Physical distancing

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, reconsider face-to-face meetings and shared spaces.

Rethinking the meeting; face-to-face meeting protocols

COVID-19’s spread is accelerated through face-to-face contact. Before booking a meeting room and asking your colleagues and team to attend, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the meeting critical, or can this be deferred? If you cannot defer the work, think about different ways you can accomplish this without calling a group together; email, teleconference, video conference.
• Who really needs to be there? Be ‘forensic’ in determining who really needs to attend. Minimise the number of people required to attend (no more than 15 at any one time) from one area or team to reduce the risk of an entire group or team being sick.
• Do you need to meet in person? Organise meetings where possible by telephone, Blue Jeans, Webex or video conference. Schedule as many meetings as possible using technology for ‘virtual’ meetings. Instructions on how to access Webex will be circulated soon.
• How many is too many people in a meeting? Reorganise all face-to-face meetings requiring more than 15 people in attendance. Use either teleconference or video conference.
• Does the meeting room allow enough distance, greater than 1.5 metres, between the participants? If not, reschedule the meeting to a larger venue or either teleconference or video conference.
• Can we have shared food or platters in meetings? Please ensure that there is no food sharing during meetings via open platters of sandwiches etc. This includes individually wrapped chocolates, lollies or bars of any kind!
• Should we sanitise our hands? Meeting organisers must ensure that hand sanitiser is available at the meeting place, and that it is used. Please remind people not to shake hands!

Gatherings of large groups

We will now postpone all non-critical meetings.  We are currently working on guidance for alternate ways to conduct meetings, to minimising the number of times entire teams are in the one location, and provide a technical means to assist.  In the interim please think about ways in which your meetings can occur, and ensure that anyone who is unwell is not present at the meeting but is supported. Ensure hand sanitiser is available in the meeting and is used.  With the increasing numbers of infected people in Victoria the implementation of these guidelines is imminent.

Shared food

It is important at this time to ensure there is no food sharing. No plates of communal food are to be placed within any environment, regardless of sharing mechanisms (tongs etc). For maximum effect, this must now also include no communal bowls of wrapped foods, such as chocolates, lollies etc.

Preparing for Self-isolation

The guidelines around self-isolation are changing rapidly. If you are required to self-isolate, it is essential that you comply with these restrictions.

Please keep up-to-date with the current self-isolation requirements provided below.