Spain: government and social partners in automobile and construction industries issue recommendations on workplace safety to govern the recommencement of work

After 14 days with all non-essential activity in Spain brought to a complete halt, the country’s industry and construction sectors have gradually recommenced activity following the Easter weekend. Members of the country’s government have nonetheless insisted that this does not mark the end of lockdown. As some return to work, the health ministry has published a new ‘code of best practice’ that lists the bolstered safety measures applied on transport and in workplaces in order to limit the spread of coronavirus. In the Spanish construction sector, the employer organisations CNC and Seopan have agreed with trade union groups CCOO and UGT a series of specific measures that reinforce the best practice guide. The same is true of the automobile industry, where the Spanish association of automobile and truck manufacturers (Anfac), the association of automotive dealers (Faconauto) and the association of suppliers (Sernauto) have agreed with unions a protocol to prevent the spread of the virus, so as to prepare for activity to recommence.
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A new best practice guide. The document from the ministry of labour recommends, among other things, the use of individual modes of transport, or that people wear a mask or keep a safe distance of two metres from other people on public transport. Companies are asked to organise staggered arrival of employees to avoid crowds on the metro system and at the entrances to workplaces, and to review shift schedules when remote work is not possible. At the workplace itself, companies must arrange tasks and production processes so that employees can keep a distance of two metres between each other, both on arrival and departure and during the working day, and must act to avoid build ups of people in communal areas or changing rooms and situations where tasks are carried out with people working too closely together.

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