Ensuring sick and self-isolating workers do not come to work

[ch 5: pages 26-27]

The BEIS business department guidance (see pages 22-24) makes clear that “Employers have a duty to reduce workplace risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking preventative measures.”

In the context of COVID-19, it explains, this means protecting the health and safety of workers and visitors by working through a number of steps. The first step is: “Ensuring both workers and visitors who feel unwell stay at home and do not attend the premises. From 28 September [2020], by law businesses may not require a self-isolating employee to come into work.”

People with symptoms of coronavirus, however mild, should immediately self-isolate at home and arrange to have a test to see if they have COVID-19.

There are two types of test to detect COVID infection: Polymerase Chain Reaction or PCR tests and Lateral Flow Device or LFD tests. PCR tests are the most reliable, but it takes time to get the results back from the laboratory. LFD tests are simple and quick to use but less accurate. Anyone who has a positive LFD test should have a PCR test to confirm the result within 48 hours.

People not experiencing symptoms, but who have tested positive for COVID-19, must also self-isolate.

The latest government guidance is on the web page COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection.