Covid -19

Our Approach.

Due to the current climate Cornwall Assist have adopted the following Government guidelines when clients make use of our vehicles. Please note we will adopt similar protocols when inside the clients home.

Aside from our driver, you should avoid sharing our vehicle with someone from outside your household or support bubble unless your journey is undertaken for an exempt reason. For example, if sharing the vehicle is reasonably necessary as part of a your work, then we will not refuse to carry you.

Clients must adhere to social contact rules when travelling with us, including only gathering to travel in groups of no more than 6, or 2 households, aside from the driver, unless they are travelling for a reason that is exempt.

This guidance will be followed even if you or us have been vaccinated. We could still spread COVID-19 to others.

This guidance only applies in England.

Carrying out a COVID-19 risk assessment

• Cornwall Assist will conduct a risk assessment to understand any risks and what we can do about them. We will consider how we work and ways we can protect you, family and our staff.

• Regular testing will be part of our risk assessment and will follow the guidance regarding testing.

• All our staff have been vaccinated, receiving both the first and second injections.

Clients using our vehicles

• Before a client enters our vehicle, we will ask if they have:

  • Coronavirus symptoms – a fever, new cough or loss of smell or taste

  • Had a positive coronavirus test in the last 10 days

• We will refuse the service if they have.

• We will wash or sanitise our hands if we come into contact with a client or their luggage. We will do this before and after contact.

• We will provide support to our clients with disabilities to safely enter and exit our vehicle. We will assist our clients with disabilities with their luggage and mobility equipment.

• Our staff will show their face while socially distancing so that clients can identify us as their driver.

In the vehicle

• Clients must wear a face covering in our vehicle, unless they are exempt. We can refuse to take a client if they are not wearing a face covering and they are not exempt. Clients do not have to provide proof that they are exempt.

• All our staff will wear a face covering

• We may need to remove our face covering in order to communicate with clients who are deaf or hard of hearing.

• We will ask clients to sit as far from our drivers as possible or put a mark where we would like them to sit. Where possible clients should not sit in the front of the vehicle.

• We will open windows when carrying clients and/or use the car’s vents to bring in fresh air from outside. We will not use the recirculated air option for the car’s ventilation system when carrying clients.

End of journey – leaving the vehicle

• Contactless payment will be our preferred method of payment where possible and if not already paid for our service in advance.

• If not, we will wash our hands with soap and water or sanitiser after handling money.

• We will remind clients to wash or sanitise their hands after the journey.

Preparing our vehicle for the next client

When a person infected with COVID-19 coughs, talks or breathes, they release droplets and aerosols which can be breathed in by another person. While larger droplets fall quickly to the ground, smaller droplets and aerosols containing the virus that causes COVID-19 can remain suspended in the air for some time indoors, especially if there is no ventilation.

Ventilation is the process of replacing this shared air with fresh air from the outside. The more ventilated an area is, the more fresh air there is to breathe, and the less likely a person is to inhale infectious particles.

Surfaces and belongings can also be contaminated with COVID-19, when people who are infected cough or sneeze near them or if they touch them.

Between every journey we will:

• Clean those parts of our vehicles that we or clients may have touched, for example, door handles, payment devices, protective screens, buttons, seats

• Open doors / windows to ventilate the vehicle for 5 minutes

• Wash our hands for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitiser