January/February 2021
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Checkatrade offers home visit safety guidance<br />
Checkatrade and the Department for Business,<br />
Energy & Industrial Strategy have worked<br />
together to share tips for homeowners to help<br />
them navigate home improvement works<br />
during the UK lockdown period.<br />
CEO of Checkatrade, Mike Fairman, said: “Our<br />
tradespeople have shown great resilience over<br />
this challenging period and are committed to<br />
safely carrying out home improvement and repair<br />
jobs following government guidelines.<br />
“Checkatrade has worked directly with the<br />
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial<br />
Strategy to share additional guidance for trade<br />
members and homeowners to help everyone stay<br />
as safe as possible.<br />
For example, we encourage our tradespeople<br />
to use video calls for advice and quotes, and<br />
recommend [homeowners] keep in touch with<br />
[their] tradesperson to talk through the work in<br />
advance and agree how to reduce risks.<br />
“As we continue to spend more time at home,<br />
homeowners will be wanting to also invest time<br />
and money into making them as comfortable as<br />
they can be.<br />
“As a result, we’re seeing uplifts in searches for<br />
tradespeople to carry out home improvements in<br />
the winter months, bucking the trend of previous<br />
years.”<br />
The measures encouraged when carrying out home<br />
improvements and maintenance work include:<br />
• Keep in touch: Regular communication<br />
[between the tradesperson and the<br />
customer] in advance of any home visit is<br />
important – to talk through details of the<br />
work and to agree how risks can be reduced<br />
• Keep it digital: Checkatrade is encouraging<br />
tradespeople to embrace video calling for<br />
advice and quotes, whenever that is possible<br />
• Keep it clean: Homeowners are urged to<br />
clean surfaces around the working area<br />
and in ‘high traffic’ areas such as door<br />
handles with disinfectant before, during<br />
and after work is carried out<br />
• Keep a distance: Homeowners should avoid<br />
too much face-to-face contact with those<br />
working in their homes and keep children or<br />
pets in other rooms whenever possible.<br />
Please note: The restrictions across the UK vary<br />
and for the very latest guidance you should<br />
check your local government website.<br />
www.checkatrade.com/blog/get-your-jobdone-safely-during-lockdown/<br />
5<br />
Est. 1975
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