On 11 June 2020, TIGA, the trade association representing the video games industry, wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, regarding the need for clear guidance for employees and businesses regarding safely returning to work.
For games businesses to be able to return to work, it would be useful for the Government to provide clear guidance, or a checklist, outlining what steps need to be taken to make workplaces COVID-19 safe. This should include guidance on PPE and protective equipment, social distancing, advice on communal areas and one-way systems.
It would be also helpful if the Government, in due course, could outline how they are going to support businesses returning to work in the long term. Many businesses have also expressed the desire for testing to be rolled out in a broader fashion, so that infections can be quickly detected in office environments.
Dr Richard Wilson OBE, CEO of TIGA, said:
“It is important that as games businesses begin to return to work in office environments, that clear guidance is provided by the Government which outlines the steps that need to be taken for workplace to be COVID-19 safe.
“As we begin to enter the ‘new normal’, clear and informed guidance would be welcomed by the video games industry, so that businesses and employees can prepare to re-enter the workplace and get back on their feet.”