The construction industry and all related trades have been told by the government that they can and must continue working during the third national lockdown. But with the virus still spreading, this does not mean there is nothing to worry about.
The Construction Leadership Council has put out the message: “Go out to site if you must, but are you sure that you really need to?”
It wants us all to get more creative in working from home.
Andy Mitchell, the man in charge to the construction of a huge new sewer under London, is the industry-side chair of the government’s Construction Leadership Council. He has written an open letter to the UK construction industry urging all to redouble efforts to stay away from each other and help stop the virus to spread.
“The rapid spread of a more contagious variant of Covid-19 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.
“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.
“As an industry we have demonstrated we can control our operations so that the work we do can be done safely, in collective consistent compliance with the Site Operating Procedures and in accordance with government direction. For the sake of our workforce, the general public around us, and the national economy, we have a huge responsibility to continue to get this right.”