Coronavirus: Government plans for return to work would put employees at risk, unions say

Draft proposals to ease lockdown measures ‘thrown together in a hurry and it shows’

Union leaders have warned the government’s draft plans to get staff back to work during the coronavirus crisis “have been thrown together in a hurry” and would put people at risk.

Staggered shift hours, rearranged offices, and communication over radio are proposed in draft guidelines sent to business groups, major employers and unions.

An end to hot-desking, continued home working, and one-way systems in buildings also reportedly form part of proposals revealed days before Boris Johnson unveils the government’s “roadmap” out of lockdown on Sunday.

But Britain’s trade union body raised “urgent concerns” about the plans, expected to be finalised in the coming days, which they said contained no requirements on employers to keep people safe at work.

The TUC said ministers had made no commitment to increase enforcement to stop companies flouting the law and putting staff in danger.

It noted the guidance repeatedly says ”employers should consider” actions such as enabling social distancing or providing handwashing facilities but also suggests individual employers can decide to ignore that advice.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove and business secretary Alok Sharma are said to have drawn up seven documents for different industries and settings: hotels and restaurants; work in other people’s homes; factories; working outdoors; working in vehicles; shops; and offices.

The guidance, also seen by the BBC and Buzzfeed News, will reportedly urge employers to minimise the number of people using communal equipment, introduce protective screens in some situations, and put additional hygiene rules in place.

Shifts and break times could be staggered to reduce crowding at entrances, workers may be told to work facing away from each other, and staff canteens might be told to shut.

Office staff will be told to work from home where possible, while “critical” workers who cannot should work further apart, the plans reportedly state.

Under the draft proposals, companies with more than five employees will be required to submit a written risk assessment if they wish to reopen during the pandemic.

But TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said “safe working will not be guaranteed” under the plans as they stand, adding that unions could be expected to support the guidance without any recommendations on the use of personal protective equipment.

Prospect union general secretary Mike Clancy added: “We all want to get back to work, but there is no point in easing the lockdown if the guidelines put people at risk, potentially causing a spike in cases and another full-scale lockdown.”

John Phillips, acting general secretary of the GMB Union, said the guidance was “thrown together in a hurry and it shows”.

“They cannot just flick a switch, say it’s safe to work within two metres of other people without PPE and expect them to head merrily off to work,” he said.

He added unions and employers had been given only 12 hours to respond to the draft guidelines which “means crucial changes will not be made”.

The criticism came after transport minister Grant Shapps outlined what the easing of the lockdown may look like over the weekend.

Mr Shapps said workers who do end up heading back to their jobs may have to travel in at different times throughout the day in order to aid social distancing and give people more room on public transport.

“Things like staggering work times [are] very important to avoid those morning peaks. The crushes would be completely at odds with social distancing,” he told Sky News.

He also suggested trains, buses and transport interchanges could be equipped with hand sanitiser, and maintained that handwashing remains more important in preventing the spread of the disease than wearing face masks, which some countries have mandated.

He also said there is no firm plan yet for when schools can reopen.

“It’s no secret that of course we want kids to be able to go back to school, but I’d be over-egging it to say there’s a date in place [and] a plan.”

Speaking about the government’s roadmap, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said at the daily news conference in Downing Street on Sunday evening: “We’re consulting with employers and unions, professionals and public health experts, to establish how we can ensure that we have the safest possible working environments, and the prime minister will be saying more later this week.”

But he warned the public the end of lockdown would not be like “flicking a switch and going ... back to the old normal”.

He said there would be “a phased approach ... which allows us to monitor the impact that those changes are having on public health”.

The NHS will also begin a pilot of its new coronavirus app this week with initial trials for the contact tracing system taking place on the Isle of Wight.

But the government has indicated its success depends on a very high uptake among the population. Between 50 to 60 per cent of the entire population will have to use it in order for it to have a real impact. That figure means the app will need to become as ubiquitous as WhatsApp in the space of just a few months.

Mr Gove said that “the more people who download the app the better” and was optimistic that people would decide to download it.

“It’s striking how publicly spirited people have been throughout the crisis, and knowing that this is a contribution all of us can make to help keep our neighbours and our communities safer is a very powerful incentive, I think,” he said.

On Sunday the government said 28,466 people are now known to have died due to coronavirus in the UK – a rise of 315 since Saturday.

The figure puts the UK death toll higher than that of Spain, which has the greatest number of known cases of Covid-19 in Europe and just below Italy’s which is currently at 28,884.

The UK is on course to become the worst affected country in Europe and the second-worst in the world, in terms of deaths, after the United States where 68,602 people have died.