and their own ideology second. Then again, maybe not.


Editorial Editor Sarah Robinson sarah@opusbm.co.uk


Editor Ryan Lloyd ryan@opusbm.co.uk


Advertising Account Manager Paul Turner paul@opusbm.co.uk


Production Production Director Hannah Wilkinson hannah@opusbm.co.uk


Designer Daniel Etheridge daniel@opusbm.co.uk


Designer Nigel Rice nigel@opusbm.co.uk


CEO Mark Hanson mark@opusbm.co.uk


www.tomorrowshs.com Sarah Robinson, Editor


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Ryan Lloyd, Editor


SAFEGUARDING IN A PANDEMIC Elliott Kenton, an expert in health and safety law at Fieldfisher, considers


the obligations that a ‘work from home’ policy places on employers.


THE BEST IN H&S After a closely fought race, the final results are in. Here, we catch up with


the winners of the Tomorrow’s Health & Safety Awards 2020. 14


CLEANING CONSIDERATIONS Robert Scott shares insights from its Clean Team for businesses to


navigate these challenging times. 20


EFFECTING CHANGE When you stop and evaluate consequences, then you start working


together more. Lives are saved, business prevails, the worst of the crisis is mitigated effectively, says Gary Escott of SiteZone Safety.


FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @TOMORROWSHS twitter.com/TomorrowsHS


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