With kitchen showrooms re-opening along with other ‘non essential’ retail businesses, members of the Worktop Fabricators Federation are starting to enjoy the new trading environment.

“The whole country was looking forward to the great re-opening,” says WFF general secretary Chris Pateman. “But it’s clear vigilance remains the watch-word for business. 

“We can certainly expect our employees to continue to be subject to covid tests on building sites for some months to come. The CIC Site Operating Procedures are still in place and we can probably expect HSE scrutiny of building sites to increase as the lockdown eases.”

The government has encouraged employers to institute in-company testing procedures. How that happens depends on things like retail footfall in the showroom and how long members of the fabrication and installation teams have been working alongside one another through the pandemic anyway. WFF is conscious businesses don’t have to instigate test regimes.

The test itself is rather unpleasant, involving stuffing a swab deep up your nostrils. But once that’s done, the result is available in about 20 minutes. Medical practitioners and teachers are routinely self-testing.

Peninsula, the WFF’s health & safety and employment law specialist, is running webinars to help members develop policies and discuss approaches with experts. The first, in March, covered what to do as the Covid restrictions are increasingly lifted.

Any fabricator (whether or not a WFF member) interested in joining a presentation should contact Chris at administrator@worktopfabricators.org or Claire.Woolnough@peninsula-uk.com.