Because we have been bombarded with requests for advice on the issue of COVID-19 over the past two weeks, and because there are still people in the market who do not understand what COVID-19 has to do with occupational health and safety (OHS), we have decided to provide a material to help companies.
In this context, employers must communicate more with employees, so that we do not end up in panic situations and ensure business continuity. OHS specialists are obliged to constantly monitor the biological risk and update the preventive measures according to the evolution of the events.
As a matter of urgency, you must initiate the biohazard reassessment and review the prevention and protection plan. We detail below some suggestions of measures to update the prevention plan, to reduce the risk of infection or for the cases: an employee infected with COVID-19 within the company or the closing of schools.
Please complete this list with other measures your company is taking, and if you use this list to update your prevention and protection plan, make sure it is implemented. Any such measure in the prevention and protection plan that is not implemented creates risks of legal liability for the company's management.
1. If a case of infection with COVID-19 is identified within the company, DSP is announced who will recommend the products to be used to disinfect the premises. All personnel who came into contact with the person diagnosed with COVID-19 enter self-isolation at home if they do not show symptoms. If they show symptoms, they will contact 112 to be transported with the isolette to the location where the quarantine is carried out.
2. Given that schools are closing, telework must be used for jobs that do not require physical presence in the office. With the exception of single-parent families, it can be negotiated so that the presence is one day remote, one day at the office (for functions that require physical presence at the office). I have also attached HERE the decision of the emergency situation committee, adopted in yesterday's meeting.
3. To reduce the risk of illness generated by transport from home to work and back:
- Using the telecommuting option;
- Using the flexible time option to limit the exposure to the risk of illness generated by crowds of people on public transport during peak hours;
- Using, as much as possible, the option of traveling to the workplace together with other colleagues, using personal/company cars (car sharing).
4. To reduce the risk of illness at work:
- Limiting, as much as possible, the meetings (internal/external), as well as the number of people participating in the meetings;
- Avoiding direct physical contacts (e.g. handshaking) with colleagues as well as with external customers;
- Communicating hygiene rules to all employees (below you have a draft of an informational email regarding prevention rules and those regarding the COVID situation);
- Immediate notification of the direct manager and mandatory entry into telework starting from the first signs of a cold that the employee notices;
The return to work of employees who have entered self-isolation or who have come out of quarantine will only be done with the "fit" opinion from the occupational medicine doctor. Obviously, the measures communicated by the authorities remain valid.
Internal communication email template proposal:
Hello/Hello...
Since we are in a period where we are confronted daily in our activities/interactions with the subject of "Coronavirus" (COVID-19), we would like to make the following clarifications:
In Romania, the official sources regarding information about "Coronavirus" are:
- Public Health - http://www.cnscbt.ro/index.php/info-medical
- Ministry of Health - http://www.ms.ro/coronavirus-covid-19/
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs – for trips abroad – http://www.mae.ro/node/51759
- World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
It is important both for ourselves and our colleagues that we ONLY turn to information from official sources. The sources listed above provide information on prevention, what to do if we are infected with COVID, and information for those traveling abroad.
Also, at the current moment in the country we are facing a worrying statistic regarding the seasonal flu epidemic (A/B type flu), since according to official statistics 58 deaths were recorded due to the flu virus, and at the national level the total number of cases of infection with the influenza virus is 165,000 people.
The link below provides information on how we can protect ourselves from the seasonal virus: http://www.cnscbt.ro/index.php/informatii-utile/618-gripa-si-vaccinarea-antigripala-informatii-utile/file
Involve the occupational health and safety professionals you work with, whether you have internal employees or contractors, in everything that means preventing infection with COVID-19, because they can help you develop policies and measures for prevention and business.
