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Hot desks will be cut, staff canteens will be closed, and elevators will remain half-empty at workplaces across the country under Boris Johnson’s plan to ease the shutdown in the coming weeks.
The proposals are among a list of guidelines in seven documents produced by the commercial department (BEIS) after consulting with executives, commercial organizations and unions.
Companies are expected to secure staggered shifts and keep employees separate, both at work and during breaks, with a 2-meter spacing imposed by the floor tape. Staff will be asked to avoid sharing pens under the draft proposals and to stay away from face-to-face meetings.
Workers dealing with customers in stores and bank branches must be protected with plastic screens and companies will be asked to lean on more parking spaces so that staff does not have to rely on their colleagues’ elevators.
The documents, released privately on Sunday, are a crucial element of Johnson’s announcement Thursday on how Britain could adjust elements of the current restrictions to “jump-start the economy,” in the words of Cabinet Office Secretary Michael. Gove on Sunday.
Workers dealing with customers in stores and bank branches must be protected by plastic screens © Neil Hall / EPA
Its goal is to provide clear government guidance on how various different types of workplaces, from factories to outdoor workers, must operate safely.
Office workers will be urged to work from home if possible for months to avoid overwhelming the public transportation system, with monitoring of their “physical and mental health” by employers. Those who return to the offices will see that their routines change significantly.
According to the plans, millions of companies will have to do a “risk assessment” of Covid-19 before allowing staff to return to work.
Every company with more than five employees is already required to perform a risk assessment that is regularly updated. Under the new plans, everyone will have to produce a new document that specifically looks at how to keep a job safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
A staff member at the Vauxhall Car Factory during readiness testing and redesign before reopening after the Covid-19 outbreak © Colin McPherson / Alamy
Some business leaders said the risk assessment proposal would impose new costs on small businesses and could discourage some from reopening during the pandemic.
“I think the language is pretty scary,” said one executive. “It is one thing for large companies that already have health and safety teams and unionized workplaces, but if you are a small operator, you might see some looking at this and thinking ‘I’m going to stay closed.'”
The Trade Union Congress last week called on the government to compel all companies to carry out risk assessments. But a union figure said the government needed to go further and insist that the reports were publicly available.
The guidance will include telling companies to limit the number of people who share elevators. The graphics distributed by the government show elevators divided into four sections with yellow and black tape, with only one person in each corner.
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Social distancing must be maintained either in the store, in shopping queues or in common spaces such as dining rooms or smoking areas.
However, the guide will say that during an emergency, such as a fire alarm, people may temporarily breach the 2-meter distance guide.
A major omission in the preliminary documents is any clear guidance on the use of the PPE protection kit by workers, which may reflect uncertainty about the market availability of items such as face masks.
The documents insist on high levels of deep cleaning and sanitary practices in all workplaces, although the government will not specify the use of particular cleaning products or methods.
People will be encouraged to shop alone, and retailers will adopt external queues when possible and close cafes.
Workers sit at individual tables while practicing social distancing measures during a break at the Airbus assembly plant in Broughton © Paul Thomas / Bloomberg
Workers like plumbers will be directed to enter people’s homes to ensure that they bring their own cleaning products to ensure that surfaces are disinfected afterward.
Changes in workplaces, schools and public transportation will be “organized” and not a “flick of the switch,” Gove said.
Grant Shapps, transportation secretary, said rail services will begin to increase soon, a move that will anger transportation unions. The “big logistics task” will include one-way systems at the transportation hubs and space on the platform, Shapps said.
Covid-19 deaths in the UK rose by 315 on Saturday to 28,446.
