Reducing the risk of spreading coronavirus during travel

Advice on maintaining social distancing in transit

Horticultural businesses often need to transport workers to fields separate from their accommodation or normal place of work, between different fields, or to and from shops to buy essential items. Workers can be grouped into cohorts (LINK HERE) that always travel and work together, to minimise any potential spread of COVID-19. However, whilst travelling between locations social distancing measures must still apply.

Managing transport arrangements

Where employees are travelling to and from the workplace in private vehicles or using carpooling, employers are encouraged to remind them of current government advice (see section: 'Use of private vehicles and car-pooling') on best practice.

Where employers are providing transport for employees between accommodation and the workplace, between different work settings, and for essential shopping purposes, please see the below best-practise suggestions:

Where possible, daily self-reports of employees’ health should be undertaken before workers are transported to the site
Within vehicles used for transport, ensure there is frequent cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces that are touched regularly, using standard cleaning products, ideally after each trip
Maximise ventilation
Where shared transport is unavoidable, employers should minimise the number of workers in each vehicle by considering multiple trips with fewer persons and/or staggered starting and finishing times. Wherever possible, workers in shared transport should enter and exit the transport in a staggered way, not ‘squeezing past each other’, maintaining social distancing guidance
If workers have to share enclosed spaces, such as the cabs of vehicles, wherever possible they should keep the window open for ventilation and they should be careful to avoid touching their faces at all times. On leaving the enclosed space, they should wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or more, or use hand sanitiser when they cannot wash their hands
Anyone found to be unwell in transit should be taken off the shared transport, returned to their accommodation and supported to follow the stay-at-home guidance. If those travelling in the shared transport are also part of the symptomatic person’s cohort (household), they should also return and begin household isolation.
Posters can be put in the windows of minibuses, etc. to remind people of the hygiene rules

Example of a bus with reduced numbers of passengers – the seats coloured red should be left empty.

Minimising the need for workers to travel

Employers should consider supporting workers with shopping by selling basic supplies on site (using contactless payment if possible) or facilitating food deliveries, to reduce their requirement to travel. If workers need to travel off site to buy food and essentials, the Government guidance must be followed. It is best practice for employer-organised shopping trips to be managed in cohorts.

These are exceptional circumstances and industry needs to comply with the latest government advice on coronavirus (COVID-19). This best-practice document is based on Public Health England (PHE) guidance; other restrictions and advice may apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This guidance does not change or amend the statutory duties of an employer under the health and safety legislation, including, in particular:

Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA), which requires an employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of its employees
Regulation 3 (1) (a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR), which requires an employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of its employees to which they are exposed while they are at work in order to identify the measures the employer must take to comply with the requirements of the health and safety legislation

This best-practice guide is intended to assist employers of agricultural seasonal workers in applying the PHE guidance in practical ways. The information and examples provided in this guide are illustrative only and may not be suitable for every business.

This guide was produced in collaboration with the National Farmers Union, The Association of Labour Providers, AHDB, G’s Fresh and Defra.