COVID Travel Advice
With the imminent escalation of areas in Scotland to the 4th Tier of coronavirus restrictions, members will be aware that these also bring new travel restrictions making it illegal for people in level three or four areas to travel outside their own council area except for “certain essential purposes”, while people in other areas must not travel to level three or four regions.
In respect of this change, Scottish Engineering advises that its view is that travel to work, where there is a justifiable reason for doing so meets the requirement for essential purposes. In doing so we refer to the helpful statement made this Tuesday by Scotland’s First Minister repeating the assertion that “those who can work from home should do so – though unlike lockdown earlier in the year, construction and manufacturing workplaces can remain open.”
We would advise members to follow these guidelines in respect of this change:
- Although construction and manufacturing are specifically mentioned above, other workplaces will have their reasons to be considered essential and businesses should make this evaluation
- You may consider whether some employees can work from home for some or all of the period of enhanced restrictions
- Consider issuing updated letters to staff who do have to travel to work from one local authority to another where these areas are subject to a level three or four restriction. Letter templates are available from Scottish Engineering for this, please reply to this email to request or phone our main number on 0141 221 3181
As ever, we are here to advise members where we can, please contact us by phone or email and we will be happy to help.
