Members of the Worktop Fabricators Federation have pooled their expertise to create a template to manage the return to work and carry out worktop installations in the ‘new normal’.

Drawing on guidance from sources as varied as the Italian stone industry and the National Association of Scaffolding Contractors (who know a thing or two about working in close proximity), the WFF’s ‘Return To Work’ template is in two sections: one covers internal best practice and risk assessment; the other customer guidance for templating and installation services.

“At times like this, industry best practice has never been more important,” says Chris Pateman, General Secretary of the Worktop Fabricators Federation. “Not just the tier 1 contractors’ big, over-arching Site Operating Procedures, but the nitty-gritty realities of keeping our staff safe and managing our customers’ expectations in a consistent manner.

“We tried to capture everything that matters about keeping staff and customers safe and delivering a good job,” says Chris.

“We knew we’d got it right when one of our members looked at the draft and said: ‘We have had to re-do RAMs as you can imagine for the national housebuilders and agree to their COVID-19 policies. I have just read the WFF draft and it has captured all that we have been asked to adhere to and to what we have already written regarding factory/office/deliveries/template and installation.’

“WFF is all about maintaining our industry’s reputation for quality and service. So we’re inviting all fabricators to download the template from our website (www.worktopfabricators.org) and use it as the basis for their own best practice and risk assessments.”

To download ‘Return To Work’ as a Word document you simply click on the link on the home page.

“Some things are just too big – and too important – to keep to ourselves,” said Chris.