The state of alert that came into effect on May 18 has introduced new legislative changes in the field of labor and new obligations for employers in Romania. Although initially, employers were required to organize work so that it would take place from employees’ homes, this legal provision has been repealed and transformed into a recommended alternative by the authorities.
If the work performed does not allow for this, employers are obligated to implement measures to prevent and combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus upon resuming activities in office spaces. Below are all the obligations for both employers and employees:
During the state of alert, all employers are required to implement the following measures:
a) Retrain all employees who stayed at home during the state of emergency, technical unemployment, telework, work from home, etc., in the field of occupational safety and health. The retraining must be adapted to new risks and will take place during normal working hours.
b) Employee representatives with specific responsibilities in occupational safety and health have the right to appropriate training regarding the new risk posed by SARS-CoV-2 infection.
c) Determine the activities that can be continued and/or adapted, depending on their specifics and available resources, and implement the necessary measures to resume and/or maintain activity while respecting measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, including the conduct of activities in telework or work-from-home mode, which may remain a priority.
d) Identify specific risks associated with epidemiological contamination conditions and update the risk assessment document for employee health and safety according to the new working conditions to take necessary measures to combat the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
e) Establish consultations with employee representatives responsible for occupational safety and health and, where applicable, with members of the Occupational Safety and Health Committee.
f) Display mandatory conduct rules for employees and all persons entering the employer-organized space at entrances and in the most visible places in the office area.
g) Inform employees, preferably through electronic means, about the risks of infection and virus spread, protective measures, social distancing rules applicable within the unit, and rules for managing situations in which employees or other individuals with access to the workplace show symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
h) Inform employees about universally applicable precautions:
– Maintain social distance of at least 1.5 meters in all public areas.
– Maintain rigorous hand hygiene with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or with approved disinfectants whenever necessary.
– Avoid touching the face with unwashed/unsterilized hands.
– Maintain respiratory hygiene: cough and/or sneeze into the elbow or a disposable tissue, and use a disposable tissue for runny noses. After use, the disposable tissue should be thrown into the waste collection container, and hand hygiene should be performed immediately.
– Limit contact with other individuals to a maximum of 15 minutes at a distance of at least 1.5 meters.
i) May provide specific individual protective equipment against the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (protective mask, gloves) in consultation with the occupational health and safety officer, depending on the specifics of the activity.
j) Ensure that external suppliers, external companies, subcontractors, individuals entering the premises, the public, service beneficiaries, and clients respect the protective measures established by the employer.
k) Ensure continuous communication with the occupational health physician/service to monitor the health status of employees.
l) May individualize the working hours of employees (especially those in vulnerable groups) working indoors to minimize, as much as possible, direct contact among them, depending on the nature and specifics of the activities, without affecting the duration of normal working hours.
m) May individualize the working hours of employees to ensure a gap of at least one hour between the start and end of work for a minimum of three hours, in shifts of at least 20% of the staff, without affecting the duration of normal working hours, for employers with more than 50 employees working in the same workspace. This measure also applies to workspaces with more than 50 employees, regardless of whether the employees belong to different employers, without affecting the duration of normal working hours.
n) Ensure special access and circulation corridors for employees to avoid crowding at workplaces.
o) Limit access to common areas and ensure compliance with social distancing norms in these areas.
p) Establish rules to avoid accidental situations leading to the formation of spontaneous and unsecured groups of individuals within the institution.
q) Designate a person responsible for checking the temperature of all individuals entering the unit/institution.
r) Ensure observational triage of employees by checking their temperature at the start of the workday and whenever necessary during the workday.
s) Place hand sanitizer dispensers at the entrance to the unit and in each sector of the workplace.
t) Prohibit access to the unit for individuals showing symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
u) Interrupt any contact between employers/employees/other individuals in the institution and symptomatic persons.
v) Implement marking tape indicating the recommended distance (1.5 meters) in workplaces where interactions occur with the public, for individuals waiting in line to enter, recommending that, where weather conditions permit, those waiting remain outside the building, also at a distance of at least 1.5 meters.
w) Require ventilation of offices at least once a day.
x) Disinfect railings, door and window handles in the unit, and other frequently used areas (at least once a week and whenever necessary).
y) Disinfect common areas and workspaces at least once a week and whenever necessary with substances approved for combating SARS-CoV-2.
z) May create specially arranged spaces for employees belonging to vulnerable groups (people with chronic illnesses, people over 65 years old).
aa) Ensure staggered meal breaks while maintaining a distance of at least 1.5 meters between employees.
ab) Avoid using air conditioning systems or, if necessary, ensure nebulization and disinfection of the air conditioning system according to the manufacturer’s instructions, outside of working hours.
ac) Ensure the continuous availability of soap and hand sanitizer at restrooms, locker rooms, and dining halls and post posters on the correct handwashing technique.
ad) Arrange the workspace to maintain physical distance between employees by establishing a fixed number of persons who can work in the same room. Employers may install plastic dividers between desks where possible, as long as the desks are close together.
ae) Limit movements outside the workplace to situations strictly necessary for conducting activities and ensure that when necessary, employees travel with minimal preventive conditions.
af) Ensure that the circulation of documents within the institution/company is predominantly conducted electronically.
ag) Review the prevention and protection plan according to the mentioned provisions.
ah) Review their own health and safety instructions, according to the mentioned provisions, and communicate them to employees.
During the state of alert, all employees are required to comply with the following measures:
a) Comply with all instructions in the prevention and protection plan and the employer’s own health and safety instructions established to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
b) Wear protective masks that cover the nose and mouth in workplaces organized by employers.
c) May change protective equipment used while traveling to the workplace (mask and gloves) for new equipment.
d) Accept temperature checks upon entering the premises, at the start of the workday, and whenever returning to the premises.
e) Immediately notify the employer if they present symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection (cough, sneezing, runny nose, breathing difficulties, fever, altered general condition) at the start of or during the workday.
f) Stay home if, before the start of the workday, they present symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection and notify the employer accordingly.
g) Immediately contact the responsible occupational physician, family doctor, or, if the situation is serious, the emergency service at 112.
h) In case of needing to isolate at home, the employee will take medical leave based on a certificate issued by the family doctor after the isolation period.
i) In the case of institutional quarantine, returning to work will require a medical leave certificate issued based on the epidemiological notice from the public health authority in the county where they work, upon completion of the quarantine period.
j) Interrupt any contact between employers/employees/other individuals in the institution and symptomatic individuals.
k) Disinfect their workspace and the necessary objects for their activity.
l) Wash and disinfect their hands.
m) Identify and use the circulation corridors provided by the employer.
n) Avoid lingering in common areas.
o) Frequently ventilate (at least once a day) the enclosed space in which they work.
p) In the case of working from home or teleworking, employees perform their activities under the employer’s coordination and in accordance with their training and instructions received from the employer, so as not to expose themselves or others to the risk of accidents, occupational diseases, or epidemiological contamination with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
q) Avoid communication through printed documents as much as possible, both within and outside the unit/institution, to limit direct contact between individuals.