Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for laboratories and research facilities: BRIA

Enforcement, sanctions and monitoring

The guidance for labs and research facilities is a mixture of regulation and guidance. The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 came into force on 26 March 2020. They impose the two metre rule on all businesses and service providers that remain open, so they must have measures to ensure, where reasonably practicable, that employees are able to maintain that distance from each other. Businesses and service providers must also take measures to ensure that they admit people into their premises in sufficiently small numbers to maintain a two metre distance.

The regulator for health and safety at work, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is constantly applying their expertise to ensure people at work are protected. HSE is treating COVID-19 as a workplace health issue. Where HSE identifies employers who are not taking action to comply with the relevant public health guidance to control COVID-19 health risks to workers, HSE will consider a range of actions under existing health and safety law.