Companies that don't follow coronavirus safety rules could face prosecution, the UK's health and safety chief has warned.
Sarah Albon, of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told Tuesday's Downing Street briefing that not following the Government's new "Covid-secure" guidance is "a criminal offence".
She said: “Inspectors can require businesses to do certain things – enforcement notices, requiring them to take particular kinds of action.
“In the most extreme circumstances if there is a risk of serious injury to an individual employee they can issue a notice which prohibits certain activities from taking place.
“Breach of those kind of enforcement notices is essentially a criminal offence and we can prosecute people who fail to do the right thing.”
Earlier in the day, Ms Albon told MPs that companies unable to stick to Covid-19 health and safety rules should not open.
Speaking to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, she said that her staff had investigated more than 7,000 questions about workplace safety across two days in early March - of which around 1,400 needed more investigation.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma also urged workers to report any workplace they felt was unsafe.
He told the Downing Street coronavirus briefing: “Employers have a duty to keep employees safe in the work place, that is absolutely enshrined in law.
“If somebody feels their work place is not safe they have to take that up with their employer.
“If they don’t feel they are getting any traction they absolutely should get in touch with the Health and Safety Executive or the local authority.”
Tautyvdas Karitonas, research and development manager at disinfection firm Inivos, said that making sure workplaces are hygienic is "critical" for any business that wants to reopen, and recommended some decontamination methods.
He told the Standard: "Many business leaders will likely have plans to deep-clean or ‘fog’ their work environments; however neither of these practices can fully ensure a space is effectively decontaminated of potentially harmful viral and bacterial contaminants, and can even leave harmful organisms behind through unintentional but unavoidable human error.
"One way that managers can ensure their environment is Covid-secure and decontaminated of the virus is through frequent hydrogen peroxide vapour or ultra-violet C light decontamination practices."
The news comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Brits to get back to work from Wednesday if they cannot work from home.
Mr Sharma released a business plan on Monday outlining the steps businesses would have to take to stay in line with safety rules, and said that companies that wanted to reopen would be subject to spot checks.
