Do you employ less than 10 employees? If so, we have good news for you! Section 40 of the Directive: COVID-19 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES IN WORKPLACES, 2020 creates far less onerous compliance requirements for your business.
If this is you, all you’re required to do is:
- Arrange your workplace to ensure that employees are at least 1.5 metres apart or, if not practicable, place physical barriers between them to prevent the possible transmission of the virus;
- Ensure that employees that present with the following symptoms are not permitted into the workplace:
| Fever (over 37.5 degrees) | Redness of eyes | Loss of smell or loss of taste | Fatigue |
| Cough | Shortness of breath/ difficulty breathing | Nausea/Vomiting | Weakness |
| Sore throat | Body aches | Diarrhoea | Tiredness |
- Immediately contact the COVID-19 hotline: 0800 02 9999 for instruction if they do present with any of these symptoms and direct the employee to act in accordance with those instructions;
- Provide cloth masks or require an employee to wear some form of cloth covering over their mouth and nose while at work;
- Provide each employee with hand sanitizers, soap and clean water to wash their hands and disinfectants to sanitize their workstations;
- Ensure that each employee while at work washes with soap and sanitizes their hands; and
- Ensure that their workstations are disinfected regularly;
- Take any other measures indicated by a risk assessment where you identify:
- The likelihood of each employee being exposed to the virus (based on the type of job, how the employee travels to work etc.)
- How vulnerable is each employee should they contract the virus (based on age, underlying comorbidities etc.)
If you would like to know more about the how COVID-19 will affect your business, please contact us.