On Friday 23rd October 2020 East Staffordshire Borough Council’s Environmental Health Team and partners spent the evening visiting licensed premises in Burton town centre and on the outskirts of Uttoxeter. The purpose of these visits was to carry out spot checks on a variety of pubs and restaurants to ensure that they were complying with Covid-secure and social distancing rules.
The team found that the vast majority were complaint with most businesses actively managing Covid controls.
In a few minor cases there were a small number of concerns identified. These were primarily with regards to staff members and/or customers not wearing face coverings. This information will be shared with the police as part of our partnership working to ensure appropriate compliance levels are maintained.
Spot checks will continue to be made and in the event where businesses are not following guidelines, immediate action will be taken which could include providing advice, issuing enforcement notices, stopping certain work practices until they are made safe and, where businesses fail to comply, prosecution action could be taken.
Councillor Bernard Peters, Deputy Leader for Regulatory and Community Support said: “We are talking to local businesses and inspecting sites in East Staffordshire to understand how they are managing risks in line with their specific business activity. It is important that businesses in East Staffordshire give their full priority to ensuring they are Covid-secure - it is a legal duty to protect workers and others from harm and this includes taking reasonable steps to control the risk and protect people from coronavirus.
“To help increase confidence with workers, customers and the local community it is imperative that employers work with their employees when implementing changes. Clear communication is vital during this pandemic.”