Advice for employers on social distancing during coronavirus (COVID-19).
Overview
This is a list of tailored advice for different scenarios as an example of how social distancing and other measures might be implemented by employers in England to help protect their workforce and customers from coronavirus while still continuing to trade.
For advice for business in other nations of the UK please see guidance set by the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government.
These are not intended to be comprehensive or to represent every business’s situation but are illustrative examples.
Businesses should also look to the advice being published by trade associations and similar groups on how to work out government guidance in their sector.
Read the general guidance for employers and businesses on coronavirus.
Shops running a pick-up or delivery service
You should ensure that no orders are taken in person on the premises. You should only take orders online or by telephone and communicate this to customers by clear signage in store and online.
The advice on social distancing measures applies to everyone and you should take steps to avoid crowding and minimise opportunities for the virus to spread by maintaining a distance of 2 metres between individuals, wherever possible.
Collections
Where customers are collecting items, they should have staggered collection times. When customers whose orders are ready enter, they should enter one at a time to collect orders and make payments, maintaining a safe distance.
Where queuing is taking place, you should use queue management systems to maintain a safe distance.
Deliveries
For retailers or restaurants running a delivery service, you should advise all delivery drivers that no goods or food should be physically handed over to the customer. There should instead be a set drop-off point agreed in advance.
After ringing the doorbell, the driver should maintain a safe distance from the door and oversee the delivery of the goods. The goods should not be left unattended.
You should introduce a way for customers to be able to notify your business that they are in self-isolation or are unwell in advance of the delivery, in which case these guidelines should be very strictly followed. The driver should not enter the customer’s property.
To minimise the risk that a customer does not answer the door, sensible steps such as setting an approximate delivery time and gaining a contact number should be taken.
You should advise drivers to wash their hands using soap and water for 20 seconds as regularly as possible, and drivers should be given hand-sanitiser to be carried at all times and used after each delivery.
To protect your staff, you should remind colleagues and drivers daily to only come into work if they are well and no one in their household is self-isolating.
Tradespeople and working in people’s homes
You are a tradesperson carrying out essential repairs and maintenance in people’s homes. You can continue work, providing that you are well and have no symptoms. You should notify all clients in advance of your arrival.
On entry to the home you should wash your hands using soap and water for 20 seconds. You should wash your hands regularly, particularly after blowing your nose, sneezing or coughing, and when leaving the property. Where facilities to wash hands are not available, hand sanitiser should be used, and you should carry this with you at all times.
You should maintain a safe distance (at least 2 metres) from any household occupants at all times, and ensure good ventilation in the area where you are working, including opening the window.
No work should be carried out in any household which is isolating or where an individual is being shielded, unless your work is to remedy a direct risk to the safety of the household, such as emergency plumbing or repair.
No work should be carried out by a tradesperson who has coronavirus symptoms, however mild.
Construction
Construction work plays an important role in ensuring public safety and the provision of public services. It can continue if done in accordance with the social distancing guidelines wherever possible.
Where it is not possible to follow the social distancing guidelines in full in relation to a particular activity, you should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the site to continue to operate, and, if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission.
If you decide the work should go ahead, you should advise staff to wash their hands frequently using soap and water for 20 seconds, and especially after blowing their nose, sneezing or coughing, on arrival at work, before and after eating, after using public transport, and when they arrive home. Where facilities to wash hands are not available, hand sanitiser should be used.
You should still advise staff to keep 2 metres apart as much as possible.
You should plan work to minimise contact between workers and avoid skin-to-skin and face-to-face contact. Where face-to-face contact is essential, this should be kept to 15 minutes or less wherever possible.
As much as possible, keep groups of workers working together in teams that are as small as possible (cohorting). For example, you keep vehicle crews working together, rather than mixing crew members on different shifts.
Staff should also wash their hands each time before getting into enclosed machinery (such as diggers) with others and wash their hands every time they get out. To help with this, you should consider adding additional pop-up handwashing stations or facilities, providing soap, water and/or hand sanitiser.
Employees should keep the windows of enclosed machinery or enclosed spaces open for ventilation and be careful to avoid touching their face at all times. The inside of cabs should be regularly cleaned, particularly between use by different operators.
You should try to use stairs in preference to lifts or hoists. Where lifts or hoists must be used, you should lower their capacity to reduce congestion and contact at all times, and regularly clean touchpoints, such as doors and buttons.
To protect your staff, you should remind colleagues daily to only come into work if they are well and no one in their household is self-isolating.
The Construction Leadership Council has published more detailed advice on how you might carry out government guidance.
Additional useful information for firms can be accessed on BuildUK’s website
Construction
Manufacturing plays an important role in the economy. It can continue if done in accordance with the social distancing guidelines wherever possible.
Where it is not possible to follow the social distancing guidelines in full in relation to a particular activity, you should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to continue to operate, and, if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between staff.
If you decide the work should continue, staff should work side by side or facing away from each other rather than face-to-face if possible.
You should increase the frequency of cleaning procedures, pausing production in the day if necessary, for cleaning staff to wipe down workstations with disinfectant.
You should assign staff to the same shift teams to limit social interaction.
You should not allow staff to congregate in break times; you should consider arrangements such as staggered break times so that staff can continue to practice social distancing when taking breaks.
You should communicate to all staff that they should wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or more at the beginning and end of every break, when they arrive at work and before they leave. To help with this, you should consider adding additional pop-up handwashing stations or facilities, providing soap, water and/or hand sanitiser.
When entering and leaving, you should ensure your workforce stays 2 metres apart as much as possible. To protect your staff, you should remind colleagues daily to only come into work if they are well and no one in their household is self-isolating.
Read the detailed guidance on food processing.
Retail
You run a retail outlet which, in line with the government advice on retail, remains open.
To protect staff and customers, you should manage entry into the store, only allowing a limited number of people into your store at any given time.
You should put up signage to ask customers with symptoms not to enter the store, and to remind both staff and customers to always keep 2 metres from other people, wherever possible.
You should regularly encourage staff to wash their hands with soap and water as often as possible and for 20 seconds every time.
If feasible, you should also put up plexiglass barriers at all points of regular interaction to further reduce the risk of infection for all parties involved, cleaning the barriers regularly. You should still advise staff to keep 2 metres apart as much as possible.
To protect your staff, you should remind colleagues daily to only come into work if they are well and no one in their household is self-isolating.
Read the guidance for supermarkets.
More information is available on the government website GOV.UK