On 24 February 2022, the government lifted all remaining restrictions on coronavirus in England and released the Living with COVID-19 Plan. This plan will treat COVID-19 as other infectious diseases, with vaccines remaining the first line and public health advice supporting it.
What does this mean for our waterways?
While the national situation may be changing, our priorities will not. We will continue focusing on everyone’s health, safety, and well-being; maintain our operations and incident resistance; and aim for a safe and better organisation to emerge from the pandemic.
We will continue to make sure that all of our workplaces and sites are safe. We have been reviewing the best way to operate them and how to configure them according to the latest government guidelines.
Everyone is encouraged to keep following the public health advice to protect their own health: wash your hands, let fresh air in when you meet indoors, and wear a face cover in enclosed and crowded spaces where you come in contact with people you don’t normally get to know.
Boating activities on waterways should be done in accordance with government guidelines. You can check GOV.UK for more information.
This is our service
Our main focus was to keep the public and staff safe throughout the pandemic. This has not changed. We will continue to prioritize everyone’s health, safety, and wellbeing.
Additional risk control measures have been implemented by our customers and staff to allow them to carry out their activities without having to come into direct contact with the public. Site-specific risk assessments have led us to believe that we will continue to implement some of these controls at some of the sites.
As many of our waterways users will know, these control procedures have enabled our sites and our support for safe access to our waterways to remain operational.
Please note that the availability of staff for assisted passage through locks, particularly on the River Thames may be affected by Covid case number changes among our teams.
The following websites are useful for keeping up to date on local information:
Our guidance will only be updated if government advice changes substantially. You can check the Environment Agency waterways Coronavirus (Covid-19), update page for the most recent information.
