I have been thinking about the retention periods for all of our COVID-19 documentation, mainly prompted by my IT department.

These are fairly unprecedented times and it is difficult to second guess the possible long term affects from this pandemic, I can see mental health issues having a particularly long tail.

I am also mindful of the possibility of illness insurance claims down the line, principally mental health issues or issues from homeworking.

How long are you planning to keep yours, I am moving towards treating all of the documentation as I would Occupational Health records and making it 40 years from last entry.

Overkill, paranoia, or good practice?

What sort of records are you collecting?

A persons exceptions to this rule might be if a) the person is infected and therefore poses a risk to other people. I that case the person should be sent home and told to self-isolate. The time off work should be noted on their records but nothing else recorded.

b) The person becomes infected at work due to actual work activities eg they pick it up in clinical setting or in a diagnostic lab. Then it becomes a RIDDOR. Catching it from Joe Public or a fellow worker does not count.

The rules on record keeping have not changed and any personal data should be destroyed once it is no longer relevant. If you are concerned by the fact that some people have reported long term health issues following infection, don’t be concerned. Just about any infection can for a minority of people have long term consequences. Following this up is not your responsibility as an employer. It’s why we have an NHS and PHE. A number of organisations seem to want to take over full responsibility for the health of their employees. I am not really sure why.

Thanks for the answers. I don't think I worded my question to well.

I was thinking more in terms of Risk Assessments, General Health Questionnaires (for return to work, we are doing this for all employees not just return following isolation etc.) , and associated documents.

I follow your reasoning entirely, however my concern is having some form of defensibility in the event of an insurance claim.

The long term affects of this pandemic are pretty hard to anticipate particularly in respect of mental health. It is quite likely we will be called upon to demonstrate what we did several years down the line.

Thanks CptBeaky pretty typical lawyer or insurance blokes answer.

Keep everything .... I think I agree with them in the instance at least, still interested to hear some alternative, less belt and braces views if they are out there.

Sadly craigroberts76 I think that prediction is going to be a reality.