Welsh circuit break: how will it affect KBB retailers and installers?

The Welsh Government has announced a two-week ‘circuit break’ lockdown in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from 6pm on Friday, October 23.

Wales will close all non-essential retail businesses and all non-emergency building, repair and maintenance work in people’s homes has to stop. These measures will be in place until Monday, November 9.

On the Welsh Government website, it states that “all leisure and non-essential retail will be closed” and that “work carried out inside other people’s homes can only take place if it is urgent”.

Welsh guidance on the non-essential shops is: “All leisure and non-essential retail will be closed. This includes clothes shops, furniture shops and car dealerships among many others. A full list of types of business required to close will be available in our guidance on business closures. Shops allowed to remain open include supermarkets and other food retailers, pharmacies, banks and post offices.”

Exact guidance on what to do if an installation is in progress and stopping work suddenly will leave people without a kitchen or bathroom for a two-week period has not been set out. Kbbreview is seeking clarification on exactly how this will affect KBB retail showrooms and installations.

In response to the new rules, The British Institute of KBB Installation today sent out updated advice for its members.

It pointed to the guidance from the Welsh Government, which states that work that is urgent, or would be unsafe if left, can be completed. Tradespeople are allowed in a customer’s house to collect belongings, but this has to be done quickly.

The exact Welsh guidance on its circuit break FAQs on building, repair or maintenance question said: “Work carried out inside other people’s homes can only take place if it is urgent or to repair a fault which poses a direct risk to people’s safety – for example, emergency plumbing or carry out an adaptation to allow that household to remain in their property, or the property is vacant. Work should not be carried out at someone else’s house if the worker or any member of the household is self-isolating or showing Covid-19 symptoms, however mild.

“Like other businesses, people working in someone else’s home must take all reasonable measures to ensure to mitigate the risk of coronavirus spreading when working in other people’s households. Please see the guidance on reasonable measures and on working in other people’s homes for more information.”

“If attendance is unavoidable (because of an urgent or emergency situation), additional precautions should be taken to keep workers and householders completely separate from each other. In these cases, Public Health Wales can provide advice to tradespeople and households.”

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