If you are looking for information on cleaning your workstation and equipment in the workplace, please visit the Working Safely – Cleaning Your Workstation page on the COVID-19 website.
If you have been working from home you may only return to the workplace once the Victorian Government Public Health Order is lifted, your manager has completed a risk assessment and developed a plan for your safe transition back into the workplace. Before this, employees who can work from home, must continue to work from home where clinically and operationally possible.
Your Manager will contact you to discuss:
Employees who are currently working from home may only return to the workplace once the Victorian Government Public Health Order is lifted. You will need to discuss your situation with your manager who will work with you to determine if your needs can be met by the personal safety requirements of the department. Your Manager will decide with you the best workplace arrangement for your particular circumstances and each employees requirements will be agreed on a case-by-case basis.
If you are considered to be at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19 you must discuss this with your Manager. The process for employees who may be at a higher risk is on the Monash Health COVID-19 Website.
Guidance is outlined in Returning to the Workplace Safely – A Guide for Employees. Your Manager will contact you to discuss your individual circumstances and provide you with a copy of the above document.
Before employees return to the workplace, your Manager will complete a workplace risk assessment to keep you safe. Some of the issues considered by managers include:
Managers will discuss these changes with you and monitor the safety processes they have put in place to keep you safe.
Temperature checking has been established at the main entrance(s) to most site buildings, even if your workplace allows direct access you should avail yourself of temperature checking, if available.
There is no requirement to clean your fabric office chairs, only the plastic arm rests as part of your regular cleaning. Many consumer waiting areas have fabric covering and with reduced consumers in waiting areas we are monitoring these areas as part of regular cleaning schedules. Physical distancing, good personal and hand hygiene is always required, regardless of the type of chair covering.
Hand hygiene before and after using all communal areas is recommended. For kitchen areas bring your own plates, cups and utensils and wipe down any areas or items used such as the microwave after use. Support Services has also adjusted its cleaning schedules for high touch points. Shared food is also not permitted, except if individually wrapped.
You must not come into work if you are unwell, even with mild illness. If you present to work with illness, you will be sent home immediately.
If you have symptoms that meet the current DHHS testing criteria you should present to a Screening Clinic and self-isolate as soon as possible.
If you are well enough to work from home, and your job enables you to do so, this may be an option (with your manager’s agreement). Otherwise, take sick leave as per the usual process.
Call the Monash Health Employee Hotline Number on 9594 5815 (external) or extension 45815 (internal) if further advice is needed.
If you are screened for COVID-19, you must advise your manager of the result as soon as possible so they can take appropriate action, if required.
Monash Health is working within the OHS legislation and regulations to keep you safe at home and at work. Information to support you and your Manager with safe choices for working from home or alternative locations is available. There are toolkits, resources and information available on the Monash Health COVID-19 intranet site https://coronavirus.monashhealth.org/employees/working-from-home/
To meet your safety needs at home your Manager will work with you to complete a Home Self-Assessment Checklist and discuss with you the need to have appropriate workstations and environment at home. You can discuss with your Manager taking your office equipment home, e.g. chair and screen, and documenting the equipment details that you have taken home for your Manager’s records.
You must work with your Manager who is assessing the risks and putting in place actions to keep you safe. This includes the principles of physical distancing. If these cannot be achieved then your Manager will review the employee arrangements in your department. PPE is reserved for clinical care where close personal contact with consumers is undertaken.
The same rules for waste management still apply. The waste management procedures on PROMPT are available to explain the different types of waste management at Monash Health.
Time exposures guidelines apply for estimating levels of exposure risk, and should be implemented where reasonably practicable. You should avoid any unnecessary exposure that impacts on your personal safety and adhere to the physical distancing rules and safety principles outlined in the Returning to the Workplace Safely – A Guide for Employees.
These FAQs and Returning to the Workplace Safely – A Guide for Employees apply to all areas of Monash Health. Clinical areas have additional guidelines on infection prevention, using PPE and cleaning regimes to keep our employees, visitors and consumers safe.
Discuss with your Manager if you should continue to work from home if appropriate to eliminate the need to use public transport. If using public transport ensure you apply the principles to keep you safe outlined in the Returning to the Workplace Safely – A Guide for Employees which includes physical distancing, personal and hand hygiene.
It is recommended that you store your personal items in a container in a secure drawer or locker to minimise the amount of items located on or near a workstation and to keep your items secure. If you do not have adequate personal space, consider limiting the personal items you bring to the workplace or discuss storage options with your manager.
Your Manager will assess and plan for a safe return to work of employees in your department and will put into place a range of strategies to ensure that the principles of keeping you safe such as physical distancing. The evidence base for increased productivity while working from home is strong and this can be maintained with good planning and communication to meet your individual needs and those of your department.
It is strongly encouraged that you download the COVIDSafe App and ensure it is activated, but it is not mandatory.
The cleaning frequency of high touch points areas has been increased however you still need to practice good hand hygiene before and after contact with all other communal use items/areas like photocopiers, kitchens and other equipment.
If safe and practical to do so it is recommended to exchange and improve the air flow by opening doors or windows, however discuss this with your Manager in the first instance. It is not recommended to use fans or increase air conditioning flow in confined spaces unless your Manager seeks advice from Infection Prevention and Engineering. Air conditioning that exchanges air with the outside instead of recycling air is preferred.
Yes, you can have meetings outdoors as long as you follow all the safety principles outlined in the Returning to the Workplace Safely – A Guide for Employees.
Yes, physical distancing applies to lifts where reasonably practicable to do so. However, due to space restrictions within lifts, it is not expected that the 4m2 rule is achievable in most instances. Therefore responsible use, including 1.5m distancing, is encouraged. Posters to signify this are available from the Monash Health COVID-19 website.
When using the lifts ensure you adopt good hand and personal hygiene principles, including hand hygiene before and after use. Additional cleaning of all high contact areas such as lift doors and panels has been put in place.
The cafeteria areas and infectious patients have disposable crockery and cutlery. Consider bringing your own or crockery and cutlery to work and wash immediately after use with warm soapy water, dry thoroughly and store in a plastic bag with your personal belongings.
The normal procedure still stands, you should contact your Manager during business hours, and Shift Leader/After-hours Manager/Coordinator as soon as possible.
For any queries you may have your Manager is the first point of contact, as it is likely they have been asked the question before. After hours you can raise any issues or questions with your Shift Leader/After-hours Coordinator/Manager.
The main activity you must do is practice hand/personal hygiene and physical distancing before, during and after the meeting. However, the meeting room table should be wiped down at the end of your meeting. We are recommending to use WebEx and avoid face to face meetings, if you must meet in a room then physical distancing is required and the meeting should be finished within 2 hours.
Disposable hand paper towels are better for communal kitchens. Discuss with your Manager replacing cloth items in the communal kitchen and with paper towels. These items can be ordered on iProc. Alternatively, you can have your own personal tea towel and dishcloth, however these items will need to be stored in your personal items and changed over daily.
We are recommend you practice hand hygiene before and after use of shared peripherals which includes photocopiers and printers. Your manager and the team may decide to include more frequent cleaning of high use equipment and document this on your cleaning schedule.
Bins in workstations and administration areas don’t require lids, however bins used in kitchens, communal and clinical areas should have lids. Discuss your situation with your Manager who will assist you to locate the missing lids or order bins/lids if appropriate.
Hand hygiene before and after using spray bottles is recommended. If you are using spray bottles, spray directly onto the cleaning cloth to dampen the cloth then wipe and dispose of the cloth. If using water in a spray bottle to dampen cloths remember to clean the spray bottle and change the water every 24hrs.
Winc has been replaced by iProc. Cleaning products are available via iProc and order numbers are available on the Infection Prevention intranet page.
Discuss this issue with your Manager and Health and Safety Representative in the first instance and if needed refer to the Employee and Manager Guide – Safely Returning to the Workplace, which provides checklists and information about how to achieve the physical distancing in your area. Physical distancing must be adhered to at all times.
Managers and Health and Safety Representatives work together to review your workspace in-line with physical distancing requirements. As each workspace is different your Manager will determine the best approach.
The People and Culture Team are preparing coaching sessions which may include videos, role play and material to support Managers with these conversations with their Employees. We have provided presentations on Change Management and Working from Home and will continue to support Managers to have these discussions. A reasonable approach needs to be taken when determining if the role can be adequately and safely performed at home.
Individually wrapped tea bags are now available for ordering, please check your supplies in communal kitchens and place a new order for individually wrapped tea bags.
The affected teams need to discuss this with their Manager as there may be opportunities and benefits in leaving the teams ‘split’. Your Manager is the best placed to discuss this with you and determine the best way forward.
Managers are being coached to have this important conversation with their Employees and to take a reasonable approach to determining the needs of their Department against the needs of their Employees. As a last resort, this can be escalated via the P&C Business Partner.
Monash Health strictly adheres to all directions set down by the Premier and Government relating to COVID-19, including the requirement to continue to work from home if you can.
Milk in a communal kitchen is not considered sharing food. Hand hygiene before and after using the communal kitchen and the milk is important to keep everyone safe.
Cleaning schedules in public spaces have been increased to ensure regular cleaning, this includes high touch items like vending machines, lift panels, door handles etc.
We must keep everyone safe and ensure physical distancing, hand and personal hygiene is enforced. If your department is not able to meet these requirements the issue must be escalated immediately to your Manager.
Yes, it is safe to continue to use these products however the main focus must be on hand hygiene before and after cleaning; and cleaning workstations before and after use and documenting when the hotdesk was last cleaned.
Managers need to discuss and plan with their staff on the requirements to work from home or returning to the workplace. Once this has been established, how this will be accommodated regarding equipment can be can be decided. Options such as rosters, hotdesking permanent laptops and screens insitu and staggered start/finish time would eliminate the need to be moving items between home and work. The Manager will determine with the Employee which equipment will be needed at the workplace and if it is excess to requirements.
We have recently sent an email to Employees on 18th June regarding Employee Parking Refund and how access a reimbursement if you have been working from home. The email has all the information you require and the relevant form to complete “Car Parking Re-imbursement Form for Working From Home during COVID-19”, further information is available from jenny.smith@monashhealth.org
The Safe Return to Work guidelines and principles apply to Employees, Volunteers and Consumer advisors. Managers will be making contact with these groups to discuss and plan on a safe return to work.
It is safe to raise these issues directly with other employees and respectfully remind them of how to keep themselves and everyone else safe. You can escalate to your Manager if you are not comfortable to approach the employee directly.
If you feel unsafe with returning you to work safely, support is available.
As a starting point, discuss any general workplace issues with your Manager. There is also a local Health and Safety Representative (the HSR contact list is can be found at http://intranet.southernhealth.org.au/health_safety/employeeRepresentation.html)