THE Mail’s readers have come out to say that more businesses should follow Sellafield's suit, after it made the decision to request the majority of its staff work from home.

Joanna Brady said: “There are a lot of firms in Barrow which should be doing this, they are not essential, not front line.

“Any employer who is not shutting down (and it’s that we should take on the chin not the virus) is not an employer who values their staff.

“You don’t need to wait for it to be enforced, the PM doesn’t need to tell you what is morally right by your employees, you know it’s coming use your head.”

Mark Casson said: “As thousands of Furness people walk into work again tomorrow. I ask the question is Furness General Hospital going to be big enough or will a large section of our community end up in temporary beds in the empty school halls?”

Nerissa Nicholas said: “Now we need other employers to do the same and act responsibly!”

Trudy Harrison, MP for Copeland, said: “Sellafield Limited have absolutely taken the right steps and are following Government advice.

“CEO Martin Chown and the workforce are being responsible citizens, taking the health and wellbeing of our community seriously.

“They have also issued advice to their huge supply chain and fought to ensure basic pay for contractors will be maintained despite not being able to work.

“I know staff who are able will join the national effort to help get vital supplies to those who can not leave their homes too.

“We are pulling together as a community and we will support each other.”

In a statement, Mark Neate, director of environment, safety and security with Sellafield Ltd, told employees: “We will minimise attendance at all of our sites and wherever possible everyone should continue (or start) working from home.

“We will maximise social distancing and the support we can provide to our community.

“We will continuously review our decisions and communicate these to you as quickly as we possibly can.

“We will continue to implement government advice – in some cases we will go further to protect the long-term safety and security of our site.”

He said Sellafield’s focus is on making sure its staff and communities are safe and that nuclear safety is never compromised.