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CLC reviews site guidance after changes to 2m rule

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) is to review its coronavirus Site Operating Procedures after the government announced a further easing of the lockdown and changes to the two-metre rule earlier this week.

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday that social distancing will be relaxed to “one-metre plus” from 4 July.

Johnson said that where possible, people should still keep two metres apart but where it is not, they should remain one metre apart while taking “mitigations” to reduce the risk of transmission, such as face coverings or staying side to side rather than face to face.

The government has produced new guidance on how businesses can reduce the risk of the disease by taking steps to protect workers, including avoiding face-to-face seating in office layouts, reducing the number of people in enclosed spaces, improving ventilation, using protective screens and face coverings, closing non-essential social spaces, providing hand sanitiser and changing shift patterns.

The CLC said that with the government’s Safer Working guidance under review, it would review its own guidance and update it “to reflect the new requirements”.

The CLC’s site operating procedures are currently on version four, which advises that where social distancing of two metres is not possible, time spent doing tasks in closer proximity than this should be limited and workers should undertake their tasks side by side, rather than face to face.

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