Transmission Risk

Where employers cannot keep people two metres apart, they should manage transmission risk. Mitigating actions might include:

· Staggering working times or days;

· Increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning;

· Using screens to separate people from each other;

· Using back-to-back, rather than face-to-face, working;

· Ensuring communal areas such as toilets and kitchens are limited to use by one person at a time; and

· Ensuring meetings are held remotely and not in person so as to avoid being in close confines with others and to avoid unnecessary travel.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) will be doing spot checks to ensure that workplaces are safe for staff. If a spot check is done and a workplace is not safe, and the employer cannot say that they have taken reasonable action, then the HSE can issue a sanction. Enforcement measures against the employer could range from specifically advising them on measures they should take to imposing enforcement notices.