How to handle a Covid — 19 Positive Case/ Suspected Case at the workplace.
Whilst there has been a lot of literature provided from various writers relating to COVID - 19 at the workplace there is not much literature relating to the handling of confirmed positive cases or suspected cases at the workplace. In as much as most organisations have embraced working from home/teleworking, not all employees can work from home. This is true for manufacturing organisations that may not be fully automated and still require a significant number of employees physically manning machines and handling operations on site. With the different waves of the pandemic hitting the globe each now and then it means that the general populace and employees at work are not really out of the woods and should stay safe. In as much as organisations abide by the provided COVID -19 protocols both WHO guidelines and organisation specific guidelines, the onus remains with the employer to ensure that the employees are kept safe at all times, where one or more employees test positive for COVID-19 , the employer should protect that employee and the rest of the team. The following paragraphs seek to illustrate how organisations or employers can handle a positive COVID-19 case/suspected case at the workplace to reduce the danger posed by the pandemic to other employees and business operations.
Response Teams and Response Plans
The first thing that should be in place in organisations is a Covid -19 is a response team. In my article that I wrote in 2020 titled Work during the Covid 19 Outbreak. Are organisations prepared?, I emphasized the need for a response team at the workplace whose responsibility is to ensure employees are kept abreast of anything related to COVID 19, including constant awareness, education and training. Depending on the organisation this team can be made up of the HR department, departmental heads, members of the worker’s committee, SHE Department, this is because these parties work directly with employees and are responsible for their welfare. Apart from COVID -19 awareness the response team may also responsible for handling confirmed positive cases and any suspected cases. And of course the response team should always have a response plan, which details how they do awareness campaigns and investigate confirmed cases at the workplace.
Direct/ Close contact tracing
Where an employee tests positive it is the duty of the response team to conduct a thorough investigation of the case. Confirmation of a positive case at work can come from a reputable medical practitioner or recommended testing centers. As soon as a positive case is confirmed, the positive employee should go straight into mandatory isolation. It is the responsibility of the response team in their investigation to identify the direct contacts of the confirmed case. Direct contacts relate to those employees directly working and interacting closely with the employee who would have tested positive. It is important to note that COVID 19 transmission requires close contact with an infected individual, and at work it occurs where individuals share the same office, or office tools. The employee can also help in identifying his/her direct contacts by listing all the individuals whom they may have been working with in the few days before confirmation.Once all the direct contacts are identified they should immediately go into quarantine as their status may not be known. The employees are then expected to self-monitor for any symptoms whilst in quarantine, and the expectation would be to report any symptoms to the response team or medical services team or the human resources team for further controlled action. The confirmed positive employee and his/her direct contacts can only resume work after they are tested and cleared by reputable medical services departments.
Casual contact tracing
After identification of direct contacts the response team can also identify the casual contacts to the positive case, these are those employees who had casual contact with the confirmed positive case. Casual contacts by definition relates to someone who has been a near a person with the infectious COVID-19 but who is at lower risk of getting COVID -19 than a direct contact (NSW Government 2020). These individuals may not necessarily need to go into quarantine like the direct contacts but can however observe strict COVID 19 protocols which include proper wearing of masks, hand washing and regular sanitisation, whilst they self-monitor for any symptoms, if any symptoms are noted they can notify the responsible authorities at work and the employee(s) can then go for testing and into quarantine whilst waiting for the results. If the results come back negative the employees are then cleared to resume work.
Contact tracing outside work
Contact tracing should not end with the individuals an employee interacts/interacted with at the workplace but should however include home contacts among others, it is the onus of the employer to ensure that whilst the employee is safe, his/ her family is safe. It is recommended that an organisation should follow through and ensure that the employee isolates whilst at home and the family goes for testing as well, in order to try and cut the chain of transmission. Whilst the main responsibility is to protect the employee and their family, the organisation also has a duty to cut the chain of community transmissions.
Communicating the positive case(s) with other employees
After contact tracing ( at work and outside work) the next responsibility of the employer is to notify the other employers of the confirmed positive case, the whole purpose of this is to ensure employees are aware of what will be going on around them. In the communication the organisation should highlight the initiatives that it would have taken to handle the issue, and assistance given to the positive employees. It is however important to protect the identity of the positive employee. Furthermore communicating with employees also gives the employer an opportunity to reiterate the importance of adhering to COVID — 19 regulations and protocols for their continued protection. This also gives the employer an opportunity to re-assure the employees of commitment to their health and safety on and off work.
Fumigation of the work station(s)/ Covid 19 Hotspots
Fumigation of employee’s workstation and other COVID 19 hotspots at the workplace help cut the chain of workplace transmission. In doing this however the organisation should use recommended service providers with a proven track record of providing high quality service lest, the fumigation process would be nothing but a mere process. COVID 19 Hotspots at the workplace may include ablution facilities, canteen chairs and tables, canteens, stairways and pool offices among others.
De-congestion of the work spaces (crowded work spaces/pool offices)
In my previous article titled Work during the Covid 19 Outbreak. Are organisations prepared? I reiterated the importance of de-congestion of crowded work spaces so as to reduce the spread of the pandemic. It is the responsibility of the Human Resources Practitioners in close engagement with line managers to make sure that crowded work spaces are de-congested and where possible employees who work in crowded work spaces can come to work on rotational basis so as to limit interaction.
Regular Check-up of employees in isolation
When an employee(s) tests positive and is in isolation/ is in quarantine waiting to be tested, it the responsibility of the employer to periodically check up on the employee(s) and make sure that they are ok. For some employees upon testing positive they experience serious symptoms and as such would require medical attention. The onus is on the employer to make sure that the employees receive medical attention through their medical aid or other initiatives put in place. The employer should also check on the employees who would have tested positive but without any serious symptoms (asymptomatic employees). This should happen periodically until all the employees are cleared, fit and able to resume their duties. Depending on company policy the organisation through the human resources department can also provide a fruit-basket for the employee(s).
It the responsibility of the employer to make sure that the workplace is safe for the employees to work in and employees should also play their part, iwe neni tinebasa .
About the author; Benjamin B Makumbe is an award winning Human Resources Practitioner (Upcoming HR Practitioner of the year 2019 IPMZ Annual HR Excellence Awards — 1st runner up) who writes in his personal capacity, for feedback you can contact him on email at benjaminbmakumbegmail@com or WhatsApp/Calls at +263779793407 or follow him on Medium/Linked In for more Human Resources Related Articles.
