Register to order free rapid lateral flow coronavirus tests
You must register on or before 31 March 2021.
Do not use this service if you or your employees have symptoms. Anyone with symptoms should order a PCR test and stay at home.
There are different tests you can get to check if you have coronavirus.
The 2 most commonly used are:
You can register below to order tests if:
The tests must be used in the workplace. They cannot be taken home.
Your employees can also find out if they can get a rapid lateral flow test from a local test site instead.
You’ll need:
To begin the registration click HERE
if you have any questions, please contact us or look on the Government website.
Take care. Keep safe!
Work vehicles and COVID measures
Work vehicles, like other workplaces are subject to the relevant home nation Government secure guidelines.
In England, employers should be following the hierarchy of risk control measures for vehicles and, in particular, should avoid the sharing of vehicles if possible.
Where vehicles must be shared, social distancing requirements should be applied where this is practicable.
Additional measures that the employer should consider noted in the guidance include:
Employers implementing a shift or pairing system such as noted should be keeping appropriate records of employees in pairings so as to assist the NHS Test and Trace service where necessary.
Any employee showing symptoms of Covid-19 should clearly not attend work and should arrange for a Covid-19 test to be undertaken.
The employer should at this stage be identifying any person who is deemed to be a close contact so as to support Test and Trace in identifying close contacts. The definition of a close contact includes:
Where the employee does test positive for Covid-19, those employee contacts falling within the above definitions will be required to self-isolate in accordance with Government guidelines.
It is therefore highly likely, based upon the above definition, that the paired employee may have to self-isolate but ultimately this decision will be made by the Test and Trace service, potentially in consultation with the local public health service.
If you require further information, please contact us.
Telford & Wrekin Council Working with the HSE to make sure Businesses are COVID-Secure
Telford & Wrekin Council is to become the first local authority in the country to work with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a joint pilot project to check that businesses have COVID19 secure measures in place. We are sure that this will be rolled out to other local authorities soon!
Checks in Stafford Park, Hortonwood and Halesfield will begin from Monday 1st February 2021. Businesses will be given advice and guidance to manage risk and protect workers, customers, and visitors. Where some businesses are found to not be managing this effectively immediate action will be taken. This can range from the provision of specific advice, issuing enforcement notices and stopping certain work practices until they are made safe. Where businesses fail to comply, this could lead to prosecution.
Being COVID-secure means that businesses need to put adjustments in place to manage the risk and protect workers and others from coronavirus. For further information on how to manage the risk of coronavirus in different business sectors please read the government guidance.
It is a legal duty for businesses to protect their workers and others from harm and this includes taking reasonable steps to control the risk and protect people from coronavirus. Section 7 of the HSWA puts a duty upon employees to take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and of other persons who may be affected by their acts and omissions at work. Your business needs to make the adjustments to become COVID-secure.
Ensure that as a business you have a risk assessment in place, you keep a contact log for people in the business, restrict visitors, remind employees about social distancing particularly at breaktimes. Introduce a cleaning regime, particularly at busy times of the day and keep a note of areas cleaned. Provide hand sanitiser (Anti-bacterial Gel) and remind employees to wash hands regularly.
Public protection updates, visit https://www.telford.gov.uk/info/20713/public_protection_-_covid-19_service_updates
For the latest information and safer business guidance from the Government, visit www.gov.uk
For HSE’s working safely guidance see https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/index.htm
FSB for guidance for small businesses and the self employed. FSB
Check out our HSE / COVID blog here.
Contact us should you require further assistance.
RIDDOR and COVID-19
Most deaths at work are reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, whether they involve an employee or another worker, such as a contractor.
Coronavirus has added a new dimension to this, with the HSE making it clear that it would expect death to be reported under RIDDOR where it was probable that exposure occurred at work. Some have reacted to this, saying that it poses as many questions as it answers. But, if we leave to one side the reporting issue, it is nevertheless clear that this is most likely to affect front-line care workers both in the NHS and in care homes. We can now also say with some certainty how inspectors are likely to approach such investigations.
The investigation of a death at work is a sombre matter and inspectors approach it with gravity. That said, the process of investigation is fundamentally the same as for less serious incidents.
Where the death was believed to have been caused by Covid-19, you can expect investigators to focus on the precautions you took, and the extent to which they were effective.
One key difference between the investigation of a major accident and that of a fatality is that in the latter case, there is likely to be an inquest.
Separate enquiries would be made by the police, usually in the form of a ‘coroner’s officer’, so that witnesses can be identified and statements taken. In the case of a death at work, it is also foreseeable that the police will investigate to see if there is any case to answer under manslaughter legislation, which operates in parallel to health and safety requirements.
At the time of writing, no cases have been taken in relation to Covid-19, so recognise that, like the rest of us, investigators will be feeling their way in dealing with unprecedented circumstances and may make mistakes. Co-operating with them while protecting your own interests is the balance to strike.
If you have any queries, please contact us.
Home Working
There are many people working from home, given the current situation we are in with COVID-19. This percentage may drop in the future, but for now, if we can work from home, that’s what we should do.
With kitchens and spare rooms now becoming a more permanent office space for many, staff should take time to make sure the space is serving their needs and not causing any damage. Your employers can help with this in many ways. Discuss your concerns with them.
Here we look at 8 ways to improve homeworking. If you have any suggestions, let us know.
Health and safety law requires that employers do all that they can to ensure the wellbeing of their staff. This obligation has not changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and so risks to employees need to be managed in the usual way.
Although generally low risk, homeworking is not exempt from the law, and so a risk assessment should be carried out on the home environment to identify hazards. The risk assessment will also need to establish any measures needed to prevent harm to the employee, as well as anyone else affected by their work (including other members of the household).
To assist this process, employers can remotely work through a risk assessment with members of staff or ask staff to conduct their own assessment using a template and guidance. Contact us for further information.
Managing occupational health is critical for a healthy workspace. Poor posture while working, or a lack of suitable equipment, can cause serious musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), including injuries to the back, neck, hips, knees or wrists.
With many workers converting kitchen tables and spare rooms into their new office spaces, there is a significant risk that employees could unwittingly be causing themselves long-term damage through poor seating choices or by not having the right equipment.
To ensure staff are protecting themselves from potential MSDs, employers should try to find out about their staff’s working conditions and check that everyone knows how to set up their workspace. As a minimum, the risk assessment will likely identify that everyone needs carry out a display screen equipment (DSE) check and know how to report any problems.
Search through our previous blogs for DSE information.
As well as sitting correctly, moving is also an important part of maintaining good musculoskeletal health. In the typical office, people are much more likely to have situations where they need to walk around — as part of their commute, to go to a meeting, or to speak to a colleague. Many of these workplace opportunities to stretch the legs have now been lost, so as well as taking breaks from looking at a screen (as required by the DSE Regulations) encourage staff to take a regular breather to get up and move around. Setting a timer on a phone can be a relatively easy way to do this.
Routine is important to help protect mental health and to provide continuity in the working day. Having clear start and finish times helps create work–life boundaries, as can creating a dedicated workspace.
Wherever possible, ask staff to mix up their to-do list to create balance in their work. Spending all day in video conferences can be extremely fatiguing, as can hours in front of a screen with no workplace contact at all. When evaluating new working arrangements, also ask staff to consider how they are finding the new methods of working.
Working from home brings additional cyber security issues that organisations may not have considered. The National Cyber Security Centre provides comprehensive advice on what employers might need to think about, but a starting point would be to check that staff:
If the organisation has any e-learning modules that cover cyber security, then consider asking all staff to carry out refresher training.
House fires are much more likely to occur when people are at home. When considering the home office, ways to prevent fires include:
Employees working from home should also check that they have working smoke alarms that are tested once a week.
Working from home might mean using new technology. Whereas some may find this an easy transition, others may find it harder. It is commonplace for staff to have previously asked nearby colleagues for help with IT issues, so check in to ask if there are any problems.
Working from home will bring additional costs, e.g. to keep the workspace warm. To help keep energy costs low, organisations could raise awareness of energy efficiency measures that staff can adopt. Some examples might include:
Contact us should you require further information.
Keep safe!
