Industry uproar causes updated worksite advice to be dropped

Uproar from industry has meant that the updated second version of operational guidance for worksites from the Construction Leadership Council has had to be dropped.

The situation is under review and further updates to the guidance are possible, however the Construction Leadership Council has re-issued Version 1, which is the document the industry should be complying with and is available here

The new guidance had banned all working where the two metre social distancing rule could not be imposed, even if workers were in PPE.

This went further than government advice, which at times has been ambiguous with cabinet secretary Michael Gove at one point suggesting the two metre should be observed 'wherever possible'.

Westminster has been clear that construction work should continue throughout the crisis to keep the economy going. 

The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) said there had 'been significant feedback on the updated Site Operating Procedures - Version 2', and that managers and workers should follow version one.

As part of its work to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the construction sector, key bodies have been carrying out a series of surveys. The latest version can be found at the following link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/31MarCovidConst. 

While the questions are similar to previous versions, new polls allow the industry to assess changes over time.