Category: Covid

As a follow-up to the communication of July 21, 2022 on the lifting of restrictions motivated by COVID-19 and taking into account the evolution of the pandemic in recent weeks, we recall that as of September 12:

– The use of face masks indoors is no longer mandatory. However, ROVI will continue to provide one at the beginning of the day for employees who wish to continue using them.

– The occupancy level restriction for offices and workstations is lifted.

– The canteens are enabled for regular and general use.

– The usual working hours are generally recovered, which will have to record the stops and departures for breakfast and lunch through the Kelio/RoviTime application.

Home office days employees will sign as usual, getting connected to the VPN previously, and through absences procedure.

Taking into account the evolution of infections and In relation to the group of vulnerable people (people who are 60 years or older, people immunocompromised by intrinsic or extrinsic cause and pregnant women), they will continue as before. For the employees of this group who carry out face-to-face days, specific positions will be enabled in canteens so that they can make use of them while maintaining the minimum safety distances with the rest of the employees. In addition, they will continue to be provided with the FFP2 mask.

As before, these measures will be reviewed in the future, depending on the epidemiological evolution and the indications of the health authorities.

After the revision of the COVID-19 Vigilance and Control Strategy by the Spanish health authorities, we set out below the rules that all ROVI group employees must follow in relation to the prevention of COVID-19, starting Monday, 25 April, 2022:

Compulsory masks

• Compulsory use of masks indoors in the following situations:
  • At the workstation, when it is not possible to maintain an interpersonal distance equal to or greater than 1.5 metres. If the distance is equal to or greater than 1.5 metres, it will not be necessary to use a mask
  • In all common areas and small enclosed spaces where people may concentrate, such as changing rooms, toilets, canteens and elevators.

• It will not be compulsory to wear a mask in outdoor spaces.
• ROVI will continue to provide one surgical mask per person per day to all workers.

Meeting rooms

The limitations on the capacity of meeting rooms will be removed, but it will be compulsory to wear a mask if the interpersonal distance between those present is not equal to or greater than 1.5 metres.

Ventilation

You are reminded that natural ventilation is compulsory for periods of 15 minutes approximately every two hours to favour the renewal of the air in the offices. For example, at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00.

60% in-person presence

We are increasing the proportion of in-person presence at our offices, recovering a percentage of 60%. This means that in-person presence is required for at least three days out of every five.

As an exception, the increase in in-person presence should take place gradually during the coming week. It will be applicable to all departments as of Monday, 2 May, 2022.

As has been the case to date, only the workstations marked with a green sign may be occupied.

Canteen

Use of the canteen will remain the same as at present.

Vulnerable groups

People aged 60 or over, those with weakened immune systems for intrinsic or extrinsic causes, and pregnant women.

People who fall within the above definition must report their situation to the Occupational Hazard Prevention Department in order to arrange an appointment with the occupational health area. If they are found to belong to a vulnerable group, the following measures will be adopted:

• Workers whose job does not allow teleworking, either totally or partially, will be provided with an FPP2 mask, which they must use throughout the working day, with no exceptions.
• Workers whose job allows teleworking will work under said system.

Confirmed cases

Workers who are diagnosed as having COVID-19 (through either an antigen test or a PCR) whose doctors have not authorised them to take sick leave (because their symptoms are mild) must observe the following rules:

• If their job allows teleworking, they must coordinate with their direct superior in order to work under this system for the seven calendar days following the onset of symptoms.
• If their job does not allow teleworking, infected workers without sick leave must come to work in person, observing the following rules:
  • They must use an FPP2 mask throughout the working day, with no exceptions. The mask will be given to them by their department head (who must ask SYMA for it when he/she becomes aware that there is a positive in her/her team).
  • They must maximise the precautions, limiting all forms of social interaction (meals, breaks, meetings, etc.) to the greatest extent possible.

We remind you that the notification box of ROVI has been disabled and that these infections must be handled in the same way as sick leave for any other reason, i.e. through Human Resources.

All these measures will be reviewed in accordance with the evolution of the instructions of the health authorities applicable to work centres and the evolution of the epidemiological situation.

In recent days, health authorities have established a new surveillance and control strategy against covid-19 after the acute phase of the pandemic in Spain which implies that:

• For the general population, the compulsory isolation of both positive cases and those suspected of being positive due to mild symptoms compatible with the infection has been eliminated.
• The suppression of quarantines are maintained in case of having had close contact with a positive case.
• In case of presenting symptoms, it is no longer mandatory to perform confirmatory tests (self-diagnostic test or PDIA[1]) or to notify the channels provided by the autonomous communities. Diagnostic tests are restricted to:

o Persons who have any vulnerability[2] criteria.

o People related to vulnerable areas (linked to health centers, social-health centers, day-care centers, prisons, etc.).

o Cases with severe symptoms requiring hospital admission.

o Persons who have been in the last 14 days in a region where a variant of interest or concern is circulating.

This new strategy of the Spanish health authorities implies accepting a certain level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission as long as a sufficiently high level of general vaccination has been achieved to minimize the severity of infections that may occur. For this reason, this new strategy makes it necessary to modify the case management established by ROVI so that, as of next Monday, March 28:

• Employees will no longer report SARS-CoV2 infections or suspected SARS-CoV2 infections to ROVI.
• The notificacionescovid19@rovi.es mailbox will be disabled.
• Persons with symptoms consistent with covid-19 infection should contact their health center and follow their physician’s instructions. In case of sick leave, it will be processed through the usual channels through HR and, as in the case of common illness, they shall no communicate the origin of the illness causing the sick leave.

In addition, we will maintain until further notice the current 50% attendance rate for office personnel, as well as the mandatory use of masks at the workstation and the minimum separation of 1.5 meters between workstations.

As up to now, these measures may be revised if the indications of the health authorities are modified.

Thank you and best regards,

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[1]Diagnostic Test for Active SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PCR or rapid test for detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen, both in nasopharyngeal exudate).

[2] Vulnerability criteria are considered:

– Persons aged 60 years or older.

– Immunosuppressed persons due to intrinsic or extrinsic causes (hematopoietic progenitor transplant recipients or CAR-T, within two years after transplantation/treatment, on immunosuppressive treatment or who have graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), regardless of time since transplantation; solid organ transplant recipients (less than two years or on immunosuppressive treatment for rejection events); primary immunodeficiencies:  combined and B-cell in which absence of vaccine response has been demonstrated; persons who have received in the previous three months (six months in case of rituximab) anti CD20 drugs or belimumab; Down’s syndrome aged over 40 years.

– Pregnant women.

Following the evolution of the incidence of the pandemic in Spain and the gradual reduction of COVID-19 infections, ROVI will recover face-to-face assistance for employees in NON-industrial offices as of 7 March.

• The return to the offices will be staggered and will start with a 50% attendance rate, that is five out of every ten working days will be spent in the office, with employees having to guarantee attendance at least one day each week.

• We will withdraw temperature-based access control at our sites.
• It will continue to be compulsory to wear a face mask indoors except when eating at the workplace.
• We continue to recommend regular ventilation of work areas and will maintain daily cleaning of workstations with virucides.

All these measures will be reviewed according to the evolution of the indications of the health authorities applying to the workplaces and the evolution of the epidemiological situation.

We would like to remind you that, as of 7 March, any ROVI employee who:

• Shows symptoms compatible with COVID-19 infection or has tested positive in a self-diagnosis test should contact the following telephone number of the Community of Madrid 900 102 112 or their health centres if they are in another community and maintain self-isolation for 7 days. You should also write to notificacionescovid19@rovi.es to notify them. If you receive medical leave, you should manage it directly with HR.
• If you have been a close contact of a confirmed positive, you should write to notificacionescovid19@rovi.es for individual assessment.

In order to optimise the management of the queries we receive to the mailbox notificacionescovid19@rovi.es, we remind you that it is necessary to identify the name of the employee and their work centre in the subject line of the email.

Remember that if you have symptoms associated with covid-19 or any suspicion of contact with infected people, you should contact your health centre and follow their instructions. You should also report any such incidents to ROVI’s mailbox, as well as any doubts or queries that arise in connection with covid-19.

We would like to remind you that from next Monday new prevention measures will come into force at ROVI in response to covid-19. These measures are motivated by the increase in the number of infections in the country and the uncertainty caused by the emergence of the omicron variant in the management of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, despite the high vaccination rates, the risk of infection in the face-to-face activities has been increasing in recent weeks. ROVI’s management already took the difficult decision months ago not to hold this year’s traditional Christmas dinner for employees for the second year in a row.

The actual context makes it inadvisable to hold large events in enclosed spaces where minimum prevention measures such as safety distance or the continuous use of masks cannot be guaranteed.

Similarly, we urge departments planning to hold employee Christmas gatherings in the coming weeks to refrain from holding them. We understand that this time of year is a time for celebration and sharing, but we must remember that the only way to prevent infection is to avoid risky situations.

In order to help employees adaptation to the increased presence at headquarters, the use of microwave ovens will be permitted for heating food to be taken at the workstation.

As far as possible, we ask to avoid the crowds in the canteen when microwaves are to be used. In addition, as with other commonly used devices, employees should make use of the hydro-alcoholic gel in the canteens before use.

The microwaves can be used from Monday onwards.

Obligatory use of masks

We insist on the obligatory use of the mask during the whole working day. It can only be removed at the workplace when eating or drinking.

Also, we recommend the employees to follow the same instructions when they go outside during the working day.

Lifts

We remind you that the use of lifts is still restricted to one person per trip.
This committee has been observing systematic non-compliance with these last two rules.

We would like to remind you that any behaviour that does not comply with the COVID-19 prevention measures established at ROVI may be subject to sanctions.

Next week we will start with the vaccination campaign in ROVI. We will install mobile units in the headquarters, and you will be assigned appointments and times to go in an orderly manner, respecting the safety distances and capacity control.

The Department of Safety and Environment will publish a list in each workplace in which the day and time of vaccination assigned to each employee can be consulted. IMPORTANT: to comply with data protection regulations, this list is encrypted, so the EMPLOYEE NUMBER and the appointment will appear.

If you do not know your employee number, you can easily consult it in ROVIROCKS, following these steps:

You can also see it in TALENTIA, from the “My working data” section.

Sales delegates from Madrid and Granada must go to the ROVI centres to receive the vaccine on the assigned days. For the rest of the members of the commercial network, Quiron will contact them in the coming days to inform them about when and where to receive the vaccine.

The vaccination SHIFTS in the centres are:

Taking into account the evolution of the pandemic and the decreasing incidence of COVID-19, we announce the flexibility of the following measures in our work centres, which will be effective as of November 15:

Mandatory mask
The use of the mask continues to be mandatory during the work day, except for the time necessary to eat or drink.

Distances
In order to restore normalcy and to increase the capacity for skilled jobs in our work centres, we are going to review the distances between jobs at 1.5 meters, as established by the Law 2/2021, of March 29, on urgent prevention, containment and coordination measures to face the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

In the coming days, the jobs that become available will be marked with stickers. Those responsible must evaluate whether the positions have the necessary devices and connections, especially in those cases in which there have been hiring of personnel who have not been able to carry out routine work in the offices.

The objective is to occupy the maximum number of positions enabled after this review, trying that each employee does four days a week in person. In those departments that do not have enough positions enabled after this review, they should be organized to guarantee the maximum possible occupancy.

This instruction will be application to all employees, except for risk personnel, who will continue as before.

Working Hours
The transfer schedule remains as before:

• WHEN THE WORKING DAY IS CARRIED OUT: normal hours (Flexible entry 8-9 am – Departure 5.30 – 6.30 pm, with breaks for lunch and breakfast).
• WHEN DONE AT THE HEADQUARTERS: the intensive schedule is maintained (flexible entry from 8-9 am and exit from 16-17 hours).

Canteen
The use of canteens, microwaves, toasters and refrigerators remains restricted exclusively to factory personnel who maintain their work shifts and, therefore, are authorized to use it.

Office personnel not linked to the industrial area can use the canteens to use the fountains, vending machines or coffee machines.

Computer
While the risk of confinement is lower, the obligation to bring the computer home every day is eliminated.

In the event that an employee must start quarantine due to having been in contact with a positive or being infected, the company will assume the shipment to the home of the equipment if necessary.

Using Elevators
We remind you that the limitation of the use of elevators in ROVI to one person is still in force.

Meeting rooms
Face-to-face meetings will be allowed. We remember that the use of a mask is mandatory at all times. In addition, we recommend maintaining distances and in rooms that allow it, ventilate.

Travel
Similarly, travel for work reasons is allowed. In both cases, meetings and trips, this committee recommends reducing both to the essential minimum and continuing to use telemetric applications where possible. It will be the responsibility of the department heads to make decisions regarding the meetings and travel that are necessary.

Temperature check
As of November 15, we will abolish access control by temperature. However, we remember that, in case of presenting symptoms, employees must remain at home, communicate the reason for absence to notificationscovid19@rovi.es and contact their health centre.

Mobility between venues
We enable mobility between workplaces. In this case, we ask employees to organize their trips confirming availability of position at the destination headquarters.