The Government of Jersey has announced that lockdown restrictions on financial services businesses are being lifted from today.
The ‘Stay at Home’ order and ‘Essential Worker Scheme’ are being replaced by new workplace regulations that mean businesses can plan to gradually return to the workplace.
Working from home
The government is still stipulating that businesses continue to work from home for the present time, unless it is necessary for a limited number of essential employees to return to the workplace to carry out critical operations.
Risk assessment
Before any staff return to office premises, businesses are required to carry out a full risk assessment and put health and safety measures in place to manage and reduce the risk of the virus spreading.
Only the bare minimum of staff will be allowed back into the office under these revised requirements and only if their work cannot be carried out at home.
Planning to return to the workplace
Businesses should prepare a return-to-work risk assessment for their board or executive to approve. This should cover:
• The operational reasons why the business needs to return to the office
• A risk assessment of all areas of the business where there is the potential for person-to person contamination – for example, internal and external meetings, supply deliveries, sales processes or office set-up
• Detailed measures to manage any identified risks
• A policy for staff members who must or should work from the office
• Contingency planning for future staff illness
Businesses will need to make their risk assessment available to the relevant authorities on request.
Revising business continuity plans
Business continuity plans should also be updated to reflect the new arrangements, with reference to the return to work risk assessment.
Regulatory requirements
All regulated businesses are expected to continue to meet regulatory requirements while transitioning back to the workplace.
• For more information about Jersey’s new work regulations or for any queries about returning to the workplace, contact workplacecovid@gov.je
• The UK government published guidance earlier this month on office working during the pandemic. To read this guidance click here