What does a Covid-Safe Assessment cover?

A Covid-Safe Assessment encompasses a 360° assessment of your site/premises. Our team takes a 3 step process to ensuring your site is covid-safe that covers:

1. Identify your potential Covid-19 hazards and risks
2. Decide who might be harmed and how (your employees, your contractors, members of the public)
3. Evaluate your risks and decide on precautions (using qualitative or quantitative measures to identify the level of risk and the likelihood that someone will be harmed by the risk)
4. Record our significant findings providing you with an audit trail 
5. Review your risk assessment whenever changes to the situation or workplace environment occur and update the recorded risk levels where required

Starting with a comprehensive Desktop Study of your site, examining how your site is used and identifying where the potential risks are that could lead to an outbreak of coronavirus on your premises.

Following your comprehensive desktop study, our consultants will attend your site to conduct a full site Coronavirus Risk Assessment and gap analysis to further identify, evaluate and record the risks and significant findings. Using the information from your Coronavirus Risk Assessment, our consultants will provide you with recommended control measures to be integrated with your current Safety Management System implemented on your site.

The final step in your Covid-Safe Assessment will be a Covid-Safe Site Audit. This is an on-site inspection of how your Covid-19 mitigation measures are being implemented by workers on site. Ensuring the rules and procedures are being followed correctly by on-site workers is essential to ensuring you are compliant with the latest guidance and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) 2015. Conducting Site Audits and inspections is a proactive approach to ensure your  Management Arrangements are effective, compliant with current Health and Safety regulations and provides a covid-safe working environment.

Your Site Safety Audit will allow our consultants to assess if the control measures implemented are being upheld by individuals on site, as well as reviewing the effectiveness of the risk aversion measures. During your Site Safety Audit our consultants will:

• Conduct a full site review assessing high traffic or shared areas
• CDM Contractors and worker interviews to assess if control measure are well known by all team members
• Site equipment and surface assessment assessing where an employee may come into contact with Coronavirus affected surfaces
• Health and safety control measures review
• Existing documentation evaluation
• Communication practice review
• Compliance and performance assessment

Why do I need a Covid-Safe Assessment?

As the UK starts to prepare for employees returning to offices and work sites begin to reopen, it is imperative that employers take action to implement preventative COVID-19 measures to ensure Coronavirus does not become an occupational hazard in the workplace.

Identifying the potential risks and implementing your covid-safe risk aversion measures and reviewing their effectiveness on site can be a time consuming process for you as the duty holder, and any other responsible persons. Any oversights in your proceedings can result in unnecessary spread of infection and may also result in a requirement for you to lockdown your offices and suspend works on site.

To ensure your team and contractors are protected from the potential risks of coronavirus, procuring an external Risk Control Consultant can save you both time and money. By building the correct safe systems of work (SSOW), ensuring your documentation is correct, and implementing effective control measures, accidents and unnecessary risks can be avoided, whilst also providing you with an audit trail.

What are my responsibilities relating to Coronavirus?

Under the Health and Safety at Work act 1974, regulation 3, it is a requirement that the client (the duty holder) takes proactive steps to control the risks in the workplace, including on construction sites where workers may not be directly employed by the responsible person, or members of the public may be at risk from on-site works. As the responsible person, it is required that you identify the risks and make suitable arrangements for managing health, safety, and welfare as far as reasonably practicable. If you employ more than five people within your organisation you must record your risks and measures as a written risk assessment.

Relating to coronavirus, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has provided an update stating; 

“Duty holders continue to have obligations to comply with health and safety at work legislation and requirements to manage and control workplace risks, including protecting workers and others from the risk of COVID-19 infection in the workplace.” 

Our Covid-Safe Assessment services are part of our wider health, safety and CDM consultancy services which combine a structured approach to proactive health, safety, and welfare management. Our trusted consultants can help you achieve your project goals whilst keeping your team and stakeholders safe.

Coronavirus may be subsiding, but the risk still remains. Take control of your risks and click 'Make an Enquiry' now or give our team a call on 0345 5040 303.