Business Clinic
HEALTH & SAFETY
Deborah Williams CMIOSH RMaPS at Compass Ltd. Deborah specialises in assisting private sector organisations within the construction, waste management and extractive industries.
01257 482256 |
dwilliams@compass-ms.co.uk
Health and safety during the COVID-19 outbreak
ENSURING the health, safety and wellbeing of employees is even more important now during this difficult period than at any other time. Whether employees are key workers, providing essential services, or are able to work from home, our responsibilities as employers remain the same.
The Government and the HSE has provided specific guidance to enable employers to ensure they are able to meet their legislative obligations.
Where workers are not able to work from home and businesses remain open, the current advice from the government is that if someone becomes unwell in the workplace with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature, they should be sent home and advised to follow the advice to stay at home.
Employees should also be reminded to: • wash their hands for 20 seconds more frequently and use hand sanitiser if available; and
• catch coughs and sneezes in tissues and dispose of them properly.
Other control measures include frequently cleaning and disinfecting objects and surfaces that are touched regularly, using standard cleaning products.
Employers also need to consider workers from defined vulnerable groups who should be strongly advised and supported to stay at home and work from there if at all possible.
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Welfare for drivers All drivers must have access to welfare facilities in the premises they visit as part of their work. Those who already provide reasonable access to toilets and handwashing facilities should continue to do so. With the latest advice for hands to be washed regularly, failure to allow access to welfare facilities may increase the risk of the COVID-19 infection spreading.
Please note that the temporary relaxation of drivers’ hours rules only applies to drivers in the food, non-food (personal care and household paper and cleaning) and over the counter pharmaceutical industries.
Protecting home workers As an employer, you have the same health and safety responsibilities for home workers as for any other workers.
When someone is working from home, permanently or temporarily, as an employer you should consider: • How will you keep in touch with them?
• What work activity will they be doing (and for how long)?
• Can it be done safely? • Do you need to put control measures in place to protect them?
Keep in touch with lone workers, including those working from home, and ensure regular contact to make sure they are healthy and safe.
For those people who are working at home on a long-term basis, the risks associated with using display screen equipment (DSE) must be controlled. This includes doing home workstation assessments. However, there is no increased risk from DSE work for those working at home temporarily. So in that situation employers do not need to do home workstation assessments.
There are some simple steps you can take to reduce the risks from display screen work: • Breaking up long spells of DSE work with rest breaks (at least five minutes every hour) or changes in activity;
• Avoiding awkward, static postures by regularly changing position;
• Getting up and moving or doing stretching exercises; and
• Avoiding eye fatigue by changing focus or blinking from time to time.
Stress and mental health Some individuals may be experiencing increased levels of anxiety and stress due to the risk of the coronavirus, particularly if they or their family members have existing health conditions that put them in a higher risk group. In addition, homeworking can cause additional work-related stress and go on to affect people’s mental health. It is vital for employers to consider workers’ mental health as well as their physical health during this challenging period.
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