mteb/FeedbackQARetrieval huggingface dataset:
Factories, plants and warehouses
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 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 trades 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 (COVID-19).


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 production schedules, breakdowns or materials shortages, to reduce the need for face-to-face communications.


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


*[COVID-19]: coronavirus
Factories, plants and warehouses
2. Who should go to work
2.1 Protecting people who are at higher risk
Objective: To protect clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely
vulnerable individuals.
Clinically extremely vulnerable individuals have been strongly advised not to
work outside the home.
Clinically vulnerable individuals, who are at higher risk of severe illness
(for example, people with some pre-existing conditions), have been asked to
take extra care in observing social-distancing and should be helped to work
from home, either in their current role or in an alternative role.
If clinically vulnerable (but not extremely clinically vulnerable) individuals
cannot work from home, they should be offered the option of the safest
available on-site roles, enabling them to stay 2m away from others. If they
have to spend time within 2m of others, you should carefully assess whether
this involves an acceptable level of risk. As for any workplace risk you must
take into account specific duties to those with protected characteristics,
including, for example, expectant mothers who are, as always, entitled to
suspension on full pay if suitable roles cannot be found. Particular attention
should also be paid to people who live with clinically extremely vulnerable
individuals.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Providing support for workers around mental health and wellbeing. This could include advice or telephone support.


See current guidance for advice on who is in the clinically extremely vulnerable and clinically vulnerable groups.
Factories, plants and warehouses
2. Who should go to work
2.3 People who have protected characteristics
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.
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 different 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.
Factories, plants and warehouses
6. Personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings
In this section

6.1 Face coverings

PPE protects the user against health or safety risks at work. It can include
items such as safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility
clothing, safety footwear and safety harnesses. It also includes respiratory
protective equipment, such as face masks.
Where you are already using PPE in your work activity to protect against non-
COVID-19 risks, you should continue to do so.
At the start of this document we described the steps you need to take to
manage COVID-19 risk in the workplace. This includes working from home and
staying 2m away from each other in the workplace if at all possible. When
managing the risk of COVID-19, additional PPE beyond what you usually wear is
not beneficial. This is because COVID-19 is a different type of risk to the
risks you normally face in a workplace, and needs to be managed through social
distancing, hygiene and fixed teams or partnering, not through the use of PPE.
The exception is clinical settings, like a hospital, or a small handful of
other roles for which Public Health England advises use of PPE. For example,
first responders and immigration enforcement officers. If you are in one of
these groups you should refer to the advice at:

COVID-19: personal protective equipment (PPE) plan
COVID-19: cleaning in non-healthcare settings

Workplaces should not encourage the precautionary use of extra PPE to protect
against COVID-19 outside clinical settings or when responding to a suspected
or confirmed case of COVID-19.
Unless you are in a situation where the risk of COVID-19 transmission is very
high, your risk assessment should reflect the fact that the role of PPE in
providing additional protection is extremely limited. However, if your risk
assessment does show that PPE is required, then you must provide this PPE free
of charge to workers who need it. Any PPE provided must fit properly.
[PPE]: Personal protective equipment
  [COVID-19]: coronavirus
Factories, plants and warehouses
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 number of unnecessary visits to factories, plants
and warehouses.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Encouraging visits via remote connection or remote working for visitors where this is an option.


Limiting the number of visitors at any one time.


Determining if schedules for essential services and contractor visits can be revised to reduce interaction and overlap between people, for example, carrying out services at night.


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 clear guidance on social-distancing and hygiene to people, for example, inbound delivery drivers or safety critical visitors, on arrival, for example, signage, visual aids, and before arrival, for example, by phone, on the website, by email.


Establishing host responsibilities relating to COVID-19, providing any necessary training for people who act as hosts for visitors.


Reviewing entry and exit routes for visitors and contractors to minimise contact with other people.


Coordinating and cooperating with other occupiers for those working in facilities shared with other businesses, including with landlords and other tenants.


*[COVID-19]: coronavirus
Factories, plants and warehouses
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 employers relating to statutory sick pay due to COVID-19.


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


*[COVID-19]: coronavirus
Factories, plants and warehouses
6. Personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings
6.1 Face coverings
There are some circumstances when wearing a face covering may be marginally
beneficial as a precautionary measure. The evidence suggests that wearing a
face covering does not protect you, but it may protect others if you are
infected but have not developed symptoms.
A face covering can be very simple and may be worn in enclosed spaces where
social distancing isn’t possible. It just needs to cover your mouth and nose.
It is not the same as a face mask, such as the surgical masks or respirators
used by health and care workers. Similarly, face coverings are not the same as
the PPE used to manage risks like dust and spray in an industrial context.
Supplies of PPE, including face masks, must continue to be reserved for those
who need them to protect against risks in their workplace, such as health and
care workers, and those in industrial settings like those exposed to dust
hazards.
It is important to know that the evidence of the benefit of using a face
covering to protect others is weak and the effect is likely to be small,
therefore face coverings are not a replacement for the other ways of managing
risk, including minimising time spent in contact, using fixed teams and
partnering for close-up work, and increasing hand and surface washing. These
other measures remain the best ways of managing risk in the workplace and
government would therefore not expect to see employers relying on face
coverings as risk management for the purpose of their health and safety
assessments.
Wearing a face covering is optional and is not required by law, including in
the workplace. If you choose to wear one, it is important to use face
coverings properly and wash your hands before putting them on and taking them
off. You should be prepared to remove your face covering if asked to do so by
police officers and staff for the purposes of identification.
Employers should support their workers in using face coverings safely if they
choose to wear one. This means telling workers:

wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitiser before putting a face covering on, and after removing it
when wearing a face covering, avoid touching your face or face covering, as you could contaminate them with germs from your hands
change your face covering if it becomes damp or if you’ve touched it
continue to wash your hands regularly
change and wash your face covering daily
if the material is washable, wash in line with manufacturer’s instructions; if it’s not washable, dispose of it carefully in your usual waste
practise social distancing wherever possible

You can make face-coverings at home. Find guidance on how to wear and make a
face-covering on GOV.UK.
*[PPE]: Personal protective equipment
Factories, plants and warehouses
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.


Identifying areas where people have to directly pass things to each other, for example, job information, spare parts, samples, raw materials, and find ways to remove direct contact, such as through the use of drop-off points or transfer zones.
Factories, plants and warehouses
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 People who have protected characteristics

Objective: That everyone should work from home, unless they cannot work from
home.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Consider who is essential to be on-site; for example, office staff 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.
Factories, plants and warehouses
8. Inbound and outbound goods
Objective: To maintain social-distancing and avoid surface transmission when
goods enter and leave the site, especially in high volume situations, for
example, distribution centres, despatch areas.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Revising pick-up and drop-off collection points, procedures, signage and markings.


Minimising unnecessary contact at gatehouse security, yard and warehouse. For example, non-contact deliveries where the nature of the product allows for use of electronic pre-booking.


Considering methods to reduce frequency of deliveries, for example by ordering larger quantities less often.


Where possible and safe, having single workers load or unload vehicles.


Where possible, using the same pairs of people for loads where more than one is needed.


Enabling drivers to access welfare facilities when required, consistent with other guidance.


Encouraging drivers to stay in their vehicles where this does not compromise their safety and existing safe working practice, such as preventing drive-aways.


Definitions
Refers to areas and amenities which are provided for the common use of more
than one person including canteens, reception areas, meeting rooms, areas of
worship, toilets, gardens, fire escapes, kitchens, fitness facilities, store
rooms, laundry facilities.
Refers to people who have specific underlying health conditions that make them
extremely vulnerable to severe illness if they contract COVID-19. Clinically
extremely vulnerable people will have received a letter telling them they are
in this group, or will have been told by their GP. Who is ‘clinically
extremely vulnerable’?
Refers to people who may be at increased risk from COVID-19, including those
aged 70 or over and those with some underlying health conditions. Who is
‘clinically vulnerable’?
Factories, plants and warehouses
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 Cars, accommodation and visits
Objective: To avoid unnecessary work travel and keep people safe when they do
need to travel between locations.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Minimising non-essential travel – consider remote options first.


Minimising the number of people travelling together in any one vehicle, using fixed travel partners, increasing ventilation when possible and avoiding sitting face-to-face.


Cleaning shared vehicles between shifts or on handover.


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.


Maintaining consistent pairing where 2-person deliveries are required.


Minimising contact during payments and exchange of documentation, for example, by using electronic payment methods and electronically signed and exchanged documents.
Factories, plants and warehouses
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
Factories, plants and warehouses
3. Social distancing at work
3.1 Coming to work and leaving work
Objective: To maintain social-distancing wherever possible, on arrival and
departure and to ensure handwashing upon arrival.
Steps that will usually be needed:


Staggering arrival and departure times at work to reduce crowding into and out of the workplace, taking account of the impact on those with protected characteristics.


Providing additional parking or facilities such as bike racks to help people walk, run, or cycle to work where possible.


Limiting passengers in corporate vehicles, for example, work minibuses. This could include leaving seats empty.


Reducing congestion, for example, by having more entry points to the workplace.


Using markings and introducing one-way flow at entry and exit points.


Providing handwashing facilities, or hand sanitiser where not possible, at entry and exit points.


Providing alternatives to touch-based security devices such as keypads.


Defining process alternatives for entry and exit points where appropriate, for example, deactivating pass readers at turnstiles in favour of showing a pass to security personnel at a distance.
Get help with funeral costs (Funeral Expenses Payment)
What you’ll get
Funeral Expenses Payment can help pay for some of the costs of the following:

burial fees for a particular plot
cremation fees, including the cost of the doctor’s certificate
travel to arrange or go to the funeral
the cost of moving the body within the UK, if it’s being moved more than 50 miles
death certificates or other documents

You can also get money for any other funeral expenses, such as funeral
director’s fees, flowers or the coffin. You can get up to:

£700 if the person died before 8 April 2020
£1,000 if the person died on or after 8 April 2020

The payment will not usually cover all of the costs of the funeral.
How much you get depends on your circumstances. This includes any other money
that’s available to cover the costs, for example from an insurance policy or
the deceased person’s estate.
Check the claim form notes for full details of what Funeral Expenses Payment covers.
If the deceased had a pre-paid funeral plan, you can only get up to £120 to
help pay for items not covered by their plan.
Guidance Additional government resources to support your business during coronavirus disruptions
Business support helpline
Contact the government’s business support helpline for free advice
Phone: 0800 998 1098
Webchat: talk to an adviser using the
webchat
Phoneline and webchat open Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm  
Email:
enquiries@businesssupporthelpline.org
Find more details and helplines in Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland.
Guidance Additional government resources to support your business during coronavirus disruptions
Webinars
Government departments are hosting a series of webinars to help businesses
understand the guidance and support available:


to find out how to make your workplace COVID-secure, register here


for topics that cover supporting and retaining staff and the self-employed, register to attend future webinars or watch recorded sessions


for international trade, register here or watch recorded sessions


for small businesses and changes to reporting, regulation and tax, watch recorded webinars
Guidance Apply for a coronavirus Bounce Back Loan
How to apply
There are 11 lenders participating in the scheme including many of the main
retail banks. You should approach a suitable lender yourself via the lender’s
website.
The lender will ask you to fill in a short online application form and self-
declare that you are eligible.
The lender will decide whether to offer you a loan or another type of finance
and you’ll be responsible for repaying 100% of the amount borrowed.
 Find a lender
Guidance Apply for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
Eligibility
You can apply for a loan if your business:

is based in the UK
has an annual turnover of up to £45 million

You need to show that your business:

would be viable were it not for the pandemic
has been adversely impacted by the coronavirus

If you want to borrow £30,000 or more, you also need to confirm that your
business wasn’t classed as a business in difficulty on 31 December 2019.
Who cannot apply
Businesses from any sector can apply, except:

banks, insurers and reinsurers (but not insurance brokers)
public-sector bodies
state-funded primary and secondary schools
Guidance Apply for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
How to apply
There are over 50 lenders participating in the scheme including all the main
retail banks. You should approach a suitable lender yourself via the lender’s
website.
You’ll need to tell the lender:

the amount you’d like to borrow
what the money is for
how long you’d like to pay it back

Supporting documents
You’ll need to provide documents that show you can afford to repay the loan.
These may include:

management accounts
cash flow forecast
business plan
historic accounts
details of assets

The documents required will vary from lender to lender and depend on how much
you’re asking for. If you’re asking your existing lender for a small loan, the
process may be automated and not require all of the documents.
The lender will check that the loan is:

for a suitable business purpose
affordable for you
the right type of finance for your needs

The lender will decide whether to offer you a loan or another type of finance
and you’ll be responsible for repaying 100% of the amount borrowed.
 Find a lender
Guidance Apply for the coronavirus Future Fund
Eligibility
Your business is eligible if:

it is UK-incorporated - if your business is part of a corporate group, only the parent company is eligible
it has raised at least £250,000 in equity investment from third-party investors in the last 5 years
none of its shares are traded on a regulated market, multilateral trading facility or other listing venue
it was incorporated on or before 31 December 2019
at least one of the following is true: 
half or more employees are UK-based
half or more revenues are from UK sales



Check your eligibility.