HSE workplace guidance
28 July 2020
The Health and Safety Executive has produced additional guidance on social distancing in the workplace.
The organisation states that social distancing should form part of a business’s risk assessment and is one of the steps needed to make workplaces Covid-secure.
The guidance, available at the HSE’s social distancing webpage, reiterates that people should be kept 2m apart. If this is not viable, keeping 1m apart with risk mitigation is acceptable.
It sets out additional measures where social distancing is not possible. These include common areas (such as break areas, bathrooms, toilets, meeting rooms and accommodation), work stations, arriving and leaving work, movement around buildings and work sites, using vehicles, and dealing with emergencies, security and other incidents.
Other guides are also available at the HSE website on general control measures that different types of business should consider. These cover construction, factories, offices, vehicle use and other types of work, and apply to workplaces in England. Some rules on social distancing may be different in devolved nations.
(Picture shows social distancing measures in place at Beaver Tool Hire, Chichester)