What's New

The Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) has called for swift action to ensure that people in the UK have access to occupational health advice and assessment in the light of the Covid-19 crisis.

In a recent report, MPs have noted that during the pandemic, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) required only one business to close and had not inspected a single care home since 10 March 2020, warning that the Government needs to ensure the watchdog has the necessary funding to carry out its role.

With the city having recorded 10% of all positive coronavirus cases in the country over the past week, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has announced that the UK's first full local lockdown will be applied in Leicester.

Ofsted has published a new initial teacher education (ITE) framework aiming to ensure that future inspections focus more on the substance of the ITE curriculum, and how well trainees are prepared to teach, and less on outcomes data.

Our long national hibernation is beginning to come to an end, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament as he announced that the Government had decided that the social distancing rules could be relaxed (in England) from 4 July.

More than two million people shielding from coronavirus have been advised by Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock that they can spend more time outside their homes from Monday 6 July.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published new advice for the public on when and how to wear masks safely.

Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing at Downing Street, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that all pupils in all year groups in England will go back to school full-time in September.

The British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) has released a new paper on the use of face coverings in the workplace, and has expressed concern at what it says is the “absence of clear guidance to employers” from the Government regarding likely requests by workers to wear face coverings.

With the Government's advice still being to continue to work from home if possible, the mediation service Acas has noted that many employers and their staff remain concerned about the practicalities of physically going back to work.