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CoronavirusHealth and safetyOccupational Health

Coronavirus: employers warned to remain vigilant following ‘super Saturday’

by Nic Paton 1 Jul 2020
by Nic Paton 1 Jul 2020 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

With lockdown restrictions in England set to ease further this weekend, the British Safety Council (BSC) has sounded a warning to employers that they will need to remain vigilant to threat of Covid-19 to workers.

From 4 July – so-called “super Saturday” – pubs, cafes, restaurants, museums, libraries, cinema, hotels, hairdressers and barbers will all be able to open. The two-metre social distancing rule is also being relaxed to “one metre plus”.

But, with the threat from the virus not going away, as witnessed with Leicester being put back into a local lockdown because of a spike in cases, the BSC has reminded employers they will still have a duty of care to protect their staff from exposure to the virus.

The council highlighted the government’s new guidance, which includes 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.

BSC chief executive Michael Robinson 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.

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

“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.

“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,” he added.

Nic Paton
Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consulting editor of OHW+. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for OHW+ and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

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