CV19 Playbook

With collaborators: Stephan van der Westhuizen in Australia;

Jan De Wachter in the UAE; Peter Best in the UK; and

myself in Italy, Spain and RSA

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Table of Contents

Section 1: Organisation Protocol ………………………………………………2

Section 2: Risk Stages ……………………………………………..10

Section 3: Draft Policy ……………………………………………..11

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Section 1: Organisation Protocol Introduction

The CV19 pandemic is unlike anything we have experienced before. From what we know, it started in a fresh meat market in Wuhan where an individual consumed a bat. This has been confirmed by the WHO on the 22nd April 2020. It soon spread to Europe with Italy and Spain severely affected while the UK and USA, and other parts of the globe followed suit quickly.

South Africa is not immune to this and a 5-week lock down- with extensions likely and a gradual easing of restrictions was announced by South African President Ramaphosa on Thursday 23 April 2020. South Africa has been complimented by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for its prudent responses to the pandemic.

It likely that the restrictions will remain in place for months to come as restrictions are gradually brought down as per the Risk profile attached in Section 2.

As business professionals and psychologists, we are concerned about the economy at large but also about the mental health of organisations, teams and individuals. We are writing this playbook as one of our efforts to heed the call for action from business and governments to contribute to moderating the impact of the pandemic.

The purpose of this playbook is to provide the user with the essentials that will protect its staff emotionally and physically as they return to the workplace.

The document has intentionally been set out to provide practical, concrete and useful information that can hopefully be used by your organisation in its endeavour to keep the workplace safe for all stakeholders.

Relevant content is shared in the slides while we have included insights and helpful tips from consulting psychologists and HR practitioners from Italy, Spain, the UK, Australia, the UAE and South Africa.

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A draft policy is also included for you to use as a basic point of departure.

We have conceptualised and authored this playbook for public consumption on the provisio that whatever is shared is done on a “share and share alike” basis so please acknowledge its developers when appropriate.

Physical safety

Says a colleague in the UAE…”at the start of the crisis we faced much resistance from staff as this was something ‘out there’ and all staff believed that this will either not affect them, the organisation or the country that much and that this will be over quickly – a typical “denial” reaction. We had to issue instructions that would punish transgressors hard and had to police all the implemented actions in order to ensure compliance due to the prevalent disbelief and denial of the seriousness of the situation”.

What we know however …

A colleague in Italy expands on the dilemma of a few weeks back in Northern Italy …” what exacerbated the situation was that we did not know a lot of the virus, and we still do not have a clear picture. For example, the WHO initially advised that we do not need surgical or facial masks (we made it mandatory from the beginning but with some difficulty to get this motivated to get the funds) but as the pandemic was spreading, were advised to make these masks mandatory. Further to this an initial shortage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) made the roll-out very challenging”.

My client in Dubai elaborates on this by noting that …” initially we are still learning – a number of cases here (in Dubai) that had been confirmed as positive, had no or very mild symptoms. This led us to think of the preventative model on two levels:

1. Level One: Ensure 100% compliance with the laws and statutes of the Country - in this case the United Arab Emirates - and the directives of the Health Authority and Crisis Committees (which were dynamic) and,

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2. Level Two: To ensure that we have always enough personnel NOT in quarantine to be able to perform the required work while at the same time communicating to both our employees and our managers that our action is less so to preserve life - as none of the infected personnel were even remotely sick enough to be hospitalised - but to provide non-quarantined personnel to the line managers in order for them to continue with their operations. This also led to another issue – to ensure that staff do not underestimate the risk of infection as they started to believe that this is not serious to be infected”.

The provision of PPE will be essential in organisational life for the foreseeable future:

This means that organisations need to:

1. Have sterilisation lights available in order for all documents, goods and products that enter the business to be sterilised.

2. Have an abundance of sterilisation equipment and cleaners available. 3. Make people aware how to use the PPE’s properly as many staff may assume that only

gloves will protect them. They then continue to touch their faces, adjust masks, etc. 4. The most important part is to educate staff, for example:

a. When leaving residence – ensure that masks and gloves are worn. Sanitise hands FIRST and then put the mask on, then gloves on.

b. On reaching the office and having used public transport or company transport, FIRST discard the gloves, then the mask, sanitise hands and THEN put on clean gloves.

c. When reaching the office, disinfect the gloved hands as one may have touched common areas in the office, sanitise the office (wipe down keyboards, phone, your mobile phone) work surface and door handles.

d. When leaving the office to visit the bathroom, meeting rooms and colleagues (to be discouraged, though) then follow the previous step on your return.

e. When returning home, follow the same steps as per arriving in the office.

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In addition, implement these simple disciplines …

Colleagues in both Europe and the Gulf went on to use print and electronic awareness campaigns. They plastered notices, diagrams, pictures, references, resources all over and added these to screensavers, email signatures, company communications and in-house media while following the mantra of “repeat, reinforce…. repeat, reinforce… until it became second nature”.

The UK based perspective too has been unique and is relevant to RSA. There has been branding used in all media emphasizing the home-based focus to save lives, but centred around the urgency of the National Health Service which is a core element of the health care system. Apart from extending hospital capacity by setting up care services there has been a remarkable use of ‘conference spaces’ to meet the demand. Likewise, the UK has an ever-growing age profile, and it seems there has been debate around the support for large amount of care homes in this regard. This continues to be a large political debate.

It took a while to generate the sense of urgency, enhanced by several government ministers being directly affected by the virus, in particular the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

On an individual level, the UK has a natural inclination to ‘go out’ when the climate becomes ‘summer’. This has been a large focus since the announcement of lock down was introduced, as it happened simultaneously with an increase in temperatures and remarkable sunshine.

The point is not to ignore the impact of the environment on behaviour and the need for behavioural change. South Africans love the outdoors but we need to keep reminding our staff to stay indoors for as much as they can and to adhere to the lockdown restrictions.

It is imperative, for global sharing of data, intelligence, insights and experience so that a reduction in the impact of the universal pandemic can be facilitated.

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The following eight protocols should prove helpful and a useful point of departure for your business.

Remember to sterilise all incoming documents, goods or products by firstly spraying and wiping then down or sterilising – or open it in a so-called “dirty room” and sterilise the contents before sending it through the organisation.

Staff need to be briefed that they need to sanitise their hands before and after touching any incoming documents, goods or products.

Other actions include:

It is also strongly advised to begin testing staff and it is anticipated that this probably become mandatory.

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Nutrition

1. Staff can boost their immune systems by: - Eating 3/4 nutritious meals a day - Ditching sugary drinks and processed foods - Upping doses of onions - Munching on greens - Including foods that have good bacteria like radishes and tomatoes - Cutting alcohol completely; yes, completely! - Drinking immunity teas - Adding spices like ginger, thyme and cayenne - Coconut consumption - Vitamin C - AcetylCystein to loosen mucus in air passageways - Antiviral herbs

Psychological safety

We believe that not nearly enough is written about the emotional impact of the pandemic on organisations, teams, families, communities and individuals. We would like to share a few observations in this regard, followed by concrete recommendations and hopefully these can be translated into practical actions in your business.

• Observation 1: Designated leadership in government, social society, business and other organisations is more challenging than it used to be:

o Our hypothesis is that leaders are carrying an increasing responsibility-load because their employees are battling to adjust quickly enough to new ways of working and the pandemic’s impact.

• Recommendation 1: No longer can the task of leadership be vested in those that are formally designated as “leaders”. Leadership capability is available across all levels of society and organisations. The time to see leadership as a distributed construct is now more important than ever.

• Observation 2: A variety of emotions are felt by all. At the moment these emotions are mostly negative but there are also positive emotions, albeit it less.

o Our hypothesis is that turmoil and trauma can be fertile ground for true transformation of mindsets and behaviour and that some are accessing the optimism and innovation inside them faster than others.

• Recommendation 2: Start with oneself and help others to see that finding purpose in the face of adversity cultivates a positive mindset and constructive behaviour. Science has demonstrated that a true sense of purpose (that normally has to do with helping others, rather than focusing on your own problems) unleashes motivation, resilience and creativity.

• Observation 3: The pandemic has accelerated the Fourth Industrial Revolution and what we called the “future” until recently, is now the present. We are forced to use technology to assist us with daily tasks (e.g. shopping), staying connected with family and friends (e.g. Facebook socialisation), getting our work done (e.g. Zoom calls) and learning (e.g. virtual classrooms.

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o Our hypothesis is that we are creating new ways of working that will serve all of us to start cracking the nut of “skills for the future”.

• Recommendation 3: Utilise this time to develop oneself, master digital technologies and become aware of how one can access the future ready behaviours (that everybody is writing about), like resilience, adaptability, creativity, self-directed learning and entrepreneurship. Executives and HR professionals who are seizing this opportunity to prepare their employees for the future are reducing stress levels significantly and enhancing their employee value proposition.

The psychological and emotional aspects will in all likelihood prove the most challenging.

1. Acknowledging the range and extent of the CV19 and its effects on people is where one should start.

2. Communicating hope, a positive attitude and assurance to the employees will prove helpful. 3. Providing support to junior, middle and senior managers in the form of counselling,

executive coaching and team facilitation to develop employee skills providing a level of assurance to staff.

4. Those managers and supervisors will need support from their Executives, in turn. 5. Use professionals such as psychologists, social workers, accredited and qualified coaches

and mentors as needed. 6. If you have an EAP then get them on site being visible and available. 7. Provide training and upskilling in resilience, adaptability, innovation, self-directedness and

purpose.

Regards,

Garrath and team

This document has been prepared and made available on a “share and share alike basis”. This means that the authors will not object to any sharing of the information so long as its authors are acknowledged.

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Section 2: Risk Stages

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Section 3: Draft Policy

Covid-19 Draft Commercial Business Control Policy

Introduction and Principles

The worldwide pandemic related to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus has forced us to rethink how we behave, both in our personal life and how we conduct our commercial or business processes.

This document has to be read alongside the directives being implemented by the various Government and statutory structures.

To manage the impact of this pandemic in our organization, this policy is based on two guiding principles, namely:

1. Treat all the staff as potentially infected at all times. 2. Built in so-called “Firebreaks” between staff, teams and critical personnel in our

company to ensure that transmission to all staff in your office is less likely, should any staff be infected out of the office.

Since we are only starting to understand how this virus is transmitted this policy has been developed on what is currently known:

1. The virus can be transmitted through airborne particles, such as when people cough or sneeze.

2. It can survive for extended periods on surfaces and can transmitted through tactile contact for example from a doorknob to your hand to your face.

3. Through your shoes/feet walking on infected surfaces.

It should be noted that the symptoms that infected people exhibit range from nothing, having a mild headache to respiratory arrest and death. It is therefore of critical importance that we take care not to be the place of transmission of this virus as it could leave the company severely crippled in terms of our people assets should this infection afflict a large number of staff – especially as this virus can take out critical teams.

Personal Infection Protocol

1. Personal Protection Equipment (PPE). a. The primary equipment to be used to prevent the transmission of the Covid-19

virus are: i. Face Masks. Cloth face-masks are required as part of respiratory

hygiene or etiquette. It is very important that cloth masks are used correctly. Incorrect use might result in users putting themselves at risk of spreading Covid-19.

ii. Cloth masks have been suggested by the RSA Government as they can be produced economically and re used.

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• Guidelines for use of a cloth mask is as follows:

1. Only use a mask that has been washed and ironed. 2. Wash your hands before putting the mask on. 3. Place the mask with the correct side facing your face, and ensure that it covers both your nose and mouth properly. 4. Tie the strings behind your head, or if you are using elastic bands, make sure these are tight. 5. Make sure it fits well. Move it around to get the best fit. Never touch the cloth part. 6. Once you have put on the mask, DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE again until you take it off 7. When you take it off, undo the ties, and carefully fold the mask inside out, hold it by the strings/elastic and place the mask in a container reserved for washing the cloth mask. 8. Wash your hands thoroughly and dry before doing anything else. 9. Wash cloth masks with warm soapy water and iron when dry. 10. You must have at least two cloth masks per person so you will be able to wash one and have a clean one ready for use. 11. Masks should be washed with soap and hot water, rinsed thoroughly and ironed.

iii. Latex surgical gloves (single use only).

To protect yourself, use the following steps to remove your gloves:

1. Grasp the outside of one glove at the wrist; do not touch your bare skin.

2. Peel the glove away from your body, peeling it inside out.

3. Hold the glove you just removed in your gloved hand.

4. Peel off the second glove by putting your fingers inside the glove at the top of your wrist.

5. Turn the second glove inside out while pulling it away from your body, leaving the first glove inside the second.

6. Dispose of the gloves safely; do not re-use gloves.

7. Wash your hands immediately after using the gloves.

iv. Sanitiser (70% alcohol based).

Where possible, we will provide these to our staff and to be used as indicated throughout this document.

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2. Be aware to break the infection chain. Our staff will be trained and instructed to use the PPE’s properly and to adapt behavioural methods which will ensure they limit the risk to transmit any infection. The best way to create a visual picture is to share the analogy or to imagine that when you touch any surface to picture that “dirt” sticks to your hand/finger and where does that “dirt” get transmitted to.

3. Toolbox talk/Morning Briefing. This reinforces the crucial daily measures and must be discussed at the beginning of each shift/included in your toolbox talk or discussed in the morning briefing. Please repeat the same messages if need be on a daily basis.

4. A suggested “getting to and from work” procedure to follow would be – and is set out in a narrative:

a. Put on gloves and mask when you leave your residence (if you live in a block of flats/townhouses where you will be in contact with commonly used areas such a doors/doorknobs/lift button). If you live in a house/town house where you go directly to your vehicle, then you can assume that your house is uninfected, and so would your vehicle be. If you use public transport, then obviously assume that the public transport is infected.

b. At your vehicle discard gloves, get in your car and disinfect your hands before touching the steering wheel, gear levers or inside latches in your car.

c. When you stop at a shopping centre, put on fresh gloves and go and do your shopping, using the same steps when you get back in your vehicle.

d. When you stop at the office, use the same protocol as for a shopping centre and assume that the common areas in the office is infected.

e. Follow the same procedure on returning home.

Company Protocols

1. Reduce the number of your staff who will be in the office at the same time. The target would be to have no more than 30% of your staff at any given time in the office.

2. If possible, break up office staff that are critical such as call centre staff into different shifts or allocate them to different locations/rooms (the principle of “Firebreaks”) or in order to limit the cross contamination of staff.

3. Ensure that the office space is constantly disinfected, especially the common areas such as doorknobs, handrails etc., by cleaning staff who should circulate constantly through the office.

4. Temperature testing. Take the temperature of all staff and visitors using a non-touch temperature “gun” prior to allow them into the building and screen out those who have temperatures exceeding 37 degrees.

5. Symptom screening: Screen all staff daily for the typical COVID-19 symptoms using the appropriate checklist included in this playbook.

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6. Meetings with internal staff which require physical presence:

a. Create a clean meeting room that is properly disinfected (a sticker can be used to indicate that the room has been disinfected and should be removed at the beginning of each meeting) where masks and gloves are being worn and social distancing are being maintained of at least 2 meters between each participant.

b. Once the participants leave the room, gloves should be discarded outside the meeting room and the room disinfected again before the next meeting.

7. Meeting with visitors:

a. A dedicated meeting place for visitors should be allocated and treated the same as the meeting room.

b. Internal staff receiving parcels, post, etc. should handle these items with gloves and have these properly disinfected by wiping them down with disinfectant. In the case of documents, goods or products sensitive for solutions, sterilize them in a UV light sterilization cabinet as per the cabinet’s operating instructions. The best is to have a sticker on these items after cleaning or sterilization that indicates “safe to handle”.

8. Identify staff who use public transport.

a. Where possible allow these staff to work from home. b. If this is not possible, then ensure that they are equipped with adequate PPE’s

and understand the use of PPE’s. c. Ensure that they discard the PPE’s in allocated disposal containers at the

external entrance to the facility prior to entering the office.

9. Company Vehicles being shared.

a. Treat company vehicles the same as the meeting rooms and have them thoroughly disinfected between being allocated to different members of the organisation.

b. Again, a sticker should be used to indicate that the vehicle has been disinfected and should be removed by the new user upon acceptance of the vehicle.

10. Office routine.

a. Staff should be encouraged to wipe down keyboards, telephones and any surface in their office such as desks with a sanitiser of disinfectant before starting to work.

b. If sanitising staff cleans the office, then use a sticker system.

11. Champions.

a. Appoint a “Hygiene Champion” on each shift, team or office to interact with HR and Safety Office daily to monitor, discuss and update the internal protocols as required.

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12. Contact Log.

a. Each staff member must keep a log daily of whom they have had direct physical contact with.

b. This log will be invaluable should any staff be confirmed to be infected in order to quarantine, and have them tested to ensure early, quick and effective treatment on the one hand and to implement measures to keep our colleagues safe.

13. Technology. a. Where possible implement collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams,

Skype etc. to enable staff to work together without physical contact, be it from home, or even when in the office.

Manage Suspected Infection Cases

1. Judgment criteria for suspected cases: adhere to the principle of "early detection, early reporting, early isolation, and early treatment". If an employee has a fever of over 37.3 degrees, or cough, chest tightness, pain throughout the body, nasal congestion, runny nose, headache, fatigue, respiratory distress, etc, he/she should immediately report to the company and isolate himself/herself by staying at home and working from home.

2. Staff that have tested negative must remain in quarantine for at least 14 days, after which they should be retested and once confirmed clear, will be allowed to join the team in the office.

3. Symptoms must also be monitored in all staff who may have come into contact with any staff member suspected to have contracted coronavirus. If symptoms present then these individuals must see their healthcare provider for clearance to return to work. These individuals will be allowed to work from home if they are not very sick or take sick leave if they are too sick, and unable to work from home.

Manage Confirmed Cases

1. Quarantine these staff immediately by asking them to stay at home.

2. Local treatment: Self-isolated personnel can call the toll-free public line: 0800 029 999 or consult the doctor through relevant online platforms when the symptoms are mild. If the symptoms are severe, they should immediately call and go to the designated hospital for treatment.

3. Company assistance: The company HR department can assist symptomatic employees to contact the Company’s Health Insurance to make appointments for doctors and related examinations.

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The staff member will stay at home until they have been cleared to return to work by their healthcare provider.

Escalation

The company will pay close attention to the development of the pandemic situation and upgrade the prevention and control measures in a timely manner according to the requirements of the South African government.

Non-adherence to company and legislated protocols may lead to disciplinary action.

This document has been prepared and made available on a “share and share alike basis” basis. This means that the authors will not object to any

sharing of the information so long as its authors are acknowledged.