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Government Publishes Covid-19 Secure Guidelines For Construction Industry

As the Government urges construction companies to get back to work, they have published guidance on how to reopen sites safely.

Following Boris Johnson’s address to the nation on Sunday evening, anyone who cannot work from home has been urged to return to work, including those in construction.

But with much confusion as to how this return to work can be managed safely – after all, Covid-19 is still a very real and dangerous threat – the Government has published new ‘Covid-19 Secure’ guidelines.

Alok Sharma, Business Secretary, said: “This guidance provides a framework to get the UK back to work in a way that is safe for everyone. These are practical steps to enable employers to identify risks that Covid-19 creates and to take pragmatic measures to mitigate them.”

The document states it is to “help employers, employees and the self-employed in the UK understand how to work safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping as many people as possible 2 metres apart from those they do not live with.”

The Government hopes that the new document gives people a practical framework to restart business operations during the Covid-19 pandemic. They also reiterated that workers shouldn’t be forced to work in an unsafe workplace.

But with public health devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it’s recommended that this guidance should be used in conjunction with local public health requirements, meaning construction sites in these countries may face a slower return to work than those in England.

The Government also said that an additional £14m would be made available to enable the Health & Safety Executive to enforce the new guidelines.

The guidelines can be downloaded directly from the .Gov website here.

For more information on how we are continuing to support our clients throughout this period, you can visit our website here.