Covid-19 Policy

Introduction
During the Covid-19 situation, ShipSmart™ will need to ensure that we are meeting our duty of care to our staff, volunteers, visitors, and service users.

During this time, ShipSmart™ aims to:

• Encourage staff and volunteers to carry on as normal, if they are well
• Take additional precautions to protect them from exposure to infections
• Lessen the risk of spreading the virus to others

We also aim to:

• Keep core business, activities, and services going where it is practical to do so
• Operate within our usual policies, procedures, and guidance
• Recognize that we may need to be temporarily flexible with our normal policies and procedures to help staff and volunteers manage during the Covid-19 situation

Additional Hygiene
This is where you say what you will do in addition to your normal cleaning and hygiene routines. Staff will be reminded and encouraged to follow Public Health England (PHE) general precautions:

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze: catch it, bin it, kill it!
• Put used tissues in the bin straight away
• Wash your hands with soap and water often – use hand sanitizer gel if soap and water are not available.
• Try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces
• Do not touch your eyes, nose, or mouth if your hands are not clean

Action by Management
State what your organization will provide and do to contribute to safe hygiene. This should cover:

• How you will clean your office and/or any other venues you deliver from, e.g.
• What additional cleaning measures you will take
• Handwashing facilities and guidance
• Provision of soap, sanitizer, tissues, bins, etc.
• Cleaning of contact points like handles, keyboards, phones, switches, desks
• Encouraging staff to clean their own work areas as well (provide antibacterial wipes)
• Emptying of waste bins daily

Visitors to our office/premises/site/building [amend as appropriate]
Your guidance should cover how you will keep staff and visitors safe from infection –what actions or changes you will make.
The following text MUST be amended appropriately to reflect what YOUR organization is actually going to do. We have provided the following as examples to help you think through the situation:

• In public-facing areas, ShipSmart™’s will provide antibacterial sanitizer, disposable tissues, and covered bins for public use
• Notices will be posted to encourage the public to use these items
• Where possible some separation between staff and the public will be encouraged, e.g. by use of physical barriers.
• We may have to ask visitors not to come to our office and to cancel events or meetings during the Covid-19 situation, except where it is absolutely necessary

Where visitors do need to visit ShipSmart™’s office/site/venue, visitors will be:
• Asked if they have any symptoms before being allowed into ShipSmart™’s premises and if they do they will be refused entry
• Asked to sanitize their hands before entering ShipSmart™’s premises
• Visitors will be restricted to meeting rooms where at all possible
• We will use other ways to deliver our activities and services wherever possible and appropriate, e.g. use of the website, video conferencing, email

Face to face meetings

Travel should be avoided unless absolutely essential, especially if the journey requires using public transport.
Face-to-face meetings should be avoided wherever possible. Use of telephone/video conferencing / email facilities will be encouraged.
Where face-to-face meetings are unavoidable, ShipSmart™ designated meeting rooms should be used which will have sanitiser pumps /tissues/waste bins provided and will be cleaned daily. [adapt to suit your organization; you may not have separate meeting rooms available]

Staff who may be at risk
Some staff may be more at risk of developing Covid-19 related health complications. For example:

• Pregnant workers
• Those with a compromised immune system

Recognizing symptoms
Government guidance on Covid-19 tells you the most significant symptoms to look out for:

• Persistent cough
• Difficulty in breathing
• Fever

ShipSmart™ will ensure staff can spot these symptoms and know what to do.

In the Workplace
If an employee feels ill with symptoms that match Covid-19, they should stop working and do the following:

• Keep at least 6 feet away from other people, where possible on their own in a closed room, with the window open
• Follow the personal hygiene guidance (cover coughs with tissues or sleeve and bin tissues) and avoid touching anything
• Use their own mobile to access the Bahamas mobile coronavirus service 
• Use their own mobile to inform their line manager or another manager to say they are ill and are currently self-isolating at work