Hi All,
First post on this forumn and posiibly (probably!) missed the specific issue in th eerlier conversations, so appologies if Im resurecting an "old" discussion / debate....
Background:
I'm the SHEQ Manager for a specialist engineering company serving the water industry. As such we are classed as "Key Workers" as we serve the National Infrastructure and have remained open for businees throughout.. We have a production area and offices where our designers, managers etc (approx 30% of staff ). Our age profile is promarily in more vulnerable groups. Where possible, office based staff had been enabled to work from home, then as things eased we started to get people back into the offices.. We've now reverted back to having more working from home. An outbreak within the business could be catastropic for individuals and the business.
Controls - Individual COVID-19 RA's, Visitor vetting, Social distancing, Split break time, created "work bubbles", hand sanitisers outside every room, daily temperature monitoring etc surgical style face coverings, and FFP style masks (for a better fit to reduce spectacles steaming up), permitted staff to wear their own face coverings (as a way of encouraging them to do the right thing) and, where staff have an issue with wearing face coverings, face shields where staff are unable to maintain a 2m distance. For site work staff have FFP3 masks and faceshields.
Due to the recent increasse (and 2 staff being tested positive this month - thankfully people who had not been in the office, so a "near Miss" - they are first in the company,) we've increased the control measures.
We have now required staff to wear a face covering when moving about inside the buildings. In doing so we've followed what is happening in most other settings. If staff are at their "workstation" (office or production) they are not required to wear a face covering unless working within 2m ..
The crux of all this is that we are now being challenged (from one member of staff and our HR) on whether we can insist on the wearing of face coverings (or the alternative face shield) if the person is "exempt". Signs saying that a person is "exempt" are freely downloadable from the internet. No medical professional advice is required to sign this off..
- and whether we do not have a right to question or ask for medical sign off for such an exemption .. I appreciate that there are also psychological reasons why some people may not want to wear a mask (hence the provision of face shields as an alternative..)
I have quoted company policy (i.e. wear the face coverings / shields in specified circumstances) and s7 of HASAWA ..
We curently have really good compliance with what we have asked from staff, but this could undermine what we have achived so far..
Thoughts please ...
Many Thanks :-)
Alan