News analysis with BESA
Unions use BESA guides for workplace safety campaign
Employers are being challenged to ensure they implement high standards of health & safety in their workplaces as part of the government’s ‘living with Covid’ strategy
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coalition of scientists, trade unions and groups representing Covid suff erers and bereaved families has launched a ‘Covid-19
Safety Pledge’ with the support of the Cabinet Offi ce. The Pledge is designed to ensure that workplaces – including those that are also public spaces such as bars, restaurants, cinemas, libraries etc. – adopt measures designed to minimize the spread of Covid infections and make public what they have done to safeguard health and well-being. A key element is the measuring, monitoring, and mitigation of indoor air quality (IAQ) and draws on guidance produced and provided for free by BESA. This follows a presentation by the Association’s head of technical Graeme Fox to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) explaining the three pieces of guidance* produced by the Association since the start of the pandemic and culminating in April’s launch of ‘Buildings as Safe Havens – a practical guide’. The Public & Commercial Services (PCS) union
worked with Independent SAGE – the scientists working together to advise the government and the public about dealing with and recovering from the pandemic – to develop the Pledge. It is “a simple commitment to adhere to health
and safety law and best practice”, according to the coalition, and includes particular provision for measuring and assessing indoor air quality (IAQ). The PCS called for employers to follow the BESA guidance to improve ventilation, fi ltration and air cleaning in offi ces and other workplaces – along with other aspects of building safety.
Obligations
“At a time when levels of Covid infection remains high but legal obligations (notably to self-isolate when testing positive for Covid) have been removed, the Pledge is particularly important,” an Independent SAGE statement said. It calls for both private and public sector
employers, in consultation with their workforces, to sign up to three commitments: • To protect workers, service users and customers from Covid-19 • To risk assess their premises and practices to ensure that they are designed to safeguard against the spread of infection
• Specifi cally, to ask any workers who test positive for Covid to stay at home while infectious and to provide the support necessary for them to do so. Signatories will have their name displayed on the Pledge website (
covidpledge.co.uk) and they will be entitled to display the Pledge signage in their premises. Several unions, including Unison and the PCS,
have asked all of their branches to encourage their employers to sign. “We also call upon the public to promote the Pledge and to inform us if employers are putting them at risk by ignoring public health advice,” a statement said. The pledge is also supported by Covid Families for
Justice, Long Covid SOS, and the Scottish TUC. Independent SAGE believes all indoor areas should be assessed by a specialist for air quality, design, and ventilation. All building users should be provided with accurate and accessible information on ventilation in each space and what constitutes safe occupancy and unsafe air quality levels. They are also calling for continuous real time CO2 monitoring with a notifi cation when levels go above 800 parts per million (ppm) – as a proxy for measuring IAQ. All building users would be provided
with information on what to do when conditions are unsafe and will have the right to remove themselves without threat of repercussions. “Now that the government has stated there is no longer a legal requirement on employers to record cases, to have a specifi c Covid 19 risk assessment, and workers no longer need to self-isolate, we must now turn towards existing laws and regulations to make our case for safety in the workplace,” said a PCS spokesperson. Employers should assess their physical
environment and working practices according to health and safety law including risk assessments, to ensure that they are designed to safeguard against the spread of infection, the SAGE scientists added. “The involvement of trade unions and this
extremely infl uential group of scientists at the highest level of government brings the prospect of ‘safe havens’ that protect people from poor air quality much closer,” said Fox. “I found union offi cials very receptive to our
guidance and the principle of protecting workers from sources of outdoor pollution and the cocktail of indoor contaminants that can be found in many workplaces.
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June 2022
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