Melton Borough Council is working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to contact businesses in the borough to make sure they are COVID-secure, helping businesses to tackle coronavirus and keep our community safe.
Joe Orson, Leader of the Council said: “We are talking to local businesses and inspecting sites in and around Melton to understand how they are managing risks in line with their specific business activity. We are one of twelve councils to be included in this run of the Health & Safety COVID Compliance Spot Checks on local businesses, which is a great achievement for the council and the community.
“The majority of businesses and organisations have been playing their part to protect the community. However, becoming COVID-secure needs to be the priority for all businesses in the borough. It is a legal duty for businesses to protect their workers and others from harm and this includes taking reasonable steps and adjustments to control the risk and protect people and the community from coronavirus. We advise employers to work with their employees when implementing changes, to help increase confidence with workers, customers and the local community. ”
During the checks the HSE and Melton Borough Council will aim to work with businesses and provide advice and guidance to manage risk and protect workers, customers and visitors. However, where some businesses are not managing this, they will take immediate action. This can range from the provision of specific advice to issuing enforcement notices, stopping certain work practices until they are made safe and, where businesses fail to comply, this could lead to prosecution. Working with the County Council, premises that repeatedly fail to comply could be closed.
They will aim to work with businesses to ensure they are COVID-secure and helping to protect the community. This means that businesses need to put adjustments in place to manage the risk and protect workers and others from coronavirus, including having a customer logging system and displaying the NHS track and trace QR code where they are required to.
HSE and local authority inspectors are finding some common issues across a range of sectors that include: failing to provide arrangements for monitoring, supervising and maintaining social distancing, and failing to introduce an adequate cleaning regime particularly at busy times of the day.
Joe Orson, Leader of the Council further stated “All businesses are in scope for spot checks which means businesses of any size, in any sector can receive an unannounced check to ensure they are COVID-secure. By making sure that businesses have measures in place to manage the risks, we can benefit the health of the local community as well as support the local and national UK economy.”
For the latest information and safer business guidance, see www.gov.uk
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