The United Nations’ (UN) Environment Programme says governments must minimise possible secondary impacts upon health and the environment by treating waste management as “essential public service”.
The following update has been provided by the Scottish Government regarding key workers:
- Supporting Coronovirus – Key Workers
- School and Early Learning Centre (ELC) closures – Guidance for Key Worker
Local authorities have been asked to take the definitions set out in the guidance as a guide and to consider any circumstances that mean that specific classes of worker are critical in their local contexts.
Our advice is for your members to make contact with the relevant local authority to discuss the need for key worker provision. If you are encountering difficulties or inconsistencies then our colleagues in the key worker team may be able to offer further advice or support, consistent with their role as set out in the guidance. The more specific you can be about companies, their role and relevant locations, the more likely it is that they may to be able to help.
As the guidance sets out, there are a number of conditions that need to be met in order for individuals to access the key worker childcare provision in order to keep the scale of the provision within limits that reflect the wider public health situation.
As noted in direct communication with some of you or your members, we are in no doubt that continuation of key waste collection, processing and disposal services is critical to keeping the country running – we are keen to help where you are encountering specific difficulties. We certainly would not be advising companies who play key roles within the sector to shut down operations until they have engaged with the relevant local authority and sought the help of the Scottish Government key worker team if required. The contact mailbox is keyworkers@gov.scot.
We will have a chance to discuss further at this afternoon’s sector forum telecon but if you have any initial queries ahead of that, or specific points you wish to raise in relation to this at the sector forum please let us know.
The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) and Public Health England (PHE) are leading the UK government response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, including the production of guidance as this is a public health issue. They are working closely with other government departments including devolved government departments and HSE. Advice for employers (non-clinical) can be found at the following links and include considerations for waste:
- Guidance for Employers and businesses on coronavirus (COVID-19)
- COVID-19 Cleaning in non-healthcare settings
The relevant HSE response team will continue to comment on proposed PHE guidance and there are updates as and when necessary. I suggest you contact PHE in the first instance to clarify if there is any specific guidance with regard to your query, which may affect other industries as well as waste. HSE will not produce any guidance themselves on this issue.
It is obviously imperative to ensure that usual hygiene measures associated with W&R are strictly adhered to. Further guidance can be found on the WISH website