Guidelines on Health & Safety Measures for Workplace in Context of Covid -19

COVID-19 is a public health emergency. Everyone needs to assess and manage the risks of COVID-19, and in particular organizations should consider the risks to their staffs and visitors. As APaD, we have legal responsibility to protect staffs and others from risk to their health and safety. This means we need to think about the risks they face and do everything reasonably practicable to minimize them, recognizing we cannot completely eliminate the risk of COVID-19.

I. Managing risk in the office

Objective: To reduce risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking preventative measures, in order of priority. In the context of COVID-19 this means protecting the health and safety of our staffs and visitors by working through these steps in order:

  • Ensuring both the staffs and visitors who feel unwell stay at home and do not attend the office premise.
  • Increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning in the workplace.
  • When in the workplace, everyone should make every reasonable effort to comply with the social distancing guidelines set out by the government of 1 Meter apart.
  • Keeping the activity time involved as short as possible.
  • Reducing the number of people each person has contact with. (So each person works with only a few others).
II. Social distancing for staffs

Objective: Ensuring workers maintain social distancing guidelines, wherever possible, including arriving at and departing from work, while in work and when travelling to the field.

  • One must maintain social distancing in the workplace wherever possible.
  • Further increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning
  • Keeping the activity time involved as short as possible.
  • Using screens or barriers to separate people from each other.
  • Using back-to-back or side-to-side working (rather than face to-face) whenever possible.
III. Managing your visitors and contractors.

Objective:

  • To minimize the number of unnecessary visits to offices.
  • Encouraging visits via remote connection/working where this is an option.
  • Limiting the number of visitors at any one time.
  • Limiting visitor times to a specific time window and restricting access to required visitors only. Limiting the number of visitors at any one time.
  • Determining if schedules for essential services and contractor visits can be revised to reduce interaction and overlap between people.
  • Maintaining a record of all visitors, if this is practical.
  • Encouraging visitors to use hand sanitizer or handwashing facilities as they enter the office premises.
  • Revisiting visitor arrangements to ensure social distancing and hygiene, for example, where someone physically signs in with the same pen in receptions.
IV. Cleaning the workplace

Objective: 

  • To keep the workplace clean and prevent transmission by touching contaminated surfaces.
  • Frequent cleaning of work areas and equipment between uses, using your usual cleaning products.
  • Frequent cleaning of objects and surfaces that are touched regularly including door handles and keyboards, and making sure there are adequate disposal arrangements for cleaning products.
  • Clearing workspaces and removing waste and belongings from the work area at the end of the day.
  • Limiting or restricting use of high-touch items and equipment, for example, printers or whiteboards.
V. Hygiene – handwashing, sanitation facilities and toilets.

Objective:

  • To help everyone keep good hygiene through the working day
  • Using signs and posters to build awareness of good handwashing technique, the need to increase handwashing frequency, avoid touching your face and to cough or sneeze into a tissue which is binned safely, or into your arm if a tissue is not available.
  • Providing regular reminders and signage to maintain personal hygiene standards.
  • Providing hand sanitizer in multiple locations in addition to washrooms.
  • Setting clear use and cleaning guidance for toilets to ensure they are kept clean and social distancing is achieved as much as possible.
  • Enhancing cleaning for busy areas.
  • Providing more waste facilities and more frequent rubbish collection.
  • Providing hand drying facilities – either paper towels or electrical dryers.
  • Keeping the facilities well ventilated, for example by fixing doors open where appropriate.