Calls for clear coverings

With face coverings now mandatory on public transport and in shops across the UK, findings from the Business Disability Forum suggest that 90 per cent of businesses and organisations would recommend the use of transparent face coverings for their employees, customers and clients.

The Business Disability Forum is a not for profit membership organisation that exists to create a disability-smart world by linking businesses, disabled people, and government. The Forum represents a huge cross section of business, with its members employing an estimated 20 per cent of the UK workforce.

The research was conducted in response to concerns raised by the National Deaf Children’s Society and the wider deaf community about the communication difficulties caused by standard opaque face masks and coverings. There are around 12 million people, who are deaf or living with a hearing loss in the UK, and almost all of them rely on visual clues, such as lip reading and facial expressions, to communicate.

The findings showed overwhelming support among businesses for transparent face coverings to be made more widely available. However, respondents also highlighted the need for the Government to take urgent action to officially approve the use of such face coverings. For health and safety reasons, many organisations felt unable to source and purchase transparent face coverings, without official guidance in place.

The Business Disability Forum is calling on the Government to:

• Update its face mask guidance for businesses and the general public to reflect the benefits for lip readers of the use of transparent face coverings.
• To approve the use of transparent face coverings for both PPE and non-PPE use.

Diane Lightfoot, CEO, Business Disability Forum said: ‘Cloth face coverings are creating a significant communication barrier for lip readers and for the huge number of people who may be unaware that they rely on lip reading to support their hearing.’

Susan Daniels OBE, chief executive of the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: ‘As opaque masks and coverings become widespread, deaf people like me are already facing a daily battle to understand what others are saying. Whether we’re in cafes and restaurants, out shopping, taking public transport or socialising with friends, conversations are much more difficult because we can’t see someone’s face to lipread.’

Contract performance manager and network lead for our Disability steering group, Suzanna Bailey, said: ‘Face coverings will continue to create challenges for colleagues, and as an inclusive business and a member of the Business Disability Forum, it’s important that we ensure we do everything we can to support our people.

‘I know I have personally found face coverings challenging, not just through wearing one, but being able to see and read people’s facial expressions and hear them properly. So, I can completely understand why it must be far more challenging for our hard of hearing/deaf colleagues when out and about on their duties. Let’s not also forget the impact on our customers.’  

As a business, we understand that the use of transparent face coverings can be very useful in various scenarios where it’s helpful to be able to see someone’s facial expressions. Where colleagues would like to wear a transparent face covering, these can be purchased locally and claimed back via T&S (travel and subsistence). Any transparent face covering must meet basic safety requirements.

Supporting our people

Call our internal disability helpline on 0800 028 6142 for advice if you are a disabled employee or manager looking for support with organising reasonable adjustments.

If you have any disability-related questions or you would just like need to reach out, don’t forget, you can contact us at disabilitysteeringgroup@royalmail.com.

In addition, if you want to join the conversation, we also have a Facebook page. You just need to email us and let us know the email address you normally use to sign into Facebook. You’ll then be sent an invitation to join.