Return to work protocols

When you are preparing to reopen your business, here are some actions you may wish to consider to improve the safety of your business and its staff. Government advice can be found here.

Note: On 28 April, it was announced that testing for coronavirus was being extended, now including everyone who needs to leave home to work, and those over 65 with symptoms. Find a more information about testing here.

If your business is outdoors, or has outdoor areas, there is additional Government guidance available here.

Commuting to and from work – using private vehicles and car sharing

When using a private vehicle to make an essential journey, cars should only be shared by members of the same household. Those who normally share a car to work with people who are not members of their own household should look for alternatives in order to maintain a distance of 2 metres from others, for example walking or cycling. If public transport is an option, read Government advice on using public transport here.

If there is no option but to share a car with people who are not part of the same household, journeys should be shared with the same individuals and with the minimum number of people at any one time. Good ventilation (i.e. keeping the windows open) and sitting the maximum distance from each other may help to reduce the risk of transmission.

Private vehicles that are used by people from multiple households should be cleaned regularly using gloves and standard cleaning products, with particular emphasis on handles and other areas where passengers may touch surfaces. Your staff should be issued with written guidance to this effect. Watch a video that includes advice on car sanitisation here.

If car sharing, wash hands before and after the journey, keep windows open and potentially wear a mask. Consider whether pool cars could be redistributed in order to avoid car sharing.

Car parking

Are you able to use every other space in the car park to ensure that the 2m distance ruling can be maintained? If not, could arrival times be staggered so that social distancing protocols can be more easily observed?

Many Local Authorities have suspended parking charges, so on-street parking may be available free of charge.

Catering

Suggest employees bring their own lunch or take meals outside of work and consider suspending catering and vending facilities, and making microwaves and fridges unavailable.

Water coolers should be taken out of service – can bottled water be provided instead, or employees asked to bring their own drinks? Water bottles should be named so they are clearly identifiable.

Fitness to work/return to work

Employers must be especially careful and take extra steps for anyone in their workforce who is in a vulnerable group. This includes, but is not limited to, those who: have a long-term health condition, for example asthma, diabetes or heart disease; or a weakened immune system as the result of medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy; are pregnant; are aged 70 or over;

care for someone with a health condition that might put them at a greater risk.

ACAS has some useful advice for employers regarding Coronavirus and vulnerable employees.

Staff should be instructed to inform management if they have ANY of these symptoms:

  • Fever of 37.5°C or higher or are feeling feverish (shivering)
  • Chills, cough, sore throat
  • Onset of severe fatigue
  • Headache, loss of taste and smell…

They should NOT come to work, but tell their line manager – NB RIDDOR may apply.

Self-monitoring protocol

Businesses should ask all employees to self-monitor for any symptoms of COVID-19 (for example by taking their temperature daily) for 14 days prior to their return to work.

Shared areas in the workplace

Distancing: Guidance and barriers should be put in place to ensure that distance between employees is maintained and it may be necessary to reduce the number of staff and workstations. Could the ground be marked, as has been done in many supermarkets, and protective screens introduced? This is particularly important for customer-facing staff.

Access areas: Where possible, use the elbow or the forearm to push turnstiles, doors and gates. Consider whether keypad alarm systems can be disabled by a single designated staff member, or whether disposable gloves can be worn.

Doors: keep doors open if you can – except fire doors. Cleaning high-touch areas (handles, fingerplates etc) with disinfectant regularly will help.

Lifts/elevators: Preferably get staff to use the stairs; if using elevator call buttons or holding railings, clean your hands after.

Changing room/lockers: Can access be restricted, e.g. by asking all staff to come dressed in work clothes, ready to start?

Smoking shelters: It is advisable for these to be closed and for no smoking or vaping allowed on site. If you decide not to close smoking shelters, then apply the same controls that you are applying in your office premises e.g. mark the ground to indicate a two metre space or add barriers and introduce a policy where only one or two members of staff can visit the area at any one time to safely maintain social distancing. The area, including any ashtrays, should be cleaned regularly with disinfectant. If customers can access your smoking areas, staff must be prepared to advise customers of the protocols put in place around smoking on the premises.

Meeting rooms: These should only be used where essential. Safety protocols displayed in the rooms should be followed. One of the many online meeting software options, telephone or email should be used instead of a physical meeting wherever possible even when the meeting is for internal staff within your own premises; face-to-face team briefings should be discouraged.

Masks, sanitisers and PPE

Could employees be supplied with PPE (personal protective equipment) – for example two face masks each day? (It should be noted, however, that there are conflicting views on the use of face masks for non-medical staff). You may consider making wearing of this PPE mandatory especially for customer-facing staff, as it could provide a level of reassurance. Hand sanitisers, where provided, should not be shared.

Cleaning and disinfection

Workstations: Employees should remain at the same workstation for the duration of the working day if possible. A systematic cleaning of all workstations/desks etc should be scheduled and a record of this kept; visits of contractors (cleaning and others) should be recorded.

Toilet and washing facilities

Businesses will need to examine how the cleaning of toilets and restrooms can be executed. This is doubly important if the public has access to these areas. How will you deal with the cleaning of taps, door handles and toilet flushes, ideally before and after each use? (Again, a log should be kept.)

Consider taking hand dryers out of use and replacing them with disposable paper towels, providing tissues with which to open restroom doors and bins for tissues to be disposed in. In the longer run, foot operated doors may become the norm, along with sensor taps on the sinks and automatic toilet flushes that don’t have to be touched.

There is no doubt that working life will be very different during the course of this pandemic – and quite possibly for a considerable time after it – so it is worth investing the time in reorganising your business practices now to ensure ongoing operations are not interrupted further in the future.