New recruits for beach safety to support Cleethorpes resort amid COVID-19

The beach safety team in Cleethorpes has welcomed four new recruits in a bid to keep the resort as safe as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A key part of the COVID-19 Outbreak Control Plan produced by North East Lincolnshire Council and Public Health refers to the prevention of local outbreaks in high-risk places, locations and communities in the borough.

It has already been recognised that areas such as our town centres and Cleethorpes resort will be high risk due to the volume of people that can gather there. Because of this, the need for some stewarding support has been agreed.

As well as the four new recruits at beach safety who have already started their duties, the council is looking to appoint a further number of generic roles for a COVID-19 Prevention Assistant, commencing as soon as possible to support in the named high footfall areas.

The role will include the following:

• Act as a steward offering advice and support to members of the public and local businesses in locations where there are high volumes of people, predominantly Cleethorpes and Grimsby town centres, particularly at weekends. In particular, to ensure that people and businesses are adhering to guidance around social distancing, hand hygiene etc.
• Provide additional support to the council’s environmental services team by providing advice and guidance to businesses identified as being at a high risk of COVID-19 to help them avoid such outbreaks. This might include regular telephone contacts or visits to the businesses.
• Undertake training in basic contact tracing principles to be able to support contact tracing in the event of any large or complex outbreaks in North East Lincolnshire (or possibly the Humber as part of mutual aid arrangements with neighbouring councils).
• Assist vulnerable people who have been advised to self-isolate to access support through the voluntary sector.
• Carry out some basic cleaning and support tasks in the public realm to support COVID-19 precautions such as re-stocking hand sanitisers, sanitising high frequency touch points, litter picking and replacing public information posters.
• To provide basic level regulatory duties, adequate with skills, experience and training.
• Assist with collection of business ownership details to ensure the database of businesses is accurate and contact can be made quickly if required.
• To act as eyes and ears for other regulatory and place-based matters and report into the relevant team across the council or respond as directed, such as environmental crime and Trading Standards matters.

Councillor Stewart Swinburn, portfolio environment and transport at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “It’s very clear that this virus will be around for some time and we need to act on this and make sure that we are taking all the necessary steps to make North East Lincolnshire as safe as possible for both residents and visitors.

“We need to do all we can to prevent any local outbreaks, especially in high-risk places, locations and communities and this includes high footfall areas such as Grimsby town centre and the resort of Cleethorpes.

“I’m pleased the council has been able to appoint new, temporary Prevention Assistants to support beach safety over the coming months and that the council will continue to look at appointing even more recruits in the near future.”