Weekly Digest: Coronavirus Information and Advice from HSE - 30 April

This bulletin has been provided to us by the Health & Safety Executive

This week's digest contains the latest advice for employers and workers around coronavirus, including guidance on fitting respirators correctly and sources of advice on looking after your mental wellbeing.

For regular updates on coronavirus visit our website.

Supporting the national effort to combat coronavirus

HSE has assembled a team of specialists to assist the government’s national effort to get personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline health care workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Supporting the government’s PPE plan, HSE's PPE Unit is made up of regulatory inspectors, policy makers and scientists.

Find out more about this work.

Look after your mental wellbeing while working at home

During the coronavirus outbreak, it’s important to look after your mental wellbeing while staying at home.

Stress affects us all at different times and in different ways. It can cause people to feel physically unwell, can cause mental health problems and can make existing problems worse.

HSE's stress website has plenty of advice, while our downloadable stress talking toolkit has ideas which you can adapt to suit current working arrangements.

HSE advises on the importance of fitting respirators correctly

If a respirator is incorrectly fitted, it will not provide you with protection.

HSE's video advises healthcare workers currently using respiratory protective equipment (RPE) on the importance of fitting respirators correctly.

Tight-fitting respirators rely on having a good seal with the wearer’s face. A face fit test should be carried out to ensure the RPE can protect the wearer.

Watch our video, featuring HSE's Chief Medical Advisor Professor David Fishwick, which provides guidance on how to fit RPE correctly.

Social distancing guidance

Employers who have people in their offices or onsite should ensure that employees are able, where possible, to follow the appropriate regulations and/or guidance on social distancing (including, where possible, maintaining a 2 metre distance from others), and hygiene (washing their hands with soap and water often for at least 20 seconds).

For guidance on social distancing in:

• England, follow the social distancing advice from Public Health England
• Scotland, follow the guidance from the Scottish Government on social distancing
• Wales, follow the guidance from the Welsh Government on how to maintain physical distancing in the workplace how to maintain physical distancing in the workplace

Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) – new guidance issued

HSE has published guidance on the approach to some specific COMAH requirements during the coronavirus outbreak.

In light of the coronavirus outbreak, the following pages have been added to our COMAH website:

• Managing staffing and fatigue at COMAH sites during the outbreak
• COMAH safety reports during the outbreak
• Planned external emergency plan tests under COMAH during the outbreak
• COMAH notification requirements for businesses supporting the coronavirus response

More coronavirus related updates and advice from HSE

We have published a variety of guidance, which you may find useful.

It includes information on:

• social distancing and in-work activity
• examination and testing of lifting and pressure equipment
• arrangements for regulation of chemicals
• a short video showing how you can achieve a reasonable posture, while temporarily working with display screen equipment at home.

HSE has also updated our publication Managing infection risks when handling the deceased (HSG283), which covers infection control and the transmission-based precautions to follow.

For all the latest information and advice visit the coronavirus section of our website