Guidance on self-isolation for workers at work

 When your employees return to work they will be exposed to more risk of developing Covid 19 infection. We would suggest a reminder of the guidance on how to self isolate.

Guidance on self-isolation for workers at work.

• If employee lives alone and develops symptoms, self-isolate for 7 days.
• If employee lives with others and he/she develops symptoms, then he/she isolates for 7 days and the other household members self-isolate for 14 days. 
• If an employee lives with others and another household member develops symptoms, then he/she self isolates for 14 days. The employee can return to work irrespective of any other cases occurring in the household.
• If employee lives with others and another develops symptoms, then he/she isolates for 14 days. If during the 14 days of self-isolation period he/she develops symptoms, then he/she self isolates for a further 7 days.  It is possible that an employee may be self-isolating because of family symptoms for 14 days and then develop symptoms near the end of isolation and require a further 7 days to self-isolate- i.e. total absence 21 days

Employer’s Duty of Care

An employer has a duty of care for each employee in any work environment. If your employees are currently working from home, it is advisable to ensure the suitability of their workplace. Please encourage them to perform a self-assessment for their workstation on the HSE link as follows. This will ensure you reduce the risk of them developing musculoskeletal and posture problems.  www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/index-htm

We recommend that line managers perform risk assessments on their team members and ensure they keep in touch with their teams on a regular basis. If any employee has a history of mental health problems, it is important to support them in the workplace and be mindful for increasing stressors in the current pandemic.

The following link will help employers and management support their workforce at home. . www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/workers/home.htm

Government Guidance on Re-opening

The Government is now giving guidance on their staged process to gradually exit our Covid 19 Lockdown period.