The health and safety executive has continued its conduction of spot checks around UK businesses to help make sure they are COVID-19 secure; this added pressure to ensure workers are safe in the workplace has been compounded by the UK government encouraging workers to make their way back to the office.
Inspections increase in Oldham and Pendle as COVID-19 cases rise
Random spot inspections are increasing in like Oldham and Pendle which have seen a rise in Coronavirus cases. The main areas looked at including the cleaning of surfaces, enforcement of social distancing, and the general management of COVID-19 risk in the workplace.
Spot checks are nothing new, and the HSE Executive has often looked towards them as a way of encouraging compliance with other health and safety measures outside of COVID-19.
The added checks may become more important as we head into winter given the current government advice to return to the office. The reason for the change in policy is the potential threat that city centers may be under the massive drop in demand for goods and services with fewer workers operating out of city-center offices.
The return of workers to the office according to the stats has been gradual over the past few months. As the threat of the virus has somewhat receded workers have begun to feel more comfortable entering the workplace so long as proper social distancing methods have been introduced.
What do these changes mean for my office?
The increased chance of spot inspections and encouragement by the government to return to the office are both reasons to make sure your workplace is COVID secure. Making sure you have a suitable understanding of the main COVID-19 challenges when re-entering the workplace will help you keep the public and your staff safe.
