Health and Safety is a UCU and UCU CCCU priority.
Currently meetings and discussions across the University are engaging important aspects of planning for the 20/21 Academic Year and for Semester One.
The following is an update regarding Health and Safety in these contexts.
No UCU CCCU member or member of staff should return to face to face on site teaching or to any campus site until they feel safe and have received and agreed a risk assessment appropriate to their specific tasks and location.
The above is the responsibility of the University
UCU CCCU will support individual members and staff groups in this process.
CCCU UCU has been active in informing, working with, and where necessary challenging management to ensure that any return to campus is managed in a way that considers the health, safety, risks and hazards to all employees. There is a wealth of information available on Staff Net under FAQ’s on the current situation as the university prepares for a partial re-opening. However you may like to know where CCCU UCU are in relation to the ongoing discussion regarding some of the more central aspects of this .
As such the following have now been discussed.
- Guidance regarding safe distancing is at this point in time an ongoing issue at CCCU. UCU’s and the T.U.C’s national position is that a distance on no less than 2mt should be adhered to at all times, and that 1.3 mt (to achieve 1m around a person) in many situations is insufficient. The issue of going to 1.3mt with mitigations on Campus (called 1m+ by the government) and particularly within a classroom environment has been discussed but at the time of writing not agreed by CCCU UCU, however this may change over the short term as additional measures are considered.
- Risk assessment principles and practice for on-site working have now been drafted and made available. These have been based on the Government’s ‘ Working safely during Coronavirus‘ guidance. The CCCU-wide COVID-19 H&S guidance and risk assessment were updated and approved by Project 20/21 on the 18th June and published here – https://cccu.canterbury.ac.uk/Project-20-21/health-and-safety.aspx
- Note: Before any employee returns to work on campus
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- an individual risk assessment will need to be completed and copied to the employee’s line manager. The individual risk assessment is available from here – https://cccu.canterbury.ac.uk/Project-20-21/Returning-staff-to-campuses-and-buildings.aspx
- each employee will need to complete the Return to Campus : Staff reorientation training (available online from early August onwards; until then by invitation through your line manager)
- Each building will have a specific Social Distancing Plan that details measures put in place and specific to that building (in line with the CCCU COVID-19 risk assessment)
- and employees are within their rights to ask to see these social distancing plans. Details of where these will be published are awaited
- There is further info on ‘As a staff member, what do I have to do now?’ and on ‘As manager what do I have to do now?’ from the following webpage https://cccu.canterbury.ac.uk/health-and-safety/return-to-campus.aspx
Best Wishes,
Bryan Hawkins Chair UCU CCCU
Chris Biela Health and Safety Officer UCU CCCU