If you are currently ploughing your way through the reams of guidance and trying to work out what to do next, then our things to think about might help your plan of attack.
Employers still have a duty to put effective measures in place to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees. Risk assessments need to be carried out to assess and control the threat posed by exposure to COVID-19. For our clients, we’ve produced a social distancing policy that might be a useful starting point. You will need to tailor the document to make it specific to your setting and also link the document to any policies or guidance. Consultation with staff and unions will also be necessary.
You will need to be flexible, every organisation is different and so you need to assess what is right for you and your people. As we know you will, you have to ensure that your employees understand how to reduce risks and are clear on the procedures you are following. You may need to adjust working practices, hours and shifts. As we said, any changes will need to be consulted on. Changes to the environment will also be necessary, ensure you are documenting these and communicating reasoning clearly.
Take a look through our key areas of consideration and if you have any questions, please get in touch.
- Which staff need to return to work?
Staff should work from home if at all possible. Consider who is needed to be on-site; for example:
- Workers in roles critical for business and operational continuity, safe facility management, or regulatory requirements and which cannot be performed remotely.
- Workers in critical roles which might be performed remotely, but who are unable to work remotely due to home circumstances or the unavailability of safe enabling equipment.
- Planning for the minimum number of people needed on site to operate safely and effectively.
- Monitoring the wellbeing of people who are working from home and helping them stay connected to the rest of the workforce, especially if the majority of their colleagues are on-site.
- Keeping in touch with off-site workers on their working arrangements including their welfare, mental and physical health and personal security.
- Continuing to provide equipment for people to work at home safely and effectively, for example, remote access to work systems.
- Effective infection protection and control for staff
In all settings, preventing the spread of coronavirus involves dealing with direct transmission (for instance, when in close contact with those sneezing and coughing) and indirect transmission (via touching contaminated surfaces). A range of approaches and actions should be employed to do this.These can be seen as a hierarchy of controls that, when implemented, creates an inherently safer system, where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. These include:
- minimising contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring that those who have coronavirus symptoms, or who have someone in their household who does, do not attend settings
- cleaning hands more often than usual – wash hands thoroughly for 20 seconds with running water and soap and dry them thoroughly or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered
- ensuring good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach
- cleaning frequently touched surfaces often using standard products, such as detergents and bleach
- minimising contact and mixing by altering, as much as possible, the environment and break times
- display posters / information clearly
- Equality in the Workplace
You will need to make sure that measures you put in place don’t adversely affect some employees by:
- Understanding and taking into account the particular circumstances of those with different protected characteristics.
- Involving and communicating appropriately with workers whose protected characteristics might either expose them to a different degree of risk, or might make any steps you are thinking about inappropriate or challenging for them.
- Considering whether you need to put in place any particular measures or adjustments to take account of your duties under the equality legislation.
- Making reasonable adjustments to avoid disabled workers being put at a disadvantage, and assessing the health and safety risks for new or expectant mothers.
- Making sure that the steps you take do not have an unjustifiable negative impact on some groups compared to others, for example, those with caring responsibilities or those with religious commitments.
- Wellbeing
- The health and safety responsibilities of the employer also extend to employee wellbeing, both physical and mental. This may include taking into account fear, anxiety, social isolation, illness and bereavement and ensuring you have the support in place for the employees in such circumstances. If you need any help with providing this support, please get in touch. We have a suite of wellbeing support services that are all accessible remotely and quickly.It is also likely that the circumstances have caused increased levels of stress and again these need to be addressed in order to avoid long-term absence.
- You may want to consider providing stress management training, wellbeing exercises and counselling support. Take a look at our Stress Less, Smile More programme which can be run for individuals and groups.
- Our sister company, Staff Absence Management, also has a communication platform which is free until September. SAMconnect not only makes it easier to communicate and support staff but also provides a wealth of wellbeing information and exercises. Click here to find out more or contact us.
- Finally, we can also provide counselling support on a one-to-one basis or group sessions on mental wellbeing. Again please contact us for further details. Line managers or senior leaders will need to be able to carry out return to work meetings/reviews. Individuals need to be able to raise concerns. You may want to join our webinar on 8th July on Managing Return to Work Meetings or take a look at our How To Guide.
We have looked at some of the key considerations, but please look at the Government’s guidance for more information.
If you need any help with any of the above, please do contact one of our team on 01924 827869 or contact us. We are still working remotely and can support you with HR queries, contract queries, policies and wellbeing.
Other sources of information
We know there’s much more to think about including the safety of staff, managing deliveries, managing visitors etc. Here are a few links that might help:
HSE Guidelines – Social distancing, keeping businesses open and in-work activities during the coronavirus outbreak
Government Guidance for Offices- https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/offices-and-contact-centres
