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Legislative summary - Mandatory measures for employers during alert period

18 MAI 2020
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Mandatory measures for employers during the alert period

Order no. 3577/831/2020 on measures to prevent contamination with the new coronavirus SARSCoV-2 and to ensure the performance of work at work in conditions of safety and health at work, during the alert state (Official Gazette no. 403/16.05.2020) - The normative act enters into force starting with 16.05.2020; 
 
The main measures that employers must take during the alert period: 
 
  • Retrain in the field of occupational safety and health all workers who stayed at home during the state of emergency, technical unemployment, telework, work at home, etc. The retraining must be adapted to the new risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection and will take place during the normal working hours of the workers;
  • The representatives of the workers with specific responsibilities in the field of occupational safety and health have the right to training corresponding to the new risk represented by the SARS-CoV-2 infection; 
  • Establish the activities that can be continued and/or adapted, depending on their specificity and available resources, and implement the necessary measures to resume and/or maintain the activity, provided compliance with measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including carrying out the activity of telework or work at home - which can remain a priority;
  • Identifies the risks specific to the conditions of epidemiological contamination and updates the risk assessment document for the safety and health of employees to the new conditions of activity, in order to take the necessary measures to combat the spread of SARS-CoV-2;
  • Establish consultations with the representatives of the employees with specific responsibilities in the field of occupational safety and health and, as the case may be, with the members of the Occupational Safety and Health Committee;
  • Displays at the entrance and in the most visible places in the unit the rules of compulsory conduct for employees and for all persons entering the space organized by the employer, regarding the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus diseases;
  • Inform employees, preferably by electronic means, about the risks of infection and spread of the virus, about the protection measures and social distancing rules that apply within the unit, as well as about the rules for managing situations in the unit. that employees or others who have access to the workplace experience symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 coronavir infection;
  • Inform employees of universally valid precautions:
    • Maintaining a social distance of at least 1.5 meters in all public areas;
    • Maintaining rigorous hand hygiene, with soap and water, for at least 20 seconds or with approved disinfectants, whenever necessary;
    • Avoiding touching the face with unwashed / disinfected hands; 
    • Maintaining respiratory hygiene: coughing and / or sneezing (in the elbow or in a disposable napkin), rhinorrhea (in a disposable napkin). After use, the disposable napkin will be thrown in the waste collection container and hand hygiene will be performed immediately;
    • Limiting contact with other people to a maximum of 15 minutes, at a distance of at least 1.5 m; 
  • Can provide specific individual protective equipment against the spread of SARS CoV-2 coronavirus (protective mask, gloves) by consulting with the person in charge of occupational safety and health, depending on the specifics of the activity;
  • Ensures that in the employer's premises the external suppliers, external companies, subcontractors, the persons entering the premises / the public / the beneficiaries of the services provided / the clients respect the protection measures established by him;
  • Ensures permanent communication with the doctor / occupational medicine service in order to monitor the health status of employees, so that they can benefit from the prophylactic preventive measures that have been provided at national level to combat the spread of SARS CoV-2 coronavirus;
  • Can individualize the work schedule of employees (especially employees from vulnerable groups) who work indoors, so as to reduce, as much as possible, depending on the nature and specifics of the activities carried out, direct contact between them, without affects the duration of the normal working hours;
  • Can individualize the work schedule of employees so that between them to ensure the existence of an interval of at least one hour at the beginning and end of the work schedule, during at least three hours, in tranches of at least 20% of staff, without affect the duration of the normal working hours, in the case of employers with more than 50 employees working in the same workspace. The measure also covers workplaces with more than 50 employees, regardless of whether the employees belong to different employers, without affecting the duration of the normal working hours;
  • Ensures special corridors of access to the premises and traffic for employees, in order to avoid congestion at work;
  • Limits the access to the common areas and ensures the observance of the norms of social distancing in these areas;
  • Establish rules for avoiding accidental situations of formation of spontaneous and insecure groups of people inside the institution;
  • Appoints a person responsible for checking the temperature of all persons entering the unit / institution;
  • Ensures the observational triage of the employees by checking their temperature at the beginning of the work schedule and whenever it is necessary during the program;
  • Places dispensers with disinfectant at the entrance to the unit, as well as in each sector of the workplace;
  • Prohibit the access to the unit of persons who show symptoms of SARS CoV-2 coronavirus infection;
  • Interrupt any contact between the employer / employee / other persons inside the unit with a symptomatic person;
  • Apply the recommended distance marking strips (1.5 meters) in the workplaces where the public works, for the people waiting in line to enter the premises, recommending, as far as the weather conditions allow, that the people waiting in turn to stay outside the building, also at a distance of at least 1.5 m;
  • Order the ventilation of the offices at least once a day;
  • Disinfects the railings, door and window handles in the unit, as well as other intensively used areas (at least once a week and as many times as necessary); 
  • Disinfects at least once a week and whenever necessary the common spaces and work spaces with substances approved to combat SARS CoV-2;
  • Can create spaces specially designed for employees belonging to vulnerable groups (people with chronic diseases, people over 65 years);
  • Ensures the granting of staggered lunch breaks, respecting the distance of at least 1.5 meters between workers;
  • Avoids the use of the air conditioning system or, if it is necessary to use it, ensures the nebulization and disinfection of the air conditioning system according to the manufacturer's instructions, outside the working hours;
  • Provides permanently, to the bathrooms, locker rooms and dining rooms, soap and hand sanitizer and installs posters with the correct way of washing hands;
  • Arranges the workspace so that the physical distance between employees can be maintained, by establishing a fixed number of people who can work in the same room. Employers may install, where possible, plastic dividers between offices, as far as offices are concerned;
  • Limits travel outside the workplace only to situations where it is strictly necessary to carry out the activity and ensures that, when it is necessary to do so, employees travel with the provision of minimum conditions of prevention;
  • It is ensured that the circulation of documents in the institution/company is mainly done by electronic means;
  • Review the prevention and protection plan, according to the mentioned provisions;
  • Review their own occupational safety and health instructions, according to the mentioned provisions and bring them to the notice of the employees. 
If an employee is suspected / confirmed to be infected with SARS CoV-2 coronavirus, the following measures must be taken:
  • Employees with respiratory symptoms (cough, sneezing, rhinorrhea, etc.) and / or fever higher than 37.3 C ° and / or altered general condition, which appeared during the work schedule, will be immediately isolated from the rest of the colleagues and sent to domicile or at health units, depending on the person's condition; in the vast majority of cases it is not necessary to close the offices / building;
  • If the time interval in which the employee / suspect / confirmed person was on the premises is shorter than 7 days:
    • All rooms in which he spent a long time (over 20 minutes) are closed; 
    • Before the end of the program, the mechanical ventilation of the room will be ensured (opening the windows);
    • In order to limit the exposure of cleaners to respiratory particles, clean-up and disinfection shall be postponed for 24 hours. If it is not possible to observe this interval, the cleaning will be postponed as long as possible;
  • If more than 7 days have passed since the employee / suspect / confirmed person was on the premises:
    • No additional cleaning / disinfection is needed;
    • Routine cleaning and disinfection measures are maintained;
  • Inform the persons with whom the employee / suspect / confirmed person came in prolonged contact (more than 20 minutes, at a distance of less than 1.5 m and without mask) and it is necessary to isolate them at home for 14 days, with these people monitoring the signs and symptoms of a respiratory infection. 
Normative acts that regulate specific protection measures in different fields of activity

Order no. 828/2020 on the measures for organizing and carrying out the activity at the level of dental offices and at the level of non-COVID health units, during the alert state (Official Gazette no. 401 / 15.05.2020) - contains a series of measures to be taken within dental offices, including regarding the limitation of contact with the patient. 

Order no. 826/2020 on measures to prevent contamination with the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and to ensure the development of activity in places of worship during the alert state (Official Gazette no. 401 / 15.05.2020).

Order no. 829/2020 on measures to prevent contamination with the new SARS-CoV-2 virus and to ensure the development of activities in conditions of health safety in the field of transport, during the alert state (Official Gazette no. 404/16.05.2020) - refers to measures both for air carriers and for road and rail transport or those carrying out metro transport activities. 

Order no. 2855/2020 on measures to prevent contamination with the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and to ensure the development of activities in health safety in the field of culture (Official Gazzete no. 404 / 16.05.2020) - refers to measures to be taken for activities in in the field of culture, including public access to events. 

Order no. 565/2020 for the approval of the Regulation on the conditions necessary to be observed in order to resume sports training in training camps, as well as the Regulation on the conditions necessary to be observed in order to resume training in the case of individual outdoor sports (Official Gazette no. 404 / 05.16.2020).

Order no. 4259/2020 for establishing measures to prevent and combat SARS-CoV-2 diseases in educational units / institutions, public institutions and all structures under the subordination or coordination of the Ministry of Education and Research (Official Gazette no. 405 / 16.05.2020).

Order no. 1731/832/2020 on measures to prevent contamination with the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and to ensure the development of activities in health safety conditions in the field of economy, during the alert state (Official Gazette no. 406 / 16.05.2020) - refers to measures to be taken in the context of activities such as personal care, in specially designed spaces, those carried out in offices with common spaces, in an open system (of the "open space" type) or those of accommodation, in tourism.