1. Overview
This guidance is for employers, but workers and the self-employed may also find it useful.
It’s designed to help you make your work and workplace safe (be COVID-secure). It’ll help you to manage the risk associated with re-starting or running your business during the outbreak.
You should start by updating your risk assessment to manage the risk of coronavirus in your business. This will help you to understand what you should do to work safely and protect people.
Follow this guide for an overview of practical measures you can take. It includes help with how to maintain social distancing in your workplace, staggering shifts, cleaning and how to talk with workers.
2. Risk assessment
As an employer, you must protect people from harm. This includes taking reasonable steps to protect your workers and others from coronavirus. This is called a COVID-19 risk assessment and it’ll help you manage risk and protect people.
You must:
- identify what work activity or situations might cause transmission of the virus
- think about who could be at risk
- decide how likely it is that someone could be exposed
- act to remove the activity or situation, or if this isn’t possible, control the risk
If you have fewer than five employees, you don’t have to write anything down, but it might help if you do. Find out more about managing risk and risk assessment.
We have produced guidance to help you work safely (be COVID-secure) and manage the risk associated with running your business at this time.
It includes practical measures you can take, for example:
- putting in place social distancing measures
- staggering shifts
- providing additional handwashing facilities
3. Talk to workers and provide information
By consulting and involving people in the steps you are taking to manage the risk of coronavirus in your workplace you can:
- explain the changes you are planning to work safely
- make sure changes will work and hear their ideas
- continue to operate your business safely during the outbreak
Find out more on talking with your workers about working safely during the coronavirus outbreak.
Specific advice for your industry
There is specific guidance for industries or sectors.
4. Work from home
Everyone who can work from home should do so.
To help your people work from home you should:
- provide the equipment they need, for example a computer, phone and videoconferencing facilities
- keep in regular contact with them, making sure you discuss their wellbeing
Find out more about how to protect home workers.
5. Make your workplace COVID-secure
If through your risk assessment you have identified people who cannot work from home (for example people who operate machinery or work on a construction site), then you should consider what changes you might need in your workplace to reduce risk and make it ‘COVID-secure’.
Entrances and exits
Stagger arrival and departure times so that people do not use entry and exit points at the same time.
Provide handwashing facilities so people can wash their hands when they get into and leave work (provide hand sanitiser where this is not possible).
Social distancing
Keep work areas 2 metres apart and allocate one person only to each work area. If this is not possible, then keep the number of people in each work area as low as possible.
To help workers to social distance you can:
- use floor tape or paint to mark work areas
- provide signage to remind people to keep a 2 m distance
- use screens to create a physical barrier between people
- have people working side-by-side rather than face-to-face
- limit movement of people
- rotating between jobs and equipment
- using lifts and work vehicles
- in high-traffic areas like corridors, turnstiles and walkways
- allow only essential trips within buildings and between sites
Find out more about social distancing in the workplace.
Additional information is available from the Scottish government’s coronavirus guidance for employers in Scotland and from the Welsh government’s guidance on maintaining physical distance in the workplace.
Breaks and canteens
Stagger breaktimes so that people are not using break rooms, canteens or rest areas at the same time.
Use outside areas for breaks and encourage staff to stay on-site during working hours to help workers with social distancing on their breaks.
Providing packaged meals could help to avoid fully opening canteens. Reconfigure seating and tables in welfare areas to maintain spacing and reduce face to face interactions.
Face covering and masks
Read our separate guidance on face masks during the coronavirus outbreak.
6. Protect vulnerable workers
As an employer, you have a legal duty to protect workers from harm. You should make sure you consider the risk to workers who are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus and put controls in place to reduce that risk.
During the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the government has defined some people as clinically extremely vulnerable (shielded).
Shielded workers are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus. They cannot return to workplaces before at least 31 July 2020 in Scotland, from 1 August 2020 in England and from 16 August 2020 in Wales when shielding is paused.
You can find guidance on shielding and protecting workers, explaining who is clinically extremely vulnerable, from Public Health England, Health Protection Scotland and Public Health Wales.
Supporting shielded workers returning to work
You should talk to shielded workers about their working arrangements and take every possible step to enable your workers to work from home.
When shielding is paused, where it is not possible for workers to work from home, you must regularly review your risk assessment, and do everything ‘reasonably practicable’ to protect those workers from harm.
If workers are in the shielded categories, explain what will be done to protect them, for example doing tasks where stringent social distancing guidelines can be followed.
This also applies to workers living with someone in the shielded group.
You can find more advice on shielding and protecting vulnerable people on GOV.UK.
Pregnant workers
During the outbreak, pregnant workers have been advised to follow stringent social distancing to reduce the risk of severe illness from coronavirus.
There is a long-standing requirement for employers to put in place measures to ensure workplace safety where a significant health and safety risk is identified for a new or expectant mother.
Some pregnant workers will be at greater risk of severe illness from coronavirus. They should have received a shielding letter from the NHS advising them:
- to stay at home where possible
- that they are not expected to be in a workplace
Employers will need to take this into account in their risk assessment.
If you cannot put the necessary control measures in place, such as adjustments to the job or working from home, you should suspend the pregnant worker on paid leave. This is in line with regulation 16(3) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
HSE has specific, non-COVID advice for new and expectant mothers.
7. Cleaning, hygiene and hand sanitiser
Use signs and posters to help your workers to practice good handwashing technique and to remind them to cough/sneeze into an arm and avoid touching their faces.
Handwashing
- provide handwashing facilities with running water, soap and paper towels
- provide hand sanitiser at locations in addition to washrooms
- provide hand sanitiser nearby for people getting in and out of vehicles or handling deliveries, if they are unable to wash their hands
Make sure that surfaces remain clean. This may mean increasing the level and frequency of cleaning as well as cleaning surfaces that you may not ordinarily clean.
Clean equipment frequently
- Set clear guidance for the use and cleaning of toilets, showers and changing facilities to make sure they are kept clean and social distancing is achieved as much as possible
- Clean work areas and equipment between uses
- Frequently clean and disinfect objects and surfaces that are touched regularly
- If equipment like tools or vehicles are shared then clean them after each use
Find out more about cleaning your workplace to reduce risk from coronavirus (COVID-19).
Source: HSE, United Kingdom Govt Portal