Basic Assumptions
The guiding principle of returning to work in CALM is to ensure that staff feel safe by introducing workflows that reduce viral transmission. We assume that COVID prevalence in London is below 0.2% (1 in 500), and that staff will self-isolate if they suspect they are ill. Therefore the risk of transmission among Crick staff is inherently low. However we cannot expect to absolutely prevent the spread of virus among staff, as this would require everyone working under CL3 conditions. Instead we must aim to strike a balance between minimising viral spread while enabling staff to return to work. Government guidelines for returning to work in a laboratory/research setting primarily rely on social distancing and hygiene, and discourage the use of PPE specifically to address COVID-19 risk (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/labs-andresearch-facilities); relevant points from these guidelines have been summarised at the end of this document.
Relevant Crick guidelines to date
Relevant Crick guidelines to date -Maintain social distancing -Crick will have staff testing in place by June 15th -Researchers are free to attend weekends although STP staff are not required to do so -Restrict occupancy of lab or write-up bays to 2 people per day -Consider the number of people working in shared work areas and the use of equipment to maintain social distancing. -Encourage people to share tasks or experiments -Use 1-way traffic circulation.
CALM Guidelines for working in the facility
1. Social Distancing
- Some STPs, especially those impacted by covid testing, may not allow direct user access to equipment or lab space in the short to mid-term. Our operational model is based on the sequential use of equipment by multiple users each day and as a result we are a high-traffic area.
- Our first general approach to COVID-19 safety will be to rely on social distancing by limiting the number of people allowed in small spaces, and the number of people allowed in the facility overall at one time. We will initially rely on reduced staff numbers within the institute to achieve social distancing within the facility, but we will introduce measures to reduce overall bookings if it becomes difficult to maintain this.
- Over half of our systems are in enclosed spaces which are not suitable for occupation by more than one person at a time under social distancing rules. All of our rooms will be posted with a limit for the maximum number of people allowed in the room at steady-state.
- We will manage bookings to ensure that no more than 10 users are present in the facility at one time and that certain additional spatial restrictions are maintained. In addition to spatial distancing we will introduce temporal distancing by enforcing 1 hour gaps between subsequent bookings of the same equipment.
To facilitate management of equipment booking, users will have to book equipment at least 72 hours in advance and all bookings will require confirmation by a CALM member of staff. To allow researchers to plan their experiments, we will confirm bookings at least 48 hours before they occur (booking management will be performed by staff working from home). - Facility access will be restricted to people who have a booking at that time.
- Training protocols previously involved close interaction between two people for over 2 hours per system.
For the time being no new training sessions will be offered, we are updating our training protocols to account for social distancing; we aim to start confocal trainings in the second week of July and gradually include other systems. One approach to mitigate the consequences of this will be to encourage experienced lab members to image samples for their untrained fellow lab members. Remote training available from second week of July. - 1:1 trouble shooting will be performed using strict social distancing, or make use of Zoom, phones, and other remote interactions (again, remote support will be provided by staff working from home).
- We will have a 1-way circulation system in place, and request users not to enter the facility through the write-up area unless accompanied by a member of staff.
- General user-staff discussions (eg experimental planning) will be conducted by zoom or in open common areas under social distancing rules.
- Image analysis will be performed following video consultation, by staff working from home.
- Image analysis workstations should be booked as usual but used remotely. Direct use of these machines will be allowed with specific permission.
- Staff will come to work under a rota system, which maintains social distancing in the write-up space, accordingly to Crick guidelines.
- These guidelines will be under constant review and updated as required.
2. PPE
- Microscope eyepiece use is probably the single greatest risk of transmission among users. We will provide plastic clingfilm to cover the eyepieces (and associated microscope parts located close to the users face when looking down the eyepieces). It will be the responsibility of those users wanting to use clingfilm to apply it when they arrive and and remove it at the end of their session.
- The second risk of viral transmission is through keyboard/computer/microscope use and contamination from the general area. Ordinarily we request that users do not wear gloves when using the microscope or other common equipment because we are concerned that dirty gloves coming into the facility from elsewhere will contaminate keyboards etc for non-glove wearers. We will now give users the option of putting on fresh gloves (provided by us) upon entering the facility (no gloves from outside). Disinfectant and wipes will also be provided for users and staff wanting to wipe-down any aspect of the equipment, including keyboards, monitors,and worktops.
- Different people may have different feelings about the relative level of safety they wish to have at work. We will try to be flexible in allowing people to work how they feel safe.
3. Room Occupation Limits
- HREM: 3 people providing they are working on system 2 meters apart
- LM1: 2 people providing they are working on system 2 meters apart
- LM2: 2 people providing they are working on system 2 meters apart
- LM3: 2 people providing they are working on system 2 meters apart
- LM4: 2 people providing they are working on system 2 meters apart
- BS1: 1 person
- BS2: 1 person
- BS3: 1 person
- Confocal Bays: 1 person per bay
- Workstations: Remote access in the first instance; 2 people per bay providing they are working on system 2 meters apart.
- Total occupancy within the STP will be limited to 10 people at a time. We will, however, consider the manner in which systems are used. For example, LTTL users may only be present in LM2 for the first 45-60 minutes of a much longer booking in order to set up their sample.
Stay healthy,
Dr. Kurt I. Anderson
CALM Head
Crick Advanced Light Microscopy Facility
The Francis Crick Institute
1 Midland Road
London
NW1 1AT
Extracted points from UK Govt guidelines on returning to work in a lab setting https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/labs-andresearch-facilities
1.1 Managing Risk
-In every workplace, increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning.
-Businesses and workplaces should make every reasonable effort to enable working from home as a first option. Where working from home is not possible, workplaces should make every reasonable effort to comply with the social distancing guidelines set out by the government (keeping people 2m apart wherever possible).
3.0 Social Distancing at Work
-It will not always be possible to keep a distance of 2m in labs and R&D facilities that may be designed for close-proximity collaboration. Fixed equipment may mean that changing layouts to create more space may not be practical.
-Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and, if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.
-Mitigating actions include:
-Keeping the activity time involved as short as possible
-Using screens or barriers to separate people from eachother
-Using back-to-back or side-to-side working (rather thanface-to-face) whenever possible
-Reducing the number of people each person has contactwith by using “fixed teams or partnering” (so each person works with only a few others)
-Increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning
3.3 Workplaces and workstations
-Using floor tape or paint to mark areas to help people keep to a 2m distance.
- Managing occupancy levels, to maintain social distancing in labs with restricted space, for example, by adapting booking systems to limit usage.
-Cleaning workstations and shared equipment and machinery, where it is feasible to do so.
5.2 Keeping the Workplace clean
-Frequent cleaning of work areas and equipment between uses, using your usual cleaning products.
-Determining the required cleaning process for expensive equipment that cannot be washed down, designing protection around machines and equipment. -Frequent cleaning of objects and surfaces that are touched regularly, such as door handles and testing surfaces andmaking sure there are adequate safe disposal arrangements.
-Clearing workspaces and removing waste and belongings from the work area at the end of a shift.
6.0 PPE
When managing the risk of COVID-19, additional PPE beyond what you usually wear is not beneficial. This is because COVID-19 is a different type of risk to the risks you normally face in a workplace, and needs to be managed through social distancing, hygiene and fixed teams or partnering, not through the use of PPE.
Workplaces should not encourage the precautionary use of extra PPE to protect against COVID-19 outside clinical settings or when responding to a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.
Unless you are in a situation where the risk of COVID-19 transmission is very high, your risk assessment should reflect the fact that the role of PPE in providing additional protection is extremely limited. However, if your risk assessment does show that PPE is required, then you must provide this PPE free of charge to workers who need it. Any PPE provided must fit properly.