I would like to thank all of you for your extraordinary efforts over the past year to keep our workplace safe. With the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in BC, including increasing cases involving more easily transmitted COVID-19 variants, it is more important than ever for each and every one of us to follow required safety protocols when working on campus.
COVID-19 safety protocols
- Complete your daily self-assessment for symptoms of COVID-19 before coming to campus.
- Stay home if you are feeling unwell, and using the BC Self-Assessment Tool if symptoms present themselves or you come into contact with a person with COVID-19. Follow any instructions provided by Public Health authorities.
- Comply with our COVID-19 Building Safety Plans (maintain physical distancing, observing occupancy limits, wearing a mask at all times in buildings, following arrows marking the direction of flow, and following all other posted directives);
- Ensure we are washing our hands and wiping down areas before/after use; and
- Follow carpooling safety recommendations (Carpooling safety) including minimizing carpooling activities where possible.
- Those working remotely should continue to do so.
Contact tracing
If someone in the workplace tests positive for COVID-19, the public health authorities will undertake contact tracing. Public health authorities will identify and advise individuals who have come into high-risk contact with a person infected with COVID-19. Notifying close contacts of a COVID-19 case is something only the health authorities can do. It is not appropriate for the manager, or any other employee to share personal information about another employee to anyone.
If an individual chooses to share their personal information with a colleague, the colleague must keep the information confidential. Unless you are contacted by public health authorities as part of contact tracing or you have received guidance through the Health Link BC 811 line to self-isolate, it is okay for you to come to work. Note that when a COVID-19 case occurs in a workplace at UBC, steps are immediately taken to deep clean associated spaces.
Testing positive for Covid-19
Please notify your manager if you test positive with COVID-19, or are in close contact with someone who tests positive, and you are advised to self-isolate. Time off will come from your sick bank. If you are out of sick time, you may draw from other banks, seek approval to use vacation in lieu of sick, or you may go on unpaid leave.
There is a federal support fund called the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit for those who do not have sick time or other banks available and need to go on unpaid leave due to COVID-19. For more information please visit Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) webpage.
Expedited workplace closure order
Effective April 12, the new ‘Expedited workplace closure order’ was implemented by the Public Health Officer allowing WorkSafeBC inspectors to operate under the Public Health Act and help health officials manage workplace transmission. The order includes a number of protocols, including workplace closure, that will be used when three or more employees have COVID-19 at a workplace, and it’s determined by public health officers that transmission is occurring within the workplace. It is important to note that the focus is on transmission occurring within the workplace, not just the number of cases. It is vitally important that we continue to rigorously follow our COVID-19 Building Safety Plans to prevent transmission in campus workplaces and to keep everyone safe.
To review the Facilities COVID-19 Building Safety Plans, please click here. For more information on safety at UBC, please visit Safety & Risk Services. Please stay safe and healthy.
John Metras,
Associate Vice-President, Facilities