Vehicles - Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19)

work in or from vehicles, including couriers, mobile workers, lorry drivers, on-site transit and work vehicles, field forces and similar.

Guidance for people who work in or from vehicles, including couriers, mobile workers, lorry drivers, on-site transit and work vehicles, field forces and similar.

There is different guidance for public transport operators.

This guide applies to COVID Alert Level 1 (Medium). If you’re in an area in COVID Alert Level 2 (High) or 3 (Very High), check local restrictions.

Source: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

Priority actions to take - what businesses need to do to protect staff and customers

Seven steps to protect yourself, your staff and your customers during coronavirus.

Complete a COVID-19 risk assessment. Share it with all your staff. Find out how to do a risk assessment.
Clean more often. Increase how often you clean surfaces, especially those that are being touched a lot. Ask your staff and your customers to use hand sanitiser and wash their hands frequently.
Ask your customers to wear face coverings where required to do so by law. That is especially important if your visitors are likely to be around people they do not normally meet. Some exemptions apply. Check when to wear one, exemptions, and how to make your own.
Make sure everyone is social distancing. Social distancing applies both inside and outside of vehicles. Make it easy for everyone to do so by putting up signs or introducing a one-way system that your staff and visitors can follow.
Increase ventilation by keeping windows open where possible and running ventilation systems at all times.
Take part in NHS Test and Trace by keeping a record of all staff and contractors for 21 days. From 18 September, this will be enforced in law. Some exemptions apply. Check ‘Maintaining records of staff, customers and visitors to support NHS Test and Trace’ for details
Turn people with coronavirus symptoms away. If a staff member (or someone in their household) or a customer has a persistent cough, a high temperature or has lost their sense of taste or smell, they should be isolating. By law from 28 September employers must not require someone who is being required to self-isolate to come to work.

Five more things to be aware of if your business provides services in or from vehicles:

Make sure people work in the same team every day. Use fixed teams or shift patterns to reduce the number of people each person comes into contact with.
Arrange work spaces to keep staff apart. Consider using barriers to separate people and introduce back-to-back or side-to-side working.
Reduce face-to-face meetings. Encourage calls or video conferences to avoid in-person meetings with external contacts, or colleagues outside someone’s immediate team, wherever possible.
Limit handling of goods. Consider having one worker at a time to load and unload vehicles. Introduce electronic paperwork where possible.
Communicate and train. Make sure all staff and customers are kept up to date with how safety measures are being used and updated.

These are the priority actions to make your business safe during coronavirus, you should also read the full version of the guidance below.

Introduction

The UK is currently experiencing a public health emergency as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is critical that employers, employees and the self-employed take steps to keep everyone safe. This document is to help employers, employees and the self-employed in the UK understand how to work safely during this pandemic, ensuring as many people as possible comply with social distancing guidelines (2m apart, or 1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable). We hope it gives you freedom within a practical framework to think about what you need to do to continue, or restart, operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand how important it is that you can work safely and support your employees’ and visitors’ health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic and not contribute to the spread of the virus. We know that many businesses of this type are currently closed for their usual service by government regulation, we hope this guidance will be useful for those businesses as they develop new ways of working or to help prepare for the time when they are able to reopen. The government is clear that workers should not be forced into an unsafe workplace and the health and safety of workers and visitors, and public health, should not be put at risk.

We know many people are also keen to return to or contribute to volunteering. Organisations have a duty of care to volunteers to ensure as far as reasonably practicable they are not exposed to risks to their health and safety. This guidance around working safely during COVID- 19 should ensure that volunteers are afforded the same level of protection to their health and safety as others, such as workers and visitors.

This document has been prepared by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with input from firms, unions, industry bodies and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and in consultation with Public Health England (PHE) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Public health is devolved in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales; this guidance should be considered alongside local public health and safety requirements and legislation in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. For advice to businesses in other parts of the UK please see guidance set by the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government, and the Welsh Government.

We expect that this document will be updated over time. This version is up to date as of 15 October 2020. You can check for updates at www.gov.uk/workingsafely. If you have any feedback for us that we should include in the next version, please email [email protected].

This document is one of a set of documents about how to work safely in different types of workplace. This one is designed to be relevant for people who work from vehicles, including couriers, mobile workers, lorry drivers, on site transit and work vehicles, field forces or similar environments.

How to use this guidance

This document sets out the guidance on how to open workplaces safely while minimising the risk of spreading COVID-19. It gives practical considerations of how this can be applied in the workplace.

Each business will need to translate this into the specific actions it needs to take depending on the nature of the business including the size and type of business, how it is organised, operated, managed and regulated. They will also need to monitor these measures to make sure they are working to protect workers.

This guidance does not supersede any legal obligations relating to health and safety, employment or equalities, and it is important that as a business or an employer you continue to comply with your existing obligations including those relating to individuals with protected characteristics. It contains non-statutory guidance to take into account when complying with these existing obligations. When considering how to apply this guidance, take into account agency workers, contractors and other people, as well as your employees.

To help you decide which actions to take, you must carry out an appropriate COVID-19 risk assessment, just as you would for other Health and Safety related hazards. This risk assessment must be done in consultation with unions or workers.

What do we mean by 'working in vehicles'?

Working in or from a vehicle, including:

couriers
mobile workers
lorry drivers
on-site transit
work vehicles
field forces

1. Thinking about risk

In this section

1.1 Managing risk
1.2 Sharing the results of your risk assessment

Objective: That all employers carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment.

COVID-19 is a public health emergency. Everyone needs to assess and manage the risks of COVID-19, and in particular businesses should consider the risks to their workers and visitors. As an employer, you also have a legal responsibility to protect workers and others from risk to their health and safety. This means you need to think about the risks they face and do everything reasonably practicable to minimise them, recognising you cannot completely eliminate the risk of COVID-19.

You must make sure that the risk assessment for your business addresses the risks of COVID-19, using this guidance to inform your decisions and control measures. You should also consider the security implications of any decisions and control measures you intend to put in place, as any revisions could present new or altered security risks that may require mitigation. A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork, but rather about identifying sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace. If you have fewer than 5 workers, or are self-employed, you don’t have to write anything down as part of your risk assessment. Your risk assessment will help you decide whether you have done everything you need to. The Health and Safety Executive has guidance for business on how to manage risk and risk assessment at work along with specific advice to help control the risk of coronavirus in workplaces.

Employers have a duty to consult their people on health and safety. You can do this by listening and talking to them about the work and how you will manage risks from COVID-19. The people who do the work are often the best people to understand the risks in the workplace and will have a view on how to work safely. You are encouraged to have individual discussions with your workers where reasonable, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and therefore may be returning to the workplace, to consider any uncertainties they have about precautions in place to make the workplace COVID-secure. Involving them in making decisions shows that you take their health and safety seriously. You must consult with the health and safety representative selected by a recognised trade union or, if there isn’t one, a representative chosen by workers. As an employer, you cannot decide who the representative will be.

At its most effective, full involvement of your workers creates a culture where relationships between employers and workers are based on collaboration, trust and joint problem solving. As is normal practice, workers should be involved in assessing workplace risks and the development and review of workplace health and safety policies in partnership with the employer.

Employers and workers should always come together to resolve issues. If concerns still cannot be resolved, see below for further steps you can take.

Where the enforcing authority, such as the HSE or your local authority, identifies employers who are not taking action to comply with the relevant public health legislation and guidance to control public health risks, they are empowered to take a range of actions to improve control of workplace risks. For example, this would cover employers not taking appropriate action to ensure social distancing, where possible.

Failure to complete a risk assessment which takes account of COVID-19, or completing a risk assessment but failing to put in place sufficient measures to manage the risk of COVID-19, could constitute a breach of health and safety law. The actions the enforcing authority can take include the provision of specific advice to employers to support them to achieve the required standard, through to issuing enforcement notices to help secure improvements. Serious breaches and failure to comply with enforcement notices can constitute a criminal offence, with serious fines and even imprisonment for up to two years. There is also a wider system of enforcement, which includes specific obligations and conditions for licensed premises.

Employers are expected to respond to any advice or notices issued by enforcing authorities rapidly and are required to do so within any timescales imposed by the enforcing authorities. The vast majority of employers are responsible and will join with the UK’s fight against COVID-19 by working with the government and their sector bodies to protect their workers and the public. However, inspectors are carrying out compliance checks nationwide to ensure that employers are taking the necessary steps.

On 12 October the government introduced a system of local COVID alert levels. If you live, work or volunteer in an area that is part of local COVID alert level: high or local COVID alert level: very high, there are additional restrictions which apply to you.

Please check the local COVID alert levels page to find out what level your area is in and the additional restrictions that apply.

How to raise a concern:

contact your employee representative

contact your trade union if you have one

contact HSE at:

HSE COVID-19 enquiries
Telephone: 0300 790 6787 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm)
Online: working safely enquiry form

1.1 Managing risk

Objective: To reduce risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking preventative measures, in order of priority

Employers have a duty to reduce workplace risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking preventative measures. Employers must work with any other employers or contractors sharing the workplace so that everybody’s health and safety is protected.

In the context of COVID-19 this means protecting the health and safety of your workers and visitors by working through these steps in order:

Ensuring both workers and visitors who feel unwell stay at home and do not attend the premises. From September 28 by law businesses may not require a self-isolating employee to come into work.
In every workplace, increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning.
Businesses and workplaces should make every reasonable effort to ensure their employees can work safely. Any office worker who can work from home should do so. Anyone else who cannot work from home should go to their place of work, if COVID-19 Secure guidelines are followed closely. When in the workplace, everyone should make every reasonable effort to comply with the social distancing guidelines set out by the government (2m, or 1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable). From 1 August, clinically extremely vulnerable individuals, who were previously advised to shield at home, can go to the workplace as long as it is COVID-secure, but should carry on working from home wherever possible.
Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full, in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity can be redesigned to maintain a 2m distance or 1m with risk mitigations where 2m is not viable.

Further mitigating actions include:

– further increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning
– keeping the activity time involved as short as possible
– using screens or barriers to separate people from each other
– using back-to-back or side-to-side working (rather than face-to-face) whenever possible
– reducing the number of people each person has contact with by using ‘fixed teams or partnering’ (so each person works with only a few others)
Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full, even through redesigning a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.
You should ensure that steps are taken to avoid people needing to unduly raise their voices to each other. This includes, but is not limited to, refraining from playing music or broadcasts that may encourage shouting, including if played at a volume that makes normal conversation difficult. This is because of the potential for increased risk of transmission, particularly from aerosol transmission. We will develop further guidance, based on scientific evidence, to enable these activities as soon as possible.
Finally, if people must work face-to-face for a sustained period with more than a small group of fixed partners, then you will need to assess whether the activity can safely go ahead. No one is obliged to work in an unsafe work environment.

In your assessment you should have particular regard to whether the people doing the work are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.

The recommendations in the rest of this document are ones you should consider as you go through this process. You could also consider any advice that has been produced specifically for your sector, for example by trade associations or trades unions.

If you are currently operating, you will already have carried out an assessment of the risks posed by COVID-19 in your workplace. Use this document to identify any further improvements you should make. You must review the measures you have put in place to make sure they are working. You should also review them if they may no longer be effective or if there are changes in the workplace that could lead to new risks.

1.2 Sharing the results of your risk assessment

You must share the results of your risk assessment with your workforce. If possible, you should consider publishing it on your website (and we would expect all businesses with over 50 workers to do so).

We would expect all businesses to demonstrate to their workers and customers that they have properly assessed their risk and taken appropriate measures to mitigate this. You should do this by displaying a notification in a prominent place in your business and on your website, if you have one.

Below you will find a notice you should display, which can also be provided as cards, stickers or similar, to show you have followed this guidance.

Staying COVID-19 Secure in 2020

2. Who should go to work

In this section

2.1 Protecting people who are at higher risk
2.2 People who need to self-isolate
2.3 Equality in the workplace

Objective: Employers should ensure workplaces are safe whilst also enabling working from home. It is recognised that the nature of work in this environment will make it difficult for many workers to work remotely or from home.

In order to keep the virus under control, it is important that people work safely. At the present time, office workers who can work from home should do so. Anyone else who cannot work from home should go to their place of work. The risk of transmission can be substantially reduced if COVID-19 Secure guidelines are followed closely. Employers should consult with their employees to determine who can come into the workplace safely taking account of a person’s journey, caring responsibilities, protected characteristics, and other individual circumstances. Extra consideration should be given to those people at higher risk. Businesses should consider the impact of workplaces reopening on local transport and take appropriate mitigating actions (e.g. staggered start and finish times for staff). When employers consider that workers should come into their place of work, then this will need to be reflected in the COVID-19 workplace risk assessment and actions taken to manage the risks of transmission in line with this guidance.

The decision to return to the workplace must be made in meaningful consultation with workers (including through trade unions or employee representative groups where they exist). A meaningful consultation means engaging in an open conversation about returning to the workplace before any decision to return has been made. This should include a discussion of the timing and phasing of any return and any risk mitigations that have been implemented. It is vital employers engage with workers to ensure they feel safe returning to work, and they should not force anyone into an unsafe workplace.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Considering the maximum number of people who can be safely accommodated on site.
Planning for a phased return to work for people safely and effectively.
Keeping in touch with off-site workers on their working arrangements including their welfare, mental and physical health and personal security.
Providing equipment for people to work from home safely and effectively, for example, remote access to work systems.

2.1 Protecting people who are at higher risk

Objective: To support those who are at higher risk of infection and/or an adverse outcome if infected.

The Public Health England report Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 shows that some groups of people may be at more risk of being infected and/or an adverse outcome if infected.

The higher-risk groups include those who:

are older males
have a high body mass index (BMI)
have health conditions such as diabetes
are from some Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds

You should consider this in your risk assessment.

From 1 August, clinically extremely vulnerable individuals can return to their workplace providing COVID-secure guidelines are in place but should work from home wherever possible. If extremely clinically vulnerable individuals cannot work from home, they should be offered the option of the safest available on-site roles, enabling them to maintain social distancing guidelines (2m, or 1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable). It may be appropriate for clinically extremely vulnerable individuals to take up an alternative role or adjusted working patterns temporarily.

As for any workplace risk you must take into account specific duties to those with protected characteristics, including, for example, expectant mothers who are, as always, entitled to suspension on full pay if suitable roles cannot be found. Particular attention should also be paid to people who live with clinically extremely vulnerable individuals.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Providing support for workers around mental health and wellbeing. This could include guidance or telephone support.
See current guidance for advice on who is in the clinically extremely vulnerable and clinically vulnerable groups.
Discussing the safest possible roles for clinically extremely vulnerable workers who are returning to the workplace.

2.2 People who need to self-isolate

Objective: To make sure individuals who are advised to stay at home under existing government guidance to stop infection spreading do not physically come to work. This includes individuals who have symptoms of COVID-19 as well as those who live in a household or are in a support bubble with someone who has symptoms and those who are advised to self-isolate as part of the government’s test and trace program.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Enabling workers to work from home while self-isolating if appropriate. By law, from 28 September employers must not knowingly require or encourage someone who is being required to self-isolate to come to work.
See current guidance for employees and employers relating to statutory sick pay due to COVID-19.
Ensuring any workers who have symptoms of COVID-19 - a high temperature, new and persistent cough or anosmia - however mild, should self-isolate for at least 10 days from when the symptoms started. Workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 should self-isolate for at least 10 days starting from the day the test was taken. Where a worker has tested positive whilst not experiencing symptoms but develops symptoms during the isolation period, they should restart the 10-day isolation period from the day the symptoms developed. This only applies to those who begin their isolation on or after 30 July 2020.
See current guidance for people who have symptoms and those who live with others who have symptoms.

2.3 Equality in the workplace

Objective: To make sure that nobody is discriminated against.

In applying this guidance, employers should be mindful of the particular needs of different groups of workers or individuals.

It is breaking the law to discriminate, directly or indirectly, against anyone because of a protected characteristic such as age, sex, disability, race and ethnicity.

Employers also have particular responsibilities towards disabled workers and those who are new or expectant mothers.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Understanding and taking into account the particular circumstances of those with different protected characteristics.
Involving and communicating appropriately with workers whose protected characteristics might either expose them to a different degree of risk, or might make any steps you are thinking about inappropriate or challenging for them.
Considering whether you need to put in place any particular measures or adjustments to take account of your duties under the equalities legislation.
Making reasonable adjustments to avoid disabled workers being put at a disadvantage, and assessing the health and safety risks for new or expectant mothers.
Making sure that the steps you take do not have an unjustifiable negative impact on some groups compared to others, for example those with caring responsibilities or those with religious commitments.

3. Social distancing for workers

In this section

3.1 Coming to work and leaving work
3.2 Moving around buildings, worksites and destinations
3.3 Social distancing in vehicles
3.4 Carrying out deliveries or collections
3.5 Accidents, security and other incidents

Objective: Ensuring workers maintain social distancing guidelines (2m, or 1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable), wherever possible, including arriving at and departing from work, while in work, and when travelling between sites.

It will not always be possible to maintain social distancing guidelines inside vehicles (2m, or 1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable). Many in-vehicle tasks need more than one person, for example heavy deliveries or refuse collection, and changing vehicle configurations to create more space may not be practical.

Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity can be redesigned to maintain a 2m distance or 1m with risk mitigations where 2m is not viable.

Mitigating actions include:

further increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning
keeping the activity time involved as short as possible
using screens or barriers to separate people from each other
using back-to-back or side-to-side working (rather than face-to-face) whenever possible
reducing the number of people each person has contact with by using ‘fixed teams or partnering’ (so each person works with only a few others)

Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full, even through redesigning a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between staff.

Social distancing applies to all parts of a business, not just the vehicle, but also depots or break rooms and anywhere drivers congregate outside of the vehicle. These are often the most challenging areas to maintain social distancing and workers should be specifically reminded.

3.1 Coming to work and leaving work

Objective: To maintain social distancing wherever possible, including on arrival and departure, and to ensure handwashing upon arrival.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Staggering arrival and departure times at work to reduce crowding into and out of the workplace, taking account of the impact on those with protected characteristics.
Providing additional parking or facilities such as bike-racks to help people walk, run or cycle to work where possible.
Limiting passengers in corporate vehicles, for example, work minibuses. This could include leaving seats empty.
Assigning fixed groups of workers to the same transportation routes where sole travel is not possible.
See government guidance on travelling to and from work.

3.2 Moving around buildings, worksites and destinations

Objective: To maintain social distancing while people travel through the workplace.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Reducing the number of workers at base depots or distribution centres at a given time based on minimum operational safety requirements.
Scheduling times for the collection of goods to avoid over-crowding.
Picking goods ahead of collection and loading onto vehicles without interacting with the driver.
Reducing job and location rotation.
Finding alternative solutions to 2-person delivery. This could include delaying delivery of large items or using an alternative method, for example, mechanical / material handling equipment. Where these are not possible maintain fixed pairing for 2-person deliveries and minimise physical contact.

3.3 Social distancing in vehicles

Objective: To maintain social distancing wherever possible between individuals when in vehicles:

avoid multiple occupancy vehicles where safe to do so

vehicles should not be shared if possible

if it is not possible to maintain social distancing guidelines inside vehicles (2m, or 1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable), consider additional safety measures

Steps that will usually be needed:

Keeping the number of people in the vehicle to a minimum and as distanced within the vehicle space as possible.
Devising mitigation measures where workers have no alternative but to work within 2m to minimise the risk of transmission, including:

– clear signage to outline social distancing measures in place
– single person or contactless refuelling where possible
– using physical screening, provided this does not compromise safety, for example, through reducing visibility
– sitting side-by-side not face-to-face and increasing ventilation where possible
Using a fixed pairing system if workers have to be in close proximity, for example in a vehicle.
Making sure vehicles are well-ventilated to increase the flow of air, for example, by opening a window.
Ensure regular cleaning of vehicles, in particular between different users.

3.4 Carrying out deliveries or collections

Objective: To maintain social distancing and avoid surface transmission when goods enter and leave the vehicle, especially in high volume situations, for example distribution centres, despatch areas.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Scheduling to limit exposure to large crowds and rush hours where appropriate.
Revising pick-up and drop-off collection points and procedures with signage and marking.
Where possible and safe having single workers load or unload vehicles.
Minimising unnecessary contact at gatehouse security, yard and warehouse. For example, non-contact deliveries where the nature of the product allows for use of electronic pre-booking.
Maximising use of electronic paperwork where possible, and reviewing procedures to enable safe exchange of paper copies where needed, for example, required transport documents.
Enabling drivers to access welfare facilities when required and consistent with other guidance.
Encouraging drivers to stay in their vehicles where this does not compromise their safety and existing safe working practice.

3.5 Accidents, security and other incidents

Objective: To prioritise safety during incidents.

In an emergency, for example, an accident, provision of first aid, fire or break-in, people do not have to comply with social distancing guidelines if it would be unsafe.

People involved in the provision of assistance to others should pay particular attention to sanitation measures immediately afterwards, including washing hands.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Reviewing your incident and emergency procedures to ensure they reflect the social distancing principles as far as possible.
Considering the security implications of any changes you intend to make to your operations and practices in response to COVID-19, as any revisions may present new or altered security risks which may need mitigations.

4. Managing your customers, visitors and contractors

In this section

4.1 Manage contacts
4.2 Providing and explaining available guidance

4.1 Manage contacts

Objective: To minimise the contact risk resulting from people in vehicles.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Determining if schedules can be revised to reduce interaction and overlap between people. For example, when drivers arrive at depots, collection and delivery times and break times.
Ensuring delivery and receipt confirmation can be made contactless and avoiding physical contact when handing goods over to the customer.
Preparing for goods to be dropped off to a previously agreed area to avoid transmission, for example, taking advantage of click and collect type arrangements.
Keeping the number of people in the vehicle to a minimum and as distanced within the vehicle space as possible, and using other safety measures such as ensuring good ventilation.
Maintaining a record of all visitors, if this is practical.

4.2 Providing and explaining available guidance

Objective: To make sure people understand what they need to do to maintain safety.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Providing guidance and explanation on social distancing and hygiene to passengers when they enter the vehicle. Consider the particular needs of those with protected characteristics, such as those who are visually impaired.
Understanding the protocol for collecting and distributing goods across different locations and agreeing these in advance.
Regularly briefing drivers and temporary staff, communicating to customers and providing in vehicle guides and reminders for passengers and staff.
Informing passengers that they should be prepared to remove face coverings if asked to do so by police officers and staff for the purposes of identification.

5. Cleaning the workplace

In this section

5.1 Keeping the workplace clean
5.2 Hygiene - handwashing, sanitation facilities and toilets
5.3 Changing rooms and showers

5.1 Keeping the workplace clean

Objective: To keep the workplace clean and prevent transmission by touching contaminated surfaces.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Frequent cleaning of work areas and equipment between uses, using your usual cleaning products.
Frequent cleaning of objects and surfaces that are touched regularly, including door handles, fuel pumps and vehicle keys, and making sure there are adequate disposal arrangements for cleaning products.
Encouraging workers to wash hands before boarding vehicles.
Retaining sufficient quantities of hand sanitiser / wipes within vehicles to enable workers to clean hands after each delivery / drop off.
Clearing workspaces and removing waste and belongings from the vehicle at the end of a shift.
Maintaining good ventilation in the work environment, for example, keeping windows or doors open.

5.2 Hygiene - handwashing, sanitation facilities and toilets

Objective: To help everyone keep good hygiene through the working day.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Using signs and posters to build awareness of good handwashing technique, including the need for increased handwashing, to avoid touching your face and to cough or sneeze into your arm.
Ensuring drivers have access to appropriate toilet facilities during their journeys and at their destinations and are helped to meet any requirements to allow them to do this, for example prior booking-in, provision of hand sanitiser.
Providing sufficient hand sanitiser where handwashing is not possible.
Providing more waste facilities and more frequent rubbish collection.
If you are cleaning after a known or suspected case of COVID-19 then you should refer to the guidance on cleaning in non healthcare settings.
Keeping the facilities well ventilated
Using non recycling bins to dispose of single use face coverings and PPE. You should refer to guidance for information on how to dispose of personal or business waste, including face coverings and PPE.

5.3 Changing rooms and showers

Objective: To minimise the risk of transmission in changing rooms and showers.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Where shower and changing facilities are required, setting clear use and cleaning guidance for showers, lockers and changing rooms to ensure they are kept clean, clear of personal items and social distancing is achieved as much as possible.
Introducing enhanced cleaning of all facilities regularly during the day and at the end of each day.

6. Personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings

In this section

6.1 Face coverings

PPE protects the user against health or safety risks at work. It can include items such as safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear and safety harnesses. It also includes respiratory protective equipment, such as face masks.

Where you are already using PPE in your work activity to protect against non-COVID-19 risks, you should continue to do so.

At the start of this document we described the steps you need to take to manage COVID-19 risk in the workplace. This includes maintaining social distancing guidelines (2m, or 1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable). When managing the risk of COVID-19, additional PPE beyond what you usually wear is not beneficial. This is because COVID-19 is a different type of risk to the risks you normally face in a workplace, and needs to be managed through social distancing, hygiene and fixed teams or partnering, not through the use of PPE.

The exception is clinical settings, like a hospital, or a small handful of other roles for which Public Health England advises use of PPE, for example, first responders and immigration enforcement officers.

If you are in one of these groups you should refer to the advice at:

Workplaces should not encourage the precautionary use of extra PPE to protect against COVID-19 outside clinical settings or when responding to a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.

Unless you are in a situation where the risk of COVID-19 transmission is very high, your risk assessment should reflect the fact that the role of PPE in providing additional protection is extremely limited. However, if your risk assessment does show that PPE is required, then you must provide this PPE free of charge to workers who need it. Any PPE provided must fit properly.

6.1 Face coverings

There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from COVID-19.

A face covering can be very simple and may be worn in enclosed spaces where social distancing isn’t possible. It just needs to cover your mouth and nose. It is not the same as a face mask, such as the surgical masks or respirators used by health and care workers. Similarly, face coverings are not the same as the PPE used to manage risks like dust and spray in an industrial context. Supplies of PPE, including face masks, must continue to be reserved for those who need them to protect against risks in their workplace, such as health and care workers, and those in industrial settings like those exposed to dust hazards.

Face coverings are not a replacement for the other ways of managing risk, including minimising time spent in contact, using fixed teams and partnering for close-up work, and increasing hand and surface washing. These other measures remain the best ways of managing risk in the workplace and government would therefore not expect to see employers relying on face coverings as risk management for the purpose of their health and safety assessments.

Face coverings are mandatory on public transport and will be mandatory in a number of indoor premises.

People are also encouraged to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces where there are people they do not normally meet. If you choose to wear one, it is important to use face coverings properly and wash your hands before putting them on and before and after taking them off.

Find further detail on when and where to wear face coverings.

Some people don’t have to wear a face covering including for health, age or equality reasons.

Employers should support their workers in using face coverings safely if they choose to wear one. This means telling workers:

wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitiser before putting a face covering on, and before and after removing it

when wearing a face covering, avoid touching your face or face covering, as you could contaminate them with germs from your hands

change your face covering if it becomes damp or if you’ve touched it

continue to wash your hands regularly

change and wash your face covering daily

if the material is washable, wash in line with manufacturer’s instructions. If it’s not washable, dispose of it carefully in your usual waste

practise social distancing wherever possible

Please be mindful that the wearing of a face covering may inhibit communication with people who rely on lip reading, facial expressions and clear sound.

7. Workforce management

In this section

7.1 Shift patterns and outbreaks
7.2 Work-related travel
7.3 Communications and training

7.1 Shift patterns and outbreaks

7.1.1 Shift patterns and working groups

Objective: To change the way work is organised to create distinct groups and reduce the number of contacts each worker has.

Steps that will usually be needed:

As far as possible, where people are split into teams or shift groups, fixing these teams or shift groups so that where contact is unavoidable, this happens between the same people.
People who work together in one vehicle should be in a fixed pairing as far as possible.
Identifying areas where people have to directly pass things to each other (such as job information, spare parts, samples, raw materials) and find ways to remove direct contact, for example, by using drop off points or transfer zones.
You should assist the test and trace service by keeping a temporary record of your staff shift patterns for 21 days and assist NHS Test and Trace with requests for that data if needed. This could help contain clusters or outbreaks. Check what data you need to collect and how it should be managed.

7.1.2 Outbreaks in the workplace

Objective: To provide guidance in an event of a COVID-19 outbreak in the workplace.

Steps that will usually be needed:

As part of your risk assessment, you should ensure you have an up to date plan in case there is a COVID-19 outbreak. This plan should nominate a single point of contact (SPOC) where possible who should lead on contacting local Public Health teams.
If there is more than one case of COVID-19 associated with your workplace, you should contact your local PHE health protection team to report the suspected outbreak. Find your local PHE health protection team.
If the local PHE health protection team declares an outbreak, you will be asked to record details of symptomatic staff and assist with identifying contacts. You should therefore ensure all employment records are up to date. You will be provided with information about the outbreak management process, which will help you to implement control measures, assist with communications to staff, and reinforce prevention messages.

7.2 Work-related travel

7.2.1 Accommodation

Objective: To keep people safe when they do need to travel overnight.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Walking or cycling where possible. Where not possible, you can use public transport or drive. You must wear a face covering when using public transport.
Where workers are required to stay away from their home, centrally logging the stay and making sure any overnight accommodation meets social distancing guidelines.

7.2.2 Deliveries to other sites

Objective: To help workers delivering to other sites such as factories, logistics sites or customers’ premises to maintain social distancing and hygiene practices.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Putting in place procedures to minimise person-to-person contact during deliveries to other sites.
Minimising contact during payments and exchange of documentation, for example, by using electronic payment methods and electronically signed and exchanged documents.

7.3 Communications and training

7.3.1 Returning to work

Objective: To make sure all workers understand COVID-19 related safety procedures.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Providing clear, consistent and regular communication to improve understanding and consistency of ways of working.
Engaging with workers and worker representatives through existing communication routes and worker representatives to explain and agree any changes in working arrangements.
Developing communication and training materials for workers prior to returning to site, especially around new procedures for arrival at work.

7.3.2 Ongoing communications and signage

Objective: To make sure all workers are kept up-to-date with how safety measures are being implemented or updated.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Ongoing engagement with workers, including through trade unions or employee representative groups, to monitor and understand any unforeseen impacts of changes to working environments.
Awareness and focus on the importance of mental health at times of uncertainty. The government has published guidance on the mental health and wellbeing aspects of coronavirus.
Using simple, clear messaging to explain guidelines using images and clear language, with consideration of groups for which English may not be their first language and those with protected characteristics such as visual impairments.
Using visual communications, for example whiteboards or signage, to explain changes to schedules, breakdowns or materials shortages without the need for face-to-face communications.
Communicating approaches and operational procedures to suppliers, customers or trade bodies to help their adoption and share experience.

8. Inbound and outbound goods

Objective: To maintain social distancing and avoid surface transmission when goods enter and leave the site, especially in high volume situations, for example, distribution centres, despatch areas.

Steps that will usually be needed:

Revising pick-up and drop-off collection points, procedures, signage and markings.
Minimising unnecessary contact at gatehouse security, yard and warehouse, for example, non-contact deliveries where the nature of the product allows for use of electronic pre-booking.
Where possible and safe, having single workers load or unload vehicles.
Where possible, using the same pairs of people for loads where more than one is needed.
Enabling drivers to access welfare facilities when required, consistent with other guidance.
Encouraging drivers to stay in their vehicles where this does not compromise their safety and existing safe working practice, such as preventing drive-aways.

Where to obtain further guidance

Find advice and support from your business representative organisation or trade association.

Definitions

Clinically extremely vulnerable people	Refers to people who have specific underlying health conditions that make them extremely vulnerable to severe illness if they contract COVID-19. Clinically extremely vulnerable people will have received a letter telling them they are in this group, or will have been told by their GP. Who is ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’?
Clinically vulnerable people	Refers to people who may be at increased risk from COVID-19, including those aged 70 or over and those with some underlying health conditions. Who is ‘clinically vulnerable’?
Common areas	Refers to areas and amenities which are provided for the common use of more than one person including canteens, reception areas, meeting rooms, areas of worship, toilets, gardens, fire escapes, kitchens, fitness facilities, store rooms, laundry facilities.
Support bubbles	The term ‘support bubble’ refers to single adult households, where adults live alone or with dependent children only, expanding their support network so that it includes one other household of any size. Meeting people from outside your household.

Download this guidance

Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19) in or from a vehicle

Full PDF version of the guidance.

Staying COVID-19 Secure in 2020
Poster to display in your workplace to show you have followed the guidance.

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