Top Tips for Making Your Workshop Safe

If you are hoping to return to some sort of normality and your workshop is up and running again, it’s important that you make sure the area is safe. This goes for yourself, your staff and if you have any customers or visitors who come to your workshop.

You will no doubt already be familiar with the different ways to keep your workshop safe through proper use and maintenance of your machinery, but it’s key to extend this knowledge to keep your workshop hygienic and safe during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

So, with that in mind, here is some advice to make your workshop safe for everyone.

Carry out a risk assessment

While you have probably already done many different risk assessments over the years, particularly if you’re working with heavy machinery, it’s important that you complete a COVID-19 risk assessment.

Once it’s done, you should share it with your staff so everyone is aware. Your line of work means that it’s difficult for staff to work from home, so your risk assessment can help you identify ways of reducing the risk and making the workplace ‘COVID-secure’. Where possible, you should try to follow social distancing and other similar measures to mitigate the risks.

Increase your cleaning

A workshop can be a messy place by nature, and cleaning it more often might feel like an impossible challenge. However, it’s important that you clean high traffic surface areas or other areas that are touched a lot. This can include door handles, machinery buttons, any worktops or desks and the phones.

Consider leaving hand sanitiser in convenient places for staff and visitors to use frequently as they move about your workshop and office area. Another helpful tip could be to leave windows or doors open where possible, to increase ventilation.

Social distancing and face masks

Try to encourage your staff to keep their distance during the working day. You can do this by staggering arrival and departure times, or making sure there is ample space around each piece of equipment or work bench. You could leave markings on the floor to make it easier for everyone to follow.

If you often have visitors or customers, you should ask them to wear a face covering if possible. Remember there are some exemptions to wearing a face mask.

Test and Trace

From 18^th September, many establishments must keep a record of all staff, contractors and visitors for 21 days by law. You should note down names, contact phone number and dates and times; for staff, this refers to when they are at work. For visitors, it refers to the date and time of visit.

You can find out more about these measures here.