So how can we restart our services safely?

So how can we restart our services safely?

This page has been archived as of 13th September 2021

Important Update: Monday 19th July 2021

The Scottish Government announced on 13th July that the whole of Scotland will move to Level 0, effective from Monday 19th July 2021.  You can read the full details of this change on the Scottish Government website here. If you are a community group, organisation or volunteer network the most important change is on physical distancing indoors – from Monday 19th July it changes from a minimum of 2 metres to 1 metre. 

IMPORTANT: We are working on a complete a refresh of the content but this will take some time. Our pages contain many references to the legal requirement for 2 metre physical distancing.  Until further notice please change any reference to the legal requirement for 2 metres to 1 metre as you are reading.

If you are open, or thinking about re-opening you might be worried about how to manage this change.  We encourage you to be cautious and to think carefully about what is safest for your service, staff, volunteers and users. You might decide to stick with 2 metre distancing for a little while longer.  You might also decide to keep following the FACTS guidance.

We encourage you to use our bespoke space calculator to calculate the number of people who can safely use your space.  Enter either 2 metres or 1 metre (whichever physical distancing measurement you have decided to work with) and the size of your space in square metres.  It will work out the maximum number of people allowed for you.

Remember:

The virus is still out there. The spread of the Delta variant in Scotland is both a real threat and a reminder that variants of concern can still emerge and threaten to undo the progress we have made so far. The Scottish Government has said that other restrictions could be lifted on 9th August, depending on a number of conditions including the rate of vaccination in people under 40 years old.  As soon as we know what these changes are and the impact on community groups, organisations and volunteer networks we will fully update the pages of this resource. Stay safe everyone.

Community and third sector organisations want to get back to providing their full range of services.  These are critical in providing longer term support to those dealing with the impact of the pandemic and balancing the “ four harms” that are described in the government's strategic framework.  

SCDC and Public Health Scotland are working with other partners to help groups plan how to do this safely, as getting it wrong could have a serious negative impact on local people, communities and services. 

Although vaccination is now beginning to improve the situation as a whole, we are still vulnerable to new variants of the virus and we know from experience that these can develop and spread quickly where people gather together. So preventing infection transmission is still the number one priority for us all.

Click on image to enlarge.

We must remember that the virus is as dangerous as it ever was, especially for those not yet vaccinated. We know that it will exploit any increased contact between us as restrictions ease. This is why the core messages on physical distancing and enhanced hygiene are more important than ever. To prevent the spread of the virus as we open things up again we must all follow the latest advice, especially  the FACTS information illustrated in this poster. If we do this individually we collectively make sure that it doesn’t get a foothold again.  Here is a reminder of other key messages on delivering your services. Here is a reminder of other key messages on delivering your services.  

The updated  Strategic Framework

Scotland has had a series of protection levels numbered one to four in place for some time. Here is a reminder of  what these are and where they apply in Scotland.

From january 2021 until now Scotland has been in full lockdown to deal with a steep rise in cases. Here is more information on this. The tier based framework is still in place.  

As things have improved more recently,  the government updated the   Strategic Framework in February 2021.  This latest version is  designed to maintain the  flexible, local approach based on what is happening with the type and numbers of cases and the roll out of vaccination, rather than a strict series of fixed dates. It's very important to understand it fully to deliver your services safely when we start operating again.  

The framework is designed to ensure that we only face restrictions on contact locally when this is absolutely necessary, rather than across the country as a whole.  It  is designed to help  balance the devastating harm of  the COVID virus with the other “harms”  which affect society as a whole and our economy.

 What tier am I in?

Knowing the tier your service is in, or if the tier has changed, is crucial. This post code checker will tell you which tier applies, so check it regularly. If you want to know more about levels of the virus in your area Public Public Health Scotland's COVID dashboard can tell you this.

We didn't stop our COVID aid work - what should we be doing? 

If you are continuing to provide emergency aid, Supporting Communities Safely has been updated in line with the latest advice on physical distancing, face coverings and other measures. This is laid out a little differently in Part B of the resource.  It’s important to note that what we say about how you plan your emergency aid services, keep premises and vehicles clean, move and store supplies or set up your premises safely can also be applied to your services as a whole as you step up what you are providing.  Please make time to re-read the whole document to remind yourself of the core things you should be doing.

What is our overall message?

We all want to provide services that address the other harms people and communities face as a result of measures to control the virus. However we now know that the situation can become worse again quickly when people are in contact with each other, so we recommend that if you are in tier 3 or 4 you should only be restarting or delivering the most essential services face to face. Operating online or out of doors may not be your preferred option, but since stopping transmission of the virus remains the most important thing you must try and do this for a bit longer.

Careful planning is time well spent

Whatever tier you are in, detailed planning on how to re-open safely is vitally important.  Time spent doing this thoroughly will create more COVID secure services in the longer term, and our advice will help you to do this.  You can use this time to think about the issues we raise in the advice, make plans and seek the technical help you might need to reopen safely when the time comes.

Community facilities play a vital role in supporting people, including some who are very vulnerable. They help people connect with each other and participate in their communities, however experience in other services and facilities clearly indicate that their communal nature makes them places where COVID can spread easily.

We have already mentioned the government's recent Strategic Framework which describes what is allowed in each tier. This is still in place although it is currently augmented by the additional lockdown restrictions in place since January 2021 and the update to the Strategic framework february 2021.

Quick guide to the protection levels

The links below let you see at a glance what wider measures are applicable in each tier. 

Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

These are PDF files and could be prominently displayed as posters; if you are doing this please ensure they are up to date by downloading just prior to when you are going to use them. 

What does the system mean for community services and facilities? 

What does the system mean for community services and facilities? 

Some community facilities have been permitted to open throughout the pandemic to help with the organisation and delivery of essential aid to vulnerable households.This does not mean they should be providing services to the wider public. Part B of Supporting Communities Safely is designed to support groups and organisations who are in this position.

Some types of facilities were allowed to re-open from July and August in a period when transmission levels were reducing. More information on this is available in the CLD services guidance and in new guidance on the operation of community centres and facilities.  This process slowed as the virus became more widespread again, with most organisations adopting a more cautious approach. The current protection levels should inform whether your services open, and what activities you can run. 

In  Level 3 and 4 areas, or in the event of a full lockdown, only essential community services can be delivered, with careful infection control measures fully in place; this means that non-essential services may have to close again to keep people safe. Below is a rough guide to what is possible in the various tiers for community facilities.

• Level 0: Allowed to open

• Level 1: Allowed (with protective measures)

• Level 2: Allowed (with protective measures)

• Level 3: Allowed (with protective measures)

• Level 4: Should not open (unless delivering essential services*)

As part of their publications on the various local protection levels the government gives some examples of the types of services that would be considered ‘essential’.  These include; crisis services for homeless people such as provision of shelter, emergency food, medical services or other emergency aid,mental health crisis services, one to one counselling and/or therapy services, respite services and provision of emergency aid to very vulnerable people e.g. those shielding and/or self-isolating.  These examples are not exhaustive but could be used as a benchmark against which you can compare the type of service you deliver and whether it is in the same ‘essential’ category, as those above. If you are still unsure about whether your service is classed as ‘essential’ you might be able to seek advice from local health protection teams or council environmental health officials.  

Ultimately, It's very important to remember that just because (in theory) you can open again - doesn't mean that you should. Judgement about whether it's safe to do so is a complex blend of the protection level, the needs of your individual users, the features of the venue and the nature of your activities. Particularly it depends on whether you can do it with appropriate social distancing measures and other restrictions in place as these are required in all cases of services allowed to reopen. This is explored in more detail in Sections 5 and 6.

Liability

Whilst we know that people’s safety is the biggest concern for community organisations, it is important to remember that, if you are also legally responsible for a facility or service you are expected to put effective safety measures in place, to minimise the risk of and spread of coronavirus. This has implications for your governance and particularly issues like insurance. SCVO has produced useful advice on this.

Careful planning is key to getting it right. There is lots of guidance available, but groups have told us that it would be good to have help to interpret the guidance for their particular services, buildings and people. 

This section has some tips on things to think about when planning to re-open.  It’s important to remember that even where guidance suggests that opening is permitted in certain circumstances, there is a requirement for local groups to carefully assess their own circumstances and make judgements on what to do, when and how.  You are unlikely to have had to make these kinds of choices before. Decision-making should be influenced by current public health information, ongoing discussions with your communities and what tools and resources are available to you to help you keep people safe..  

Fig 2  introduces some of the issues you will need to consider to make good, safe jugements.

Some questions which help explore the issues

To help you explore the issues we suggest you answer these questions:

• Do you really need to restart now - or can you meet your aims more safely by delivering in other ways for a while longer?

• Do you know the laws, regulations and guidance that apply to your situation, and do you understand them fully?

• Are their other specific sources of advice or regulation that you need to check in with eg. sports governing  bodies or Food Standards Scotland?

• Do you feel confident in fully assessing risk, or do you need help with that?

• Have you identified other specific barriers you would need to address to be able to restart e.g. if people need transport, or have pre-existing health problems?

• Can you get help locally e.g. from Environmental Health or Health Protection Teams?

• Do you know what resources you might need to make premises and activities safe, and where to get them? (building  adaptations, PPE supplies etc.)

• Are funding worries driving you to re-open, and what are your funders saying?

• Can you manage staff and volunteers in a way that ensures you can always deliver your service safely?

• Can you be sure that service users will make safe use of what you provide?

• Can you provide contact details if contact tracing is required? See Test & Protect page.

• Do you understand  the legal liabilities, governance or insurance issues linked to COVID that you need to consider?

• Do you understand the legal liabilities, governance or insurance issues linked to COVID that you need to consider?

Where, who and how

Your group should take the time to really think about these questions. They are the foundation of making good decisions about risk and what to do next.  It's also important to make sure you take account of other views.  We recommend that you should:

• Spend some time thinking it through on your own:  If  you are coordinating a  service it's important to have clarity about what’s permitted, to inform decisions on how to proceed. This will help others with assessment and planning processes.

• Get the right people together: You will need to develop a collective view by sharing your thinking and testing your assumptions with the other people involved. This might include staff, board members or volunteers who have:

  • A sound understanding of what you do

  • Current practical knowledge of how your service works day to day

  • A clear idea of the needs of your users

  • Ability  to judge what is feasible and  how users  might respond 

• Plan a safe space for discussion: This could be online, in the park or a well ventilated place where you can be physically distanced and observe the FACTS advice.

You should also invite users representatives to share their ideas and, if possible those from closely associated services. This might include staff from the centre where you rent the room, the community transport group etc. Once you have discussed the issues carefully take note of what you decide and what needs to be done next.

It's crucial to your judgement about re-starting services, to think about what is in the best interest of the people who use your services now, and in the longer term.

The government sas identified four harms which affect people in Scotland arising directly or indirectly from the impact of the virus. To help you think about how to balance the harms your members or service users face from COVID we have produced a list of questions you could use to support discussion with your team, committee or other stakeholders when you are making decisions.

• Who are our services users?

• How vulnerable are they to catching the virus and becoming very ill?

• Do they all have the same types of need?

• Does our service protect lives or provide critical wellbeing support - e.g. crisis mental health support, a food bank, suicide prevention or addiction support?

• Do some members rely on us for help more than others?

• Could we support those individuals in other ways e.g. by referring to other better resourced services, or delivering other kinds of support ourselves?

• Have/could we make a successful transition to delivering in other ways e.g. online or outdoors?

• Could our service users make use of a COVID secure service safely?

This guidance on the nature of risk for individuals from COVID may also be useful in helping consider these questions.

Ultimately, you need to be able  to answer these questions

Can you be sure that you are able to run your service with minimal risk of service users picking up the virus?

Can you be sure that delivering your service won't increase the risks of community transmission?

If the honest answer is no to either of these is no or not sure, you should go back to your risk assessment process and strengthen your plans to make your service safe.  If that does not support a reasonable belief that you can open safely you should delay your opening for longer until the conditions are more favourable.

Balancing harms

Now you need to balance the harms which affect individuals and communities. Although  what is permitted is flexible and some activities are permitted in every tier this is  mainly dependent on how effectively risk is identified and responded to. The questions above are designed to help you make judgments about  the needs of your service users and how these could have an impact on wider transmission. It's the relationships The virus itself is the most immediate threat to your community, especially the most vulnerable people. Even if your service users have a lower clinical risk, they could pass it onto others.  

The other harms arising from measures in place to deal with the pandemic are real, but less dangerous in the short term than serious illness and death. If we can address these in a COVID-safe way over a slightly longer timescale that is probably the right thing to do. Hopefully, this is changing as vaccination increases and fewer people become very seriously ill but you can play an important role in making sure we don't move backwards by preparing very carefully for any activity which brings people back together.

When thinking about these judgements it may not be a clear cut ‘yes or no’ answer. You may decide to:

• Try other approaches, stopping short of normal face to face services

• Work outside with people if you

• Try a phased  approach which allows you to target the most vulnerable to other harms like social isolation, whilst ensuring that you don't exceed the physical distancing limits on numbers  in your own buildings

• Work in partnership with others to address the needs of the most vulnerable

• Start providing more limited services face to face for those at greater risk

In many situations this will involve restarting services gradually e.g. fewer sessions, blended approaches (dictated by the COVID situation) and implementation of the Strategic Framework (which Tier you are in).

The earlier sections ask you to consider important questions about the nature of your activities and the needs of your users as part of decision making about if, when and how you restart services.  These are the stages in producing risk assessments. These are  described in the formal guidance from the Scottish Government and are an important way to plan and record what your doing to make sure that:

• All hazards are spotted and planned for

• Everyone knows their role in dealing with them

• You  should  monitor how safely you are delivering and if anything needs to change

If you are doing them well, risk assessments  are systematic, publicly available documents which reassure yourself, youre service users, partner organisations and funders that you have really thought about how you can keep people safe. Don't write more than you need in a risk assessment but where others need to know what's happening to play their part properly a written document is important.

They might seem complicated but we all do risk assessments every day, when we cross the road or decide what we can let the kids do on their own.  With COVID 19 the thought process is the same but there are more factors to think about including:

• What do we know about how the virus behaves - in the air and on surfaces?

• How does  it affect different kinds of people?

• How does  it move from person to person indoors and outdoors

• How do the spaces we use and the things we do help or hinder it’s spread?

• What we need to do to stop its transmission?

Here are some thoughts from Jason Leitch National Clinical Director, NHS Scotland on the factors that matter in assessing risk for the people you support, in your activities and the buildings you use. These factors mean that groups need to think carefully about their own circumstances and the risks involved, and devise their own individual plan.

Identifying and overcoming risks

We know  that in every aspect of our contact with each other, in everyday life or in delivering our services, we must minimise chances for COVID to move from person to person. Though we may be tired of hearing it, sticking to the FACTS advice is the foundation of everything we need to do to minimise risk.

If we don't achieve this first line of defence, other safeguards will not be effective. It’s important to remember that this applies even as more  people are vaccinated. This is because we don't know yet how  those who are can transmit the virus, even if they don't get ill with it. So sticking to FACTS is vital so that our services don't add to community transmission when they reopen.

Producing your risk assessment document 

Writing things down is an important part of planning, reflecting and delivering safely, especially if you need to share the thinking and expected actions with other people. Your assessments don't have to be long and complex, but they do need to carefully note the risks, how you're going to reduce them, and who's doing what to get this done. If you're running services you will already be doing some form of risk assessment or contributing to be prepared by others. COVID risk assessment is an extension of this.

When we are dealing with coronavirus risks the detail is important. How much detail will depend on the complexity of the service, where it takes place and the vulnerability of those using it. The Scottish Government has produced specific guidance for multi-purpose community facilities, and for Community Learning and Development services. You should read what they say before you start your own assessment.

Your COVID risk assessments need to be able to identify where risks might be  and think through;

• What are the vulnerabilities in my service and those who use them.

• How do you make it safe to 

  • Get there - especially of you provide transport

  • Get in and out - entry and exit points can be tricky to control ,especially on shared buildings.

  • While people use you services - Being aware of COVID safety when you have more control of the environment in the spaces you are responsible for

  • Using shared spaces like kitchens and toilets - where your safety measures are only as good as the others you share with 

  • How you work with service users to maintain FACTS and keep the place really clean

• How you work cooperatively with others using places to build the safest environment possible

• How you monitor what's going on and keep on top of anything that needs to change

There are lots of really useful advice and risk  templates that can help you to think about how you might do this, and the SCVO Coronavirus Hubbrings together all of the main Scottish Government guidance for different kinds of service delivery settings, alongside other materials on assessing risk. Their page on safer premises provides comprehensive advice on how to make your premises more COVID secure, with links to materials developed across the UK. This includes information for small multi-use halls. 

You will need to find the templates that suit you and there are lots of examples online.  Here are three that we would recommend you take a look at: 

• A guide and set of templates from the Health and safety  Executive including a form that you can edit for your own group and save as your own risk assessment.

• Another for small community buildings and village halls developed in England but also useful for groups in Scotland. When using this one,make sure that you are applying up to date Scottish rules on FACTS alongside the useful general advice it contains.  

• The Scout movement have  produced a number of risk assessment templates for different activities, and offers some tips on what you need to consider and how to lay it out.

Whichever one you use, think about people, places and activities,

Click on the diagram to enlarge.

A checklist for effective risk assessment  

Click to enlarge image

Ask for help when you need it

Assessing and dealing with risk should be quite straightforward for some activities but for other, more complex situations you might need help. This might be delivery of different services in one location with different groups, or the same services taking place in a number of locations in community premises, in the outdoors or in people’s homes. We suggest that if you are unsure about the right course of action you should ask for more help from  local contacts for Health Protection Teams for your area. 

The other source of local advice are local Environmental Health Teams. This link takes you to the Food Standards Scotland website where you can enter your own local authority area and get an up to date list of contacts for your local team.

These services give information and advice to a wide range of groups, services and business. You should try and make contact as quickly as possible to give them time to respond to your questions or enquiries. 

Next steps

This advice is  designed to help you think systematically about how to balance what communities need and what your services want to do, need to do and can do safely. In the coming months we plan to use this section to share advice from other organisations and other specialist knowledge about how to restart a wide range of services safely.  

Use the form below to let us know what the issues are for you. We can't provide specific advice to everyone but will try to use your questions to inform discussions on future advice.

Further information

For more information on this document you can contact:

Mick Doyle from Scottish Community Development Centre on Mick.Doyle@scdc.org.uk

Lisa Martin from Public Health Scotland on lisa.martin4@nhs.net

Other Links:

• NHS Inform

• Ready Scotland

• Health Protection Scotland

• Scottish Government

• Food Standards Scotland

• Public Health Scotland

• Scottish Community Development Centre

• Guidance for the Community Learning and Development (CLD) sector