Construction sites told to close

Workers continue to be put under “unnecessary and unacceptable pressure” by employers to continue to go to work, the First Minister said yesterday as she reiterated advice that only essential businesses and services should be open.

She said the government had set out “clear principles to help businesses navigate these difficult decisions”, but there were still some industries flouting the rules.

“Of course, there will be some exceptional, nuanced, or difficult cases,” she said. “So we are also establishing a central Scottish Government resource, and doing that urgently, to provide advice and direction to businesses on these cases.

“But fundamentally, most businesses should and will know whether they should be closed. And we are relying on them to be responsible at this time of emergency, and to act on the basis of the precautionary principle and put the health of their workers first.”

There has been confusion in the construction industry in particular, about whether building sites should close as the Scottish advice has been to shut, while Boris Johnson has said they could remain open as social distancing could be observed.

Vaughan Hart, managing director of the Scottish Building Federation, said there was now a “two-tiered system operating in Scotland, whereby some companies are following the UK advice and others are adhering to the advice of the Scottish Government.”

Ms Sturgeon said: “My advice is that construction sites should not be open unless working on essential sites like hospitals. I have to do what I think is right as First Minister of Scotland and I have a responsibility to be clear about health implications. We said we would look at guidance to allow construction sites to operate safely but we’re not in a position to do that, so they should not be operating.”