‘Employers must continue to manage the Covid-19 risk to workers as lockdown eases’ – British Safety Council

The British Safety Council has responded to the Government’s plans to further ease lockdown restrictions from July 4^th, reminding employers that they have a duty of care to their staff.

The Government is publishing new guidance on how businesses can reduce the risk by taking certain steps to protect workers and customers. These include avoiding face-to-face seating, reducing the number of people inside, improving ventilation, changing shift patterns and increasing face coverings, including mandatory face coverings on public transport.

In the course of his statement in the House of Commons yesterday the Prime Minister said: “At every stage, caution will remain our watchword and each step will be conditional and reversible”. A key change announced today is a revision of guidance on social distancing from two metres to “one metre plus”. The prime minister said that “where it is possible to keep two metres apart people should”.

The British Safety Council’s chief executive said: “Covid-19 has obviously not gone away, it remains a risk and it is right that employers, who have a duty of care to their staff, do everything they can to protect them as they get ready to re-open in July. The Prime Minister has said that caution is the “government’s watchword”, and I hope that it is. The precautionary principle is at the heart of health and safety management – by planning, acting and checking processes we can reduce the risk and keep people safe.

When asked about the decision to revise the two-metre rule Robinson added: “The scientific advice coming from the Health and Safety Executive has not changed – the risk of transmission is significantly higher the closer people are to one another and it is still recommended that people keep two metres apart where they can – as the prime minister has said. Where social distancing is not always possible, such as on public transport, then face coverings can mitigate risk. Like the prime minister, I hope people will apply common sense, and that means taking into account the very real risk that remains, even as the lockdown ends.”