Barry Stanton, head of employment at Boyes Turner explores the impact of working with long covid in the construction industry, where absences could compound the existing skills shortage.

The Government has lifted the restrictions surrounding Covid-19 with further changes to take place on 1 April 2022. One might therefore consider that the impact of the pandemic is over. Given current sickness levels, this is not true. In particular, for those suffering from long covid the ordeal continues.

For many who have been vaccinated Covid symptoms have meant mild flu-like symptoms and for others, the outcome has been more severe, although generally a full recovery will have been made within 12 weeks. However, the long-term effects of Covid-19 can be many and varied, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, problems with memory and concentration, dizziness, depression and anxiety, tinnitus and a loss of taste or smell, to identify a few.

None of those symptoms is pleasant, but for many who are office-based, they do not pose significant issues for those working in the construction industry the impact of long-term Covid-19 can have serious implications. The disabling effect of long-covid will impact the ability of contractors to undertake projects. Typically, with colds and flu, one would expect a worker to return to work after one or two weeks. However, it is clear that for a significant number of people long-covid will prevent them from working for an extended period of time.

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