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Kate  
#1 Posted : 24 July 2020 17:25:33(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Kate

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19

We now have

Objective: Employers should ensure workplaces are safe whilst also enabling working from home.

In order to keep the virus under control, it is important that people work safely. 

Working from home remains one way to do this. However, the risk of transmission can be substantially reduced if COVID-19 secure guidelines are followed closely. Employers should consult with their employees to determine who, from 1 August 2020, can come into the workplace safely taking account of a person’s use of public transport, childcare responsibilities, protected characteristics, and other individual circumstances. Extra consideration should be given to those people at higher risk. When it is decided that workers should come into their place of work then this will need to be reflected in the COVID-19 risk assessment and actions taken to manage the risks of transmission in line with this guidance. It is vital employers engage with workers to ensure they feel safe returning to work, and they should avoid forcing anyone into an unsafe workplace.

thanks 2 users thanked Kate for this useful post.
chris42 on 24/07/2020(UTC), Roundtuit on 24/07/2020(UTC)
Roundtuit  
#2 Posted : 24 July 2020 19:40:48(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Roundtuit

So yesterday we had a "regulation" that is not actually a regulation because the authority will not enforce it relying upon goodwill of the public and the "relevant persons". Even the vassals of state authority have publicly declared an intention not to be involved (if that is the case should the Police & Crime Commissioners and their senior staff stand down? After all it is a declaration to the "state" employer they will not fulfill contractual obligation by enforcing the law of the land).

Now we have the government asking employers to consider how people get to work etc.? Pretty sure we are not in a true communist state where everyone is absolutely equal, so in this capitalist share holder profit driven society just when did social responsibility become an individual employers absolute duty?

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" or at least that little red plastic flippy floppy fish from the cracker.

Pretty sure that if we become the absolute interfering busy bodies government will then slap us down for infringing Human Rights by intrusion in to family/private life.

Roundtuit  
#3 Posted : 24 July 2020 19:40:48(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Roundtuit

So yesterday we had a "regulation" that is not actually a regulation because the authority will not enforce it relying upon goodwill of the public and the "relevant persons". Even the vassals of state authority have publicly declared an intention not to be involved (if that is the case should the Police & Crime Commissioners and their senior staff stand down? After all it is a declaration to the "state" employer they will not fulfill contractual obligation by enforcing the law of the land).

Now we have the government asking employers to consider how people get to work etc.? Pretty sure we are not in a true communist state where everyone is absolutely equal, so in this capitalist share holder profit driven society just when did social responsibility become an individual employers absolute duty?

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" or at least that little red plastic flippy floppy fish from the cracker.

Pretty sure that if we become the absolute interfering busy bodies government will then slap us down for infringing Human Rights by intrusion in to family/private life.

Kate  
#4 Posted : 27 July 2020 12:38:05(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Kate

It seems to me that the boundary between work and not-work, and between occupational health and safety and public health, has been very blurred by recent events and I have a suspicion that this will be a permanent change.  This has interesting implications for topics such as stress, where the distinction between what is work-related stress and what is non-work-related stress has previously been emphasised despite being so difficult to disentangle.

thanks 3 users thanked Kate for this useful post.
chris42 on 27/07/2020(UTC), A Kurdziel on 27/07/2020(UTC), flysafe on 27/07/2020(UTC)
A Kurdziel  
#5 Posted : 27 July 2020 13:21:19(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

The current mess seems to be heading in the direction that if it happens at work it’s the employer’s fault whether or no they have any control over the issue. So some time in the future if you get beaten up coming home on the bus the employer could be held liable as they could move their business to be closer to employees homes: or am I going mad?

Kate  
#6 Posted : 27 July 2020 13:30:21(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Kate

I see this as all part of a wider shift towards paternalism that goes along with the authoritarian measures needed to control the outbreak.  I don't think anyone would ever have imagined a Conservative government intervening so drastically to support businesses and incomes.  Just as government now has a greater role in citizens' lives, it seems employers will also have a greater role in employees' lives.

HSSnail  
#7 Posted : 27 July 2020 14:11:40(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
HSSnail

I know im starting to sound like a stuck record, but i see this as a Public Health situation, not a Health and Safety at Work Situation. Thats not to say i dont agree with most of the mitigation thats been introduced - just that i dont agree with how its being enforced under HASAW.

thanks 3 users thanked HSSnail for this useful post.
A Kurdziel on 27/07/2020(UTC), flysafe on 27/07/2020(UTC), CptBeaky on 30/07/2020(UTC)
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