Risk Assessments during Covid-19

Risk Assessments should include workplace stress risk assessments and ventilation risk assessments.

The key elements of this are distancing (including at your work station, access around building, breakout areas), the cleaning regime for the venue, handling of equipment and music, and finally ventilation which is a key in dictating how many people can be in the same room, for how long, how frequent air changes need to be etc.

This should encompass many details including the cubic capacity of the areas being used and the specific ventilation being used, flow rates, renewal rates etc. This critical factor requires a complete technical report signed off by a qualified person. There needs to an integrated mitigation approach which requires balance between different measures (e.g. ventilation and distancing). The DCMS have acknowledged that as a major part of the risk management process. 

We have seen a number of Risk Assessments that use a Risk Matrix. This is not useful in dealing with Covid and is an unreliable set of arbitrary figures which give a spurious exactitude to the situation. At this point with Covid it is necessary to apply all mitigating measures as far as possible and not have any assumptions about the behaviour of Covid, except where backed up by established scientific research.