mteb/FeedbackQARetrieval huggingface dataset:
Shops and branches
4. Managing your customers, visitors and contractors
4.2 Providing and explaining available guidance
In this section

4.1 Manage contacts
4.2 Providing and explaining available guidance

4.2 Providing and explaining available guidance
Objective: To make sure people understand what they need to do to maintain
safety.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Providing clear guidance on social distancing and hygiene to people on arrival, for example, signage and visual aids.


Informing customers that they should be prepared to remove face coverings safely if asked to do so by police officers and staff for the purposes of identification.


Providing written or spoken communication of the latest guidelines to both workers and customers inside and outside the store. Consider the particular needs of those with protected characteristics, such as those who are visually impaired.


Creating social distancing champions to demonstrate social distancing guidelines to customers, if helpful.


Ensuring latest guidelines are visible in selling and non-selling areas.
Shops and branches
5. Cleaning the workplace
5.2 Keeping the workplace clean
In this section

5.1 Before reopening
5.2 Keeping the workplace
5.3 Hygiene: handwashing, sanitation facilities and toilets
5.4 Customer fitting rooms
5.5 Handling goods, merchandise and other materials, and onsite vehicles

5.2 Keeping the workplace clean
Objective: To keep the workplace clean and prevent transmission by touching
contaminated surfaces.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Frequent cleaning of work areas and equipment between uses, using your usual cleaning products.


Frequent cleaning objects and surfaces that are touched regularly, including self-checkouts, trolleys, coffee machines, betting machines or staff handheld devices, and making sure there are adequate disposal arrangements for cleaning products.


Clearing workspaces and removing waste and belongings from the work area at the end of a shift.


If you are cleaning after a known or suspected case of COVID-19 then refer to the specific guidance.


*[COVID-19]: coronavirus
Shops and branches
3. Social distancing at work
3.6 Accidents, security and other incidents
Objective: To prioritise safety during incidents.
In an emergency, for example, an accident, provision of first aid, fire or
break-in, people do not have to stay 2m apart if it would be unsafe.
People involved in the provision of assistance to others should pay particular
attention to sanitation measures immediately afterwards including washing
hands.
Steps that will usually be needed:

Reviewing your incident and emergency procedures to ensure they reflect the social distancing principles as far as possible.
Shops and branches
2. Who should go to work?
In this section

2.1 Protecting people who are at higher risk
2.2 People who need to self-isolate
2.3 Equality in the workplace

Objective: That everyone should work from home, unless they cannot work.
Nobody should go to work if your business is closed under current government
regulations.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Considering who is essential to be on the premises; for example, back of house workers should work from home if at all possible.


Planning for the minimum number of people needed on site to operate safely and effectively.


Monitoring the wellbeing of people who are working from home and helping them stay connected to the rest of the workforce, especially if the majority of their colleagues are on-site.


Keeping in touch with off-site workers on their working arrangements including their welfare, mental and physical health and personal security.


Providing equipment for people to work from home safely and effectively, for example, remote access to work systems.
Shops and branches
2. Who should go to work?
2.3 Equality in the workplace
Objective: To treat everyone in your workplace equally.
In applying this guidance, employers should be mindful of the particular needs
of different groups of workers or individuals. For instance, employers have a
duty to make reasonable adjustments to avoid disabled workers being put at a
disadvantage compared to non-disabled people in the workplace.
It is breaking the law to discriminate, directly or indirectly, against anyone
because of a protected characteristic such as age, sex or disability.
Employers also have particular responsibilities towards disabled workers and
those who are new or expectant mothers.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Understanding and taking into account the particular circumstances of those with protected characteristics.


Involving and communicating appropriately with workers whose protected characteristics might either expose them to a different degree of risk, or might make any steps you are thinking about inappropriate or challenging for them.


Considering whether you need to put in place any particular measures or adjustments to take account of your duties under the equalities legislation.


Making reasonable adjustments to avoid disabled workers being put at a disadvantage, and assessing the health and safety risks for new or expectant mothers.


Making sure that the steps you take do not have an unjustifiable negative impact on some groups compared to others, for example, those with caring responsibilities or those with religious commitments.
Shops and branches
5. Cleaning the workplace
5.4 Customer fitting rooms
In this section

5.1 Before reopening
5.2 Keeping the workplace
5.3 Hygiene: handwashing, sanitation facilities and toilets
5.4 Customer fitting rooms
5.5 Handling goods, merchandise and other materials, and onsite vehicles

5.4 Customer fitting rooms
Objective: To minimise the risk of transmission through customer fitting
rooms.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Fitting rooms should be closed wherever possible given the challenges in operating them safely.


Where fitting rooms are essential, for example to support key workers buying critical protective clothing, they should be cleaned very frequently, typically between each use.


Creating procedures to manage clothes that have been tried on, for example delaying their return to the shop floor (see section 5.5 below).


Limiting contact between customers and colleagues during fitting, for example by suspending fitting assistance.
Shops and branches
5. Cleaning the workplace
5.3 Hygiene: handwashing, sanitation facilities and toilets
In this section

5.1 Before reopening
5.2 Keeping the workplace
5.3 Hygiene: handwashing, sanitation facilities and toilets
5.4 Customer fitting rooms
5.5 Handling goods, merchandise and other materials, and onsite vehicles

5.3 Hygiene: handwashing, sanitation facilities and toilets
Objective: To help everyone keep good hygiene through the working day.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Using signs and posters to build awareness of good handwashing technique, the need to increase handwashing frequency, avoid touching your face and to cough or sneeze into a tissue which is binned safely, or into your arm if a tissue is not available.


Providing regular reminders and signage to maintain hygiene standards.


Providing hand sanitiser in multiple locations in addition to washrooms.


Setting clear use and cleaning guidance for toilets to ensure they are kept clean and social distancing is achieved as much as possible.


Enhancing cleaning for busy areas.


Providing more waste facilities and more frequent rubbish collection.


Providing hand drying facilities – either paper towels or electrical driers.
Shops and branches
7. Workforce management
7.1 Shift patterns and working groups
In this section

7.1 Shift patterns and working groups
7.2 Work-related travel
7.3 Communications and training

7.1 Shift patterns and working groups
Objective: To change the way work is organised to create distinct groups and
reduce the number of contacts each worker has.
Steps that will usually be needed:


As far as possible, where workers are split into teams or shift groups, fixing these teams or shift groups so that where contact is unavoidable, this happens between the same people.


Identifying areas where people have to directly pass things to each other and find ways to remove direct contact such as by using drop-off points or transfer zones.
Shops and branches
3. Social distancing at work
3.2 Moving around buildings and stores
Objective: To maintain social distancing as far as possible while people
travel through the workplace.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Reducing movement by discouraging non-essential trips within buildings and sites, for example restricting access to some areas, encouraging use of radios or telephones, where permitted. These items require cleaning between users if multi-use.


Introducing more one-way flow through buildings. Providing floor markings and signage should remind both workers and customers to follow to social distancing wherever possible.


Reducing maximum occupancy for lifts, providing hand sanitiser for the operation of lifts and encouraging use of stairs wherever possible.


Making sure that people with disabilities are able to access lifts.


Regulating use of high traffic areas including corridors, lifts, turnstiles and walkways to maintain social distancing.
Shops and branches
1. Thinking about risk
1.2 Sharing your risk assessment
You should share the results of your risk assessment with your employees. If
possible, you should consider publishing it on your website (and we would
expect all businesses with over 50 employees to do so).
Below you will find a notice you should display in your workplace to show you
have followed this guidance.  
Staying COVID-19 Secure in
2020
(This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology. Request an
accessible
format.)
*[COVID-19]: coronavirus
Shops and branches
3. Social distancing at work
3.4 Meetings
Objective: To reduce transmission due to face-to-face meetings and maintain
social distancing in meetings.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Using remote working tools to avoid in person meetings.


Only absolutely necessary participants should attend meetings and should maintain 2m separation throughout.


Avoiding transmission during meetings, for example avoiding sharing pens and other objects.


Providing hand sanitiser in meeting rooms.


Holding meetings outdoors or in well-ventilated rooms whenever possible.


For areas where regular meetings take place, use floor signage to help people maintain social distancing.
Shops and branches
1. Thinking about risk
1.1 Managing risk
Objective: To reduce risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking
preventative measures, in order of priority
Employers have a duty to reduce workplace risk to the lowest reasonably
practicable level by taking preventative measures. Employers must work with
any other employers or contractors sharing the workplace so that everybody’s
health and safety is protected. In the context of COVID-19 this means working
through these steps in order:


In every workplace, increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning.


Businesses and workplaces should make every reasonable effort to enable working from home as a first option. Where working from home is not possible, workplaces should make every reasonable effort to comply with the social distancing guidelines set out by the government (keeping people 2m apart wherever possible).


Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full, in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and, if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.


Further mitigating actions include:   


– increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning
– keeping the activity time involved as short as possible
– using screens or barriers to separate people from each other
– using back-to-back or side-to-side working (rather than face-to-face)
whenever possible
– reducing the number of people each person has contact with by using ‘fixed
teams or partnering’ (so each person works with only a few others)


Finally, if people must work face-to-face for a sustained period with more than a small group of fixed partners, then you will need to assess whether the activity can safely go ahead. No one is obliged to work in an unsafe work environment.


In your assessment you should have particular regard to whether the people doing the work are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.


The recommendations in the rest of this document are ones you should consider
as you go through this process. You could also consider any advice that has
been produced specifically for your sector, for example by trade associations
or trades unions.
If you have not already done so, you should carry out an assessment of the
risks posed by COVID-19 in your workplace as soon as possible. If you are
currently operating, you are likely to have gone through a lot of this
thinking already. We recommend that you use this document to identify any
further improvements you should make.
*[COVID-19]: coronavirus
Shops and branches
3. Social distancing at work
3.3 Workplaces and workstations
Objective: To maintain social distancing between individuals when they are at
their workstations.
For people who work in one place, workstations should allow them to maintain
social distancing wherever possible.
Workstations should be assigned to an individual as much as possible. If they
need to be shared, they should be shared by the smallest possible number of
people.
If it is not possible to keep workstations 2m apart then businesses should
consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate,
and if so take all mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of
transmission.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Reviewing layouts to allow workers to work further apart from each other.


Using floor tape or paint to mark areas to help people keep to a 2m distance.


Avoiding people working face-to-face. For example, by working side-by-side or facing away from each other.


Using screens to create a physical barrier between people.


Using a consistent pairing system if people have to work in close proximity. For example, maintenance activities that cannot be redesigned.


Minimising contacts around transactions, for example, considering using contactless payments.


Rethinking demonstrations and promotions to minimise direct contact and to maintain social distancing.
Vehicles
2. Who should go to work
2.2 People who need to self-isolate
Objective: To make sure individuals who are advised to stay at home under
existing government
guidance do not physically come to work. This includes individuals who have
symptoms of COVID-19 as well as those who live in a household with someone who
has symptoms.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Enabling workers to work from home while self-isolating if appropriate.


See current guidance for employees and employers relating to statutory sick pay due to coronavirus.


See current guidance for people who have symptoms and those who live with others who have symptoms.


*[COVID-19]: coronavirus
Vehicles
7. Workforce management
7.3 Communications and training
In this section

7.1 Shift patterns and working groups
7.2 Work-related travel
7.3 Communications and training

7.3 Communications and training
7.3.1 Returning to work
Objective: To make sure all workers understand COVID-19 related safety
procedures.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Providing clear, consistent and regular communication to improve understanding and consistency of ways of working.


Engaging with workers and worker representatives through existing communication routes and worker representatives to explain and agree any changes in working arrangements.


Developing communication and training materials for workers prior to returning to site, especially around new procedures for arrival at work.


7.3.2 Ongoing communications and signage
Objective: To make sure all workers are kept up-to-date with how safety
measures are being implemented or updated.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Ongoing engagement with workers, including through trade unions or employee representative groups, to monitor and understand any unforeseen impacts of changes to working environments.


Awareness and focus on the importance of mental health at times of uncertainty. The government has published guidance on the mental health and wellbeing aspects of coronavirus.


Using simple, clear messaging to explain guidelines using images and clear language, with consideration of groups for which English may not be their first language.


Using visual communications, for example whiteboards or signage, to explain changes to schedules, breakdowns or materials shortages without the need for face-to-face communications.


Communicating approaches and operational procedures to suppliers, customers or trade bodies to help their adoption and share experience.


*[COVID-19]: coronavirus
Vehicles
7. Workforce management
7.2 Work-related travel
In this section

7.1 Shift patterns and working groups
7.2 Work-related travel
7.3 Communications and training

7.2 Work-related travel
7.2.1 Accommodation
Objective: To keep people safe when they do need to travel overnight.
Steps that will usually be needed:

Where workers are required to stay away from their home, centrally logging the stay and making sure any overnight accommodation meets social distancing guidelines.

7.2.2 Deliveries to other sites
Objective: To help workers delivering to other sites such as factories,
logistics sites or customers’ premises to maintain social distancing and
hygiene practices.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Putting in place procedures to minimise person-to-person contact during deliveries to other sites.


Minimising contact during payments and exchange of documentation, for example, by using electronic payment methods and electronically signed and exchanged documents.
Vehicles
7. Workforce management
7.1 Shift patterns and working groups
In this section

7.1 Shift patterns and working groups
7.2 Work-related travel
7.3 Communications and training

7.1 Shift patterns and working groups
Objective: To change the way work is organised to create distinct groups and
reduce the number of contacts each worker has.
Steps that will usually be needed:


As far as possible, where people are split into teams or shift groups, fixing these teams or shift groups so that where contact is unavoidable, this happens between the same people.


People who work together in one vehicle should be in a fixed pairing as far as possible.


Identifying areas where people have to directly pass things to each other (such as job information, spare parts, samples, raw materials) and find ways to remove direct contact, for example, by using drop off points or transfer zones.
Vehicles
4. Managing your customers, visitors and contractors
In this section

4.1 Manage contacts
4.2 Providing and explaining available guidance

4.1 Manage contacts
Objective: To minimise the contact risk resulting from people in vehicles, for
example, taxi customers.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Determining if schedules can be revised to reduce interaction and overlap between people. For example, when drivers arrive at depots, collection and delivery times and break times.


Ensuring delivery and receipt confirmation can be made contactless and avoiding physical contact when handing goods over to the customer.


Preparing for goods to be dropped off to a previously agreed area to avoid transmission, for example, taking advantage of click and collect type arrangements.


Maintaining a record of all visitors, if this is practical.


4.2 Providing and explaining available guidance
Objective: To make sure people understand what they need to do to maintain
safety.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Providing guidance and explanation on social distancing and hygiene to passengers, such as taxi customers, when they enter the vehicle.


Understanding the protocol for collecting and distributing goods across different locations and agreeing these in advance.


Regularly briefing drivers and temporary staff, communicating to customers and providing in vehicle guides and reminders for passengers and staff.
Vehicles
1. Thinking about risk
1.1 Managing risk
Objective: To reduce risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking
preventative measures, in order of priority
Employers have a duty to reduce workplace risk to the lowest reasonably
practicable level by taking preventative measures. Employers must work with
any other employers or contractors sharing the workplace so that everybody’s
health and safety is protected.
In the context of COVID-19 this means working through these steps in order:


In every workplace, increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning.


Businesses and workplaces should make every reasonable effort to enable working from home as a first option. Where working from home is not possible, workplaces should make every reasonable effort to comply with the social distancing guidelines set out by the government (keeping people 2m apart wherever possible).


Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full, in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and, if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.   


Further mitigating actions include:  
– increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning
– keeping the activity time involved as short as possible
– using screens or barriers to separate people from each other
– using back-to-back or side-to-side working (rather than face-to-face)
whenever possible
– reducing the number of people each person has contact with by using ‘fixed
teams or partnering’ (so each person works with only a few others)

Finally, if people must work face-to-face for a sustained period with more than a small group of fixed partners, then you will need to assess whether the activity can safely go ahead. No one is obliged to work in an unsafe work environment.   

In your assessment you should have particular regard to whether the people
doing the work are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.
The recommendations in the rest of this document are ones you should consider
as you go through this process. You could also consider any advice that has
been produced specifically for your sector, for example by trade associations
or trades unions.
If you have not already done so, you should carry out an assessment of the
risks posed by COVID-19 in your workplace as soon as possible. If you are
currently operating, you are likely to have gone through a lot of this
thinking already. We recommend that you use this document to identify any
further improvements you should make.
*[COVID-19]: coronavirus