Employer's Duties - Mental Health in the Workplace in light of Covid-19
The current pandemic has undoubtedly impacted the vast majority, if not all of our daily lives in terms of both our working and personal circumstances.
Following the Government’s announcement in May that the lockdown as a result of COVID-19 was to be lifted to allow those that could not work from home to get back to work, guidance has been produced to assist with that return, and has recently been updated following the governments easing of restrictions over the last few weeks.
So what has changed for Employers in terms of the updated guidance?
In a nutshell not very much in terms of what the guidance is and recommendations are for employers looking to get their employees back into the workplace.
Whilst the guidance reflects the alteration to the social distancing guidelines by stating that employers should make every reasonable effort to comply with social distancing (which is stated to still be 2 metres, or now 1 metre with risk mitigation to be put in place), and encourages the use of the “Test and Trace” service, not much has changed in terms of what employers should be considering in terms of risk, and what steps they should be taking to enable their employees to return to the workplace safely.
So what does the guidance say that Employers should be doing / considering?
Whatever your workplace situation, once your risk assessment has been produced:
The guidance also covers off more general factors that any risk assessment will also need take into account such:
Finally, the guidance provides recommendations with regard to cleaning the workplace both before and during return to work to prevent transmission as far as is reasonably practicable.
The guidance does provide helpful recommendations, but it can only be general guidance and the mitigating steps may not be possible in all circumstances.
Each employer / workplace will need to take what recommendations they can from this document and tailor it according to their specific circumstances having considered the nature of the business, the size and the type of business, how it is organised, managed and regulated, what resources they have, how the premises are laid out, and the needs / individual circumstances of it’s employees (i.e. whether there are any especially vulnerable people).
Hopefully, employers will now be able to use this guidance constructively to enable their employees to return to the workplace and get on with their jobs, with the confidence that steps have been taken and considerations made to protect them from the COVID-19 virus while back at work.
Should you require any assistance or further guidance in the light of the Government’s recommendations and how this should be applied to your particular workplace, or have any other health and safety issues that you would like assistance with, please do not hesitate to contact the team at Prettys.