Social Distancing presents significant limitations to the number of people that can assemble in any space, the Safe Work Australia guidelines nominate a ‘one person per 4 square metre’ limit to enclosed space. Reconfiguration options should be considered, to enable changes that are easy for staff to adopt. Examples include removal of chairs in meeting rooms to suit the maximum capacity. The workplace must be designed around functionality and core activities.

The guidelines further state a minimum distance of 1.5m between each person should be kept, where people interact closely with one another. The Physical Distancing Checklist by Worksafe provides additional tools to assist with social distancing where 1.5m may be difficult to achieve, such as the layout of the workplace, traffic flow through the office and physical barriers. Any changes must be clearly communicated to employees.

Shared facilities, such as hot desks have been highlighted in the media recently as a key concern for employees returning to work. Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy has said ‘hot desking would have to be done in a different way’, cleaning and company policies will need to be reviewed in line with guidelines. These can be managed by providing sanitising stations and signage around shared facilities.