admin
New Delhi, June 26, 2020 :
Employers, workers, and their organizations should collaborate with health authorities to prevent and control COVID-19. Cooperation between management and workers and their representatives is essential for workplace‐related prevention measures. International labour standards on the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers in occupational safety and health should be fully respected.
Employers, in consultation with workers and their representatives, should plan and implement measures to prevent and mitigate COVID-19 at the workplace through engineering and administrative controls, and provide personal protective equipment and clothing according to the risk assessment. Such measures should not involve any expenditure on the part of the workers.
Special measures are needed to protect workers at higher risk of developing severe disease, such as those age 60 and over, or with underlying medical conditions, upon recommendation of the occupational health services. Workers in the informal economy and digital labour platforms, those in small enterprises, domestic and migrant workers should not be left behind in the protection of their health and safety at work and their livelihood.
There should be no social stigma or discrimination at the workplace for any reason, including access to information and protection from COVID-19, occupational health services and mental health and psychosocial support.
If COVID-19 is contracted through occupational exposure, it could be considered an occupational disease and, if so determined, should be reported and compensated according to the international labour standards and the national schemes for employment injury benefits.
Workers are responsible to follow the measures for occupational safety and health and infection prevention and control established for their workplace, and to participate in training provided by the employer. Workers should report to their supervisor any situation which may present an imminent and serious danger to their life or health. Workers have the right to remove themselves from any work situation that they have reasonable justification to believe presents an imminent and serious danger to their life or health, and should be protected from any undue consequences as a result of exercising this right.
Workplaces should develop action plans to prevent and mitigate COVID-19 as part of the business continuity plan and according to the results of the risk assessments and the epidemiological situation.
The action plan and preventive measures should be regularly monitored and updated. Workers and their representatives should be consulted and should participate in the development, monitoring and updating of the workplace COVID-19. It is very important to monitor the effectiveness of preventive measures, and the compliance of workers, visitors, customers, clients and sub-contractors with the measures. The plans should be updated when someone with known or suspected COVID-19 is at the workplace.
The return to work premises should be carefully planned ahead, with preventive measures put in place according to the risk assessment of the different jobs and work tasks. All possible risks for safety and health should be assessed, such as risks resulting from reduced maintenance of machines and facilities during the closure period. If a return to work is rushed and not done in a phased and cautious manner, it puts lives at risk, and threatens to undermine efforts to restore social and economic activity.
Temperature screening cannot detect all cases of COVID-19, since infected individuals may not have fever early in the course of infection or illness, such as during the incubation period or just before other symptoms begin, even though they may already be infectious. Some people may reduce fever with a fever-reducing medication if they are concerned about the possible consequences of not coming to work. Relying on temperature screening alone will not stop the spread of COVID-19 at work.
Thermal screening at the workplace can be considered part of a package of measures to prevent and control COVID-19 at the workplace. Workers should be encouraged to self-monitor their health, possibly with the use of questionnaires, and take their own temperature regularly at home. Workplaces should adopt “stay at home if unwell” and flexible sick leave policies to discourage workers with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 from coming to the workplaces.
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