Under the latest government guidance, employers are being given more discretion as to whether their staff should be returning. At least a third of UK workers have returned to work in recent weeks as the government eases restrictions. If your organisation has employees working from the office, you have a duty of care to your staff. Managers must ensure a safe working environment where employees’ health is protected.
This means they have to ensure they have a safe place to work, safe work equipment, their health is protected while working, and assess risks to their health and safety and take action to mitigate those risks. This includes protecting staff from COVID-19.
The level of risk changes according to the type of work being undertaken and where it occurs. Working at home still presents the least risk, but managers may also want to provide the option for those who may want to return to the workplace to do so safely.
Social distancing is a key part of avoiding the spread of coronavirus. We have therefore added a new module to our health and safety training that focuses on social distancing at work and steps employees can take to prevent the spread of the virus in the workplace.
What’s in the social distancing module?
The new module covers:
- The importance of social distancing and how far employees need to be away from colleagues
- How to prevent the spread of the virus in the workplace
- When personal protective equipment (PPE) should be worn and what should be worn
- Guidance on when to wear face coverings
- How to travel safely and when employees should avoid travelling
- What staff should do if they have COVID-19 symptoms, either at home or at work
Integrate your health and safety training with our centralised reporting tool
How do you make online health and safety training an experience that actually makes a difference in real-time? How can you easily gather data on your staff’s workstation as well as physical and mental health, especially if they are working from home?
As part of our health and safety course, which has been adapted for home workers, users undertake a number of assessments related to their workstation setup. These immersive assessments can be integrated with our reporting tool, Omnitrack. Administrators can then collect rich, actionable data from their users while they complete these assessments.
