CLC in Social Distancing ‘U Turn’

The Construction Leadership Council has issued revision 4 of their “Site Operating Procedures” guidance and the latest version revokes the need for workers to keep face-to-face contact to a duration of 15 minutes or less.

The update follows further revisions to Government guidance for construction (and other outdoor) workers

Other amendments, which CLC describes as ‘minimal’, include:

• The section on PPE now links to the latest Government guidance on face coverings
• References to one-way systems and the reconfiguration of seating and tables and an update on portable toilets
• The requirement to share risk assessments with the workforce
• Clarification on when to travel to work, as set out in the Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Strategy
• Updated links and wording on social distancing.

In response to this, our team are currently reviewing our own ‘COVID-19 Scaffolders’ Documentation Pack’, to consider the impact of the amendments on scaffolding activity, and this will be issued to SIMIAN clients over the next few days.

Speaking of the latest CLC guidance, Dave Randles, SIMIAN’s Operations Director said:

“The guidance issued for construction workers has been steadily evolving for the past month or so and it’s likely that the rate of revision will slow as the industry becomes more comfortable with working under the restrictions required to assist with controlling the spread of COVID-19.

Much of the guidance that has been produced to this point is generic in nature, and therefore it doesn’t consider the particular tasks or compliance difficulties that any single trade will encounter. We want to help our scaffolding clients to interpret what they need to do to keep their teams and co-workers safe and have been keeping a steady eye on the various revisions with a view to doing just that”.

SIMIAN clients requiring assistance with COVID-19 working or any other health and safety matter are free to contact us on 0345 6022 418, or via email via hello@simian-risk.com.