As of June 2020, the official guidance in all parts of the UK is to continue working from home where possible.
If it is essential that some workers and volunteers be in the workplace, employers have a duty of care to reduce risk to the lowest reasonably practical level by taking preventative measures.
You can find a tailored returning to work risk assessment in our members’ area or consult the templates on the HSE website.
The government has also provided guidance about returning to community facilities, which may include many Irish centres and clubs.
Download the government’s Working Safely During Covid–19 in Offices and Contact Centres here. This document provides detailed guidance, but also identifies 5 key steps to managing the risk of Covid–19 in the workplace and safer working:
– Carry out a risk assessment and share the results with people who work there
– Develop cleaning, handwashing and hygiene procedures in line with guidance
– Take all reasonable steps to help people work from home
– Take all reasonable steps to maintain a 2 metre distance in the workplace
– Where people cannot be 2 metres apart, do everything practical to manage transmission risk.
NCVO have provided the following advice about helping staff to work safely and mitigate risk on their Protecting your staff, volunteers and beneficiaries page:
Staff must continue to work from home where possible. Think about who is essential to have on–site, such as roles which cannot be performed remotely, and those who cannot work from home due to home circumstances or unavailability of necessary equipment.
If some staff are returning to work, you should review layouts and processes to allow people to work further apart.
People must maintain two–metre social distancing where possible. This includes entrances and exits, break rooms, canteens, and similar settings.
Avoid hot desking. Workstations should be assigned to an individual and not shared. If they need to be shared, they should be shared with the smallest number of people possible and cleaned before the next person uses the station.
Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full, in relation to a particular activity, consider if this activity is necessary. If it is, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between staff.
Further risk–mitigating actions could include:
o increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning
o providing hand sanitiser throughout the workplace
o using screens or barriers to separate people from each other
o using back–to–back or side–to–side working, rather than face–to–face, where possible
o reducing the number of people each person has contact with by using fixed teams or partnering, so each person works with a limited number of others
o staggering arrival and departure times at work to reduce crowding
o using markings and introducing a one–way flow at entry and exit points
o reducing maximum occupancy for lifts, providing hand sanitiser for the operation of lifts and encouraging the use of stairs where possible. Make sure that people who need to use lifts can do
o using remote working tools to reduce the number of visits to the workplace. Where this is not possible, limit the number of visitors at one time, set specific visitor time windows and maintain a record of the visitors.
Have clear, consistent and regular communication with employees and service users to improve understanding and monitor any unforeseen impacts of changes to working environments.
For staff who continue to work from home it’s important that they are helped to stay connected with the rest of the team and to monitor their wellbeing.
You may also like to view the Cranfield Trust’s ‘Practical guide to reopening’ webinar on YouTube.