Working to ensure local businesses are COVID-secure

The work will also help tackle coronavirus (COVID-19) in the local area.

The council is also working alongside local public health authorities to support the understanding of any patterns in confirmed coronavirus cases in the area.

During the checks, advice and guidance is provided to manage risk and protect workers, customers and visitors. Where some businesses are not managing this, immediate action will be taken. This can range from the provision of specific advice, issuing enforcement notices, stopping certain work practices until they are made safe and, where businesses fail to comply, this could lead to prosecution.

Being COVID-secure means that businesses need to put adjustments in place to manage the risk and protect workers and others from coronavirus. For information on how to manage the risk of coronavirus in different business sectors, please read the government guidance.

Yvonne Hope, head of public protection, says: “We are talking to local businesses and visiting sites in and around the borough to understand how they are managing risks in line with their specific business activity.

“Becoming COVID-secure needs to be the priority for all businesses in Cheltenham. It is a legal duty for businesses to protect their workers and others from harm and this includes taking reasonable steps to control the risk and protect people from coronavirus. This means making business adjustments to become COVID-secure. We advise employers to work with their employees when implementing changes, to help increase confidence with workers, customers and the local community.”

HSE and local authority inspectors are finding some common issues across a range of sectors that include: failing to provide arrangements for monitoring, supervising and maintaining social distancing, and failing to introduce an adequate cleaning regime particularly at busy times of the day.

Cllr Andrew McKinlay, cabinet member for development and safety, for Cheltenham Borough Council, said: “All businesses are in scope for spot checks which means businesses of any size, in any sector can receive an unannounced check to ensure they are COVID-secure. By making sure that businesses have measures in place to manage the risks, we can benefit the health of the local community as well as support the local and national UK economy.”

For the latest information and safer business guidance, see www.gov.uk.

For the latest local news and advice regarding Coronavirus, please visit the council’s website: www.cheltenham.gov.uk/coronavirus.
 

For media enquiries, please contact: communications, telephone 01242 264154, email [email protected]

Notes:
1.    The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. www.hse.gov.uk

2.    HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

3.    For HSE’s working safely guidance see https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/index.htm

4.    For government guidance on working safely see https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus