Covid-19 in France: Pool and garden help
Reader question: Can we ask our pool maintenance man to come and get our pool running?
Whether people can continue employed work in clients’ private gardens has been a grey area since the beginning of the confinement period but it would seem now that this type of work can go ahead as long as the coronavirus health recommendations are respected.
The government wants to get people back to work wherever possible.
On its information website it says that people can continue to work in sectors which do not bring large numbers of the public together such as restaurants, cinema, trade fairs, etc.
Jobs that are essential to the public, such as food shop and pharmacy, also continue. There are lists clearly stating what is and what is not permitted in these sectors.
It clearly states that "Other economic activities are not subject to any restriction."
They should be carried out by distance working from home wherever possible. If not people can work as long as the health recommendations are respected. They include washing hands, coughing or sneezing into an elbow, throwing away paper tissues, keeping a distance of one metre between colleagues and clients.
This would indicate that an independent pool worker could come and clean your pool, or a gardener could work for you outside as long as you had no contact with them and they were able to disinfect tools.
The Unep federation represents 29,550 landscape gardening businesses, with between them more than 97,000 employees. The first advice given to members following the beginning of the confinement period was for businesses to stop work, and their President Laurent Bizot wrote to the Prime Minister asking for clarification.
Now, their communications officer has told Connexion the government is encouraging people to get back to work so the Unep recommends to start working again as long as measures are taken for employees to work in a safe environment.
This includes having only one person in a van at a time, limiting the number of journeys and using disinfectants, on top of the basic health recommendations. The Unep federation said working outside was possible as long as measures had been put into place to stop the potential spread of infection.
