This news article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Interim Health and Safety Professional, Georgina Watson, for the attention of all Schools.
Following recent guidance changes from the government and HSE, the risk of COVID-19 will remain a public health issue. Therefore, guidance for workplaces is being replaced with public health advice and the HSE no longer require every business to consider COVID-19 in their risk assessment or to have specific measures in place. However, there is a requirement to protect those who will come into contact with the virus due to their work activity.
However, for those staff who come into contact with the virus due to their work activity, the following measures must be in place;-
Under COSHH Regulations, employers must protect workers who come into contact with COVID-19 either:
- directly through their work, for example in researching the virus in laboratories
- due to their work activity, such as health and social care workers caring for infectious patients
In these cases, employers must still do a risk assessment and implement control measures.
COSHH does not cover situations where:
- one employee catches a respiratory infection from another
- a member of the public has infected an employee with coronavirus through general transmission in the workplace
There is also a requirement that employers must continue to consult with workers and their representatives on any changes they make that might affect health and safety.
In relation to RIDDOR reporting there is no longer a requirement to report COVID except for when there is an incidental exposure when working in environments where people are known to have COVID-19, for example in a health or social care setting.
For any staff that were previously considered clinically extremely vulnerable you should now follow the DHSC guidance for people previously considered clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19.
SBC has also created a template office risk assessment (attached) that teams can use as a starting point for their team risk assessment.
If you would like more information, please follow the links below or contact the H&S team on _healthandsafety@slough.gov.uk