Preparing for Level 3

21 April 2020

Risks of re-starting

After 5 weeks of lockdown, are there any risks when restarting? Key things to consider include:

Will you have the right people with the right skills to operate safely? Some workers may not be available to work and your rostering arrangements may mean people are not used to working with each other.
Will you need to clean/disinfectant workplaces before starting work?
Will machinery and tools require maintenance or re-certification?
What else needs to be done at work before you can safely recommence work?

Information for workers

You need to ensure your workers have access to information about keeping themselves well, including physical distancing and hygiene requirements. Don’t assume people will know what to do. Also ensure that extends to advice about how people are travelling to work – for example, two or more people sharing the same vehicle is not a good idea.

Discuss these issues regularly in team meetings; and don’t forget the need for regular communications with people working remotely.

Ensuring workers are well and able to work

It’s vital that workers who are unwell or suffering symptoms don’t come to work until they recover and have been tested and cleared to work. The symptoms are:

A new or worsening cough
A high temperature (at least 38°C)
Shortness of breath
Sore throat
Sneezing and runny nose
Temporary loss of smell.

It's important workers who may be feeling unwell don’t feel compelled to come to work simply for financial reasons. You need to create an environment where people will inform you if they feel unwell and stay at home. A key factor in creating that culture is your approach to protecting the earnings of people in that situation.

You should consider screening workers coming into work to ensure they are not presenting symptoms of COVID-19. The same applies to contractors. While conducting temperature checks may at first sound attractive, there are difficulties ranging from not being able to obtain suitable thermometers to having people able to use them accurately.

Ensuring workers remain safe at work?

People who can work from home must do so.

For people who can’t work from home you need to have risk controls in place. In most cases there will be significant changes to work arrangements. The primary controls are:

Supporting people with flu-like symptoms to stay home
Ensuring physical distancing
Disinfecting surfaces
Maintaining good hygiene, including hand hygiene and good cough/sneeze etiquette
Keeping records to facilitate contact tracing.

In your plan, you need to describe the following:

Which workers need to come into the workplace and why.
How to maintain physical distancing.
The process for cleaning surfaces.
The processes and practices to enable good hygiene, particularly washing hands.
How you will work with other businesses or people you interact with.
Arrangements for supply of essential equipment and products for cleaning and hygiene.
How to inform and train workers on new processes.
What PPE, if any, will be necessary and ensuring workers are trained to use it correctly.
How to engage with your remote workers to ensure they have the right equipment and support to work safely.

Note that for physical distancing, a one metre separation between people at work is the minimum and greater separation where it is reasonably practicable to do so; and two metres in uncontrolled environments, like in public. You should also consider:

Whether physical barriers between people are needed because of the nature of the work.
Whether you need revolving breaks or common protocols to ensure that physical separation is achieved in team meetings and meal rooms and other shared facilities.
Whether you need to make transport arrangements for workers travelling to and from work, to make their commute easier, reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, and to respond to any limited capacity on public transport due to physical distancing requirements.

It will take time for people to get used to the new processes so expect productivity to be below pre-COVID levels.

Dealing with suspected exposure

Despite all your best efforts, it’s possible someone may show symptoms consistent with COVID-19. There will be a time delay between symptoms developing, testing, and getting test results. Unless advised otherwise continue to operate, but your plan needs to ensure that:

Workers who are unwell with respiratory symptoms immediately go home, and call Healthline or their GP.
Workers with respiratory symptoms who have tested negative for COVID 19 are able to stay home until they’ve been symptom-free for 24 hours.
If a worker has tested positive you can provide clear information regarding the worker’s contacts at work. Wait for public health to contact you. They will provide advice about any further actions you are required to take.
The work area of the unwell worker is disinfected.
You have information about who was in contact with the worker from when he/she is suspected to have contracted COVID-19.
You have a system for keeping in contact with unwell workers and tracking their progress.

To identify people at work who have been in close proximity to someone suspected or confirmed as having COVID-19 you need a register. The minimum information you will need is:

Full name (not nickname)
Contact telephone number
Address
Reason for visit and duration.