‘Work from home’ reminder for construction – review your arrangements, urges CLC
13th January 2021
The co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), Andy Mitchell, has published a letter on the CLC website reminding the construction industry about the rules and guidelines for safe working during the coronavirus pandemic.
As the peak of the Covid-19 crisis appears to be upon us, the strong message to construction employers throughout the supply chain is to follow Government guidelines to the letter.
Andy Mitchell says in the letter:
“One point that I would like to highlight from the Cabinet Office Guidance is that you can only leave home for work purposes where it is essential, and you cannot do your job from home. This is not about convenience or efficiency but about necessity, and again I urge you to critically challenge what works can genuinely not be done at home. For workers that do have to leave home for work purposes, it is essential that these workers carefully manage their journeys to work, in order to minimise impacts on public transport networks. It is also vital that those people in the industry who are in the clinically extremely vulnerable category are supported to work from home, and should not in any circumstances travel to work.”
There are growing concerns in some quarters that, if the spread of Covid-19 cannot be curtailed, any perceived ‘non essential’ construction might be halted. The construction industry must be seen to be acting very responsibly.
As the letter says:
“Over the course of the last year, the construction industry has proven that it can introduce and maintain safe working environments on sites, when working in homes, in builders’ merchants and in product manufacturing facilities. However, the rapid spread of a more contagious variant of Covid19 means, it is imperative that we all maintain the highest possible standards of control over how we operate, including compliance with the relevant procedures. I urge you all to review your current arrangements to make sure that this is so.”
Read the full letter on the CLC website here.
