So, if you are a business owner and you will reopen your office in protected environment, then you’ve landed on the right page.
Whereas any return-to-work plan will adjust significantly from business-to-business, we consider, in light of the Philippine government’s latest guidance, the main work law and other practical matters that employers should take into account when reopening the workplace.
In specific, we will look at – the accountability of care that the manager owes to its people; how a manager can prepare its staff and the workplace for a return to work; and some useful guidelines for dealing the workplace as workers return.
In specific, we will look at – the accountability of care that the manager owes to its people; how a manager can prepare its staff and the workplace for a return to work; and some useful guidelines for dealing the workplace as workers return.

Preparing the Workforce and the Workplace

A substantial amount of procedure should be assumed before letting workforce to return to the workplace following the COVID-19 lockdown. However not all of these steps will be applicable for every employer, and certain businesses, such as those in the hospitality industry, are not yet able to open their doors to public, we have established out certain of the key thoughts for most industries as they plan to return.
Risk Assessments – The Secure Operational Support makes clear that businesses must undertake a risk assessment tackling COVID-19 issues in the workplace. Such evaluations will help to determine whether a return to the workplace is feasible in light of the employer’s duty of care and what is known about the risk. Where the outcomes of the risk assessments specify that a return to the workplace is feasible, these will also help to guide how and the range to which those risks can be moderated. The Safe Operational Support intensely boosts businesses to be open about the outcomes of their risk assessment and includes an probability that employers with over 50 employees will publicly share COVID-19 risk assessment results by publishing them online.

The analysis is an essential step before adopting the right risk mitigation measures and must include:

• Work association analysis;
• Identification of actions that can be executed with remote working;
• Identification of mobile paths for groups of workers;
• Classification of places;
• Analysis of the layout of the classified places;
• Identification of staff functioning externally;
• Review of transports used by workers;
• Subordinate risk analysis;
• Review of crisis plans and procedures.
• Review of crisis plans and procedures.
Employee Engagement: Engaging with the staff to acquire a return-to-work strategy will expected to lead to a well assessment of the risks as those undertaking the work are often best placed to recognize the potential dangers. In light of this, the Safe Operational Support requires that employers develop their COVID-19 risk assessment in meeting with workers. This will involve the selection of a health and safety representative by workers where there is not already such a representative selected by an acknowledged union.
While not officially part of an employer’s duty of care, transparency will allow employers to factor in respective employee concerns separately from health and safety issues
Data Protection: Any decision by employers to collect additional personal data with the intention of fulfilling their duty of care toward their employees must be made within the parameters of data protection law. The processing of sensitive personal data such as health information is subject to particularly stringent protections and the handling of such data to combat COVID-19.

How to reorganize office spaces

To assess the efficient dissemination of an office and ensure contamination risk prevention, you need to:
• Manage entry and exit routes: if possible, provide for a differentiation of the routes in order to avoid the intersection of movements and flows, the identification of multiple access points to the building, an automatic door closing and opening system , removal of of turnstiles and all the measures you believe may be useful to ensure interpersonal distancing of at least 1 meter and to avoid queues and gatherings;
• Set up an area for measuring body temperature: depending on the possibilities and space available, provide a special room or obtain a corner, possibly near the entrance, for measuring the temperature. You will need to arrange a table with measuring device, a pack of disposable gloves, a dispenser to sanitize hands and a pedal bin for waste collection;
• Arrange points for hand sanitization: near the entrance and common areas, provide areas where workers can sanitize their hands. Remember that the areas identified must not hinder paths and generate queues or gatherings;
• Review workstations organization: in open-plan offices or in the case of multiple desks in a single environment, you should make sure that workers are at least one meter away even when they are sitting at their workplace. You can also guarantee the proper spacing with a chessboard-style seating planning and reducing the number of people in the same area;
• Review the common areas layout: face-to-face meetings are to be avoided and should be replaced with teleconferences, etc. When this cannot be avoided, you must organize the space in order to ensure proper people distancing and adequate air exchange in the rooms. Whenever possible, it is best to avoid contact with door handles and common objects. Meeting rooms if not used for traditional purposes, can be set up as isolation rooms for potentially infected employees or to create additional safe work stations;
• Manage internal routes: you need to identify the most frequent internal routes that are used to reach common areas, workstations, bathrooms, canteen, etc. You can establish dedicated paths to ensure interpersonal distancing and any interference between the flows. You can also provide a routes plan to be displayed in visible places to workers;
• Organize pertinent spaces: Remember not to disregard the reorganization of the outdoor bays and parking areas pertaining to the office;
• Use protecting barriers: If you do not have the option to have spaces in the workstations, or as a further preventive measure, provide Plexiglas (or alike materials) protective barriers that can be easily disinfected;
• Ensure the running of air exchange systems: Make sure that in all the environments there is adequate air exchange, through natural or mechanical ventilation. If technically possible, it avoids the recirculation of air in the systems and the use of air-jet dryers that favor the dispersion of droplets and the circulation of air jets and provides for filters maintenance;
• Provide some space for the isolation of potentially infected people: Define, where possible, a place dedicated to the isolation and temporary hospitalization of people who experience the COVID-19 symptoms during work. You can also set up the space in rooms not used in this phase, such as meeting rooms, auditoriums, waiting rooms, etc.;
• Arrange a space for keeping personal items next to the office entrance. Remember that the space must be large enough to avoid close gathering of people and contact with objects belonging to different people and the furnishings must be easily washable and sanitized.

Maintaining Workplace Flexibility

Employers face significant challenges and considerable risks if the return to the workplace is not managed efficiently. The key to a positive outcome of return is putting in place procedures to ensure workplace safety and then effectively connecting those measures to employees who might be concerned about going back to work. The Safe Operational Support informs that it should be anticipated and employers should keep up to date with modifications as they are announced. Future updates are likely to require further changes to the workplace. Any measures should be conversed as transient and employers should be cautious about making long-standing assurances to employees about returning to work and any circumstances that might be involved to that return.