What to do - coronavirus rules for ING staff, updated 2020-03-16

Updated for 16 March 2020   

Just as we were finalising our update to the 'What to do' page on Friday 13th, came the Real Decreto 463/2020, de 14 de marzo, por el que se declara el estado de alarma para la gestión de la situación de crisis sanitaria ocasionada por el COVID-19. We are quickly adapting our 'what to do' page to the rules of this RD. 

PLEASE READ ENTIRE PAGE AS IT CONTAINS MANY UPDATES.

Our utmost goal remains to ensure we take all practical measures needed to protect the wellbeing of the staff.

Updates to the rules contained here will continue to be posted here as the situation evolves. 

Contents: 

General rules for ING staff 

• Every member of staff must devote the time needed to make sure you know, understand and follow the restrictions imposed by the Estado de Alarma declared for Spain by the Spanish Government. Text is linked from here.
• Every member of staff must devote the time needed to make sure you know, understand and follow the recommendations (from the World Health Organisation):

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

• Every member of staff is encouraged to read the recommendations and Action Plans from UKRI-STFC and from Spanish Government and IAC. 
  
  
• If you feel symptoms : fever, cough and breathing difficulties, tell your line manager and proceed to self-isolate yourself at home. ING will not ask you to submit a 'baja médica' from your 'médico de cabecera', for you to be treated as being sick. You will continue to receive your salary for the duration of your self-isolation. 
  
  
• Seminars and journal club at SLO are cancelled until further notice. 
  
  
• Plan not to hold physical meetings, use videoconference instead. If a face-to-face meeting is held, do it in a venue that permits physical separation as recommended by Health Authorities (~2 metres between persons).

Restricting observatory operations

• WHT on-site development work linked to the stand-down is discontinued until further notice. 
• INT observations are discontinued until further notice. The current INT observers have been asked to arrange for a return home as soon as practicable. The INT will be closed from Tuesday 17th March onwards. 
• Future INT observers have been notified that INT observations are cancelled. See below under Students. 
• Any travel up and down the observatory must be done with no more than one person per car. 
• Trips up the mountain will be minimised. The overarching goal of those trips would be maintenance of critical systems and the safety of equipment. 
  • Critical systems include: computer network and servers; UPS and diesel generators; LN2. 
  • Other, non-critical tasks should be agreed on a case-by-case basis with Management. 
  • The use of the Residencia cafetería should be reduced to the minimum. 
• OSA's: the presence at night at the telescopes will stop Tuesday 17th March. After that, OSA's will work from home like all the other staff. 
• ING will continue to supply LN2 to GTC and NOT. Ops will arrange for a distribution schedule with GTC and NOT. One member of Ops will go up when needed for LN2 distribution. 
• ING will continue to supply generator provision of electricity. One member of Ops will to up for generator maintenance when needed. 

Work from home

• Staff are expected to work from home, starting on the afternoon of Monday 16th March and until further notice. 
  
  
• It is acceptable for staff to go to the SLO, for work-related needs they can't address from home, due e.g., to lack of VPN connectivity. Staff should minimise the time spent at the office, and will at all times follow the hygiene recommendations given below. 
  
  
• Staff working from home may at any time be asked to come to the ING facilities for the purpose of maintaining key services and critical systems. 
  
  
• ING staff who have school-age children, or other individuals under their responsibility, are asked to notify their line manager about this extra duty while La Palma schools and elderly centres are closed due to coronavirus. Line managers will report to Admin.  
  
  
• Staff are encouraged to discuss with their line managers what activities they should be focussing on while working at home. All of us will need to learn to function and be effective in this uncharted territory.  
  
  
• Staff are encouraged to make arrangements so that they obtain those items (laptops, display screens, documents) from SLO or ORM that will facilitate their work at home. Given the rule of one person per car, staff should make arrangements eg with others in their group to collect materials from the telescopes for them.    

Students

• To abide with RD 463/2020, all activities of the ING Student Programme which require physical presence of the students are put on hold. 
  
  
• Students have been encouraged to return home at the earliest opportunity. ING will cover the associated travel costs. Arrangements will be made on a case-by-case basis. 
  
  
• Until their departure, they may access the SLO but are not expected to stay there to work from the student flats. 

Hygiene

ING staff are asked to:

• Read and follow the recommendations on coronavirus given in posters placed on each floor of the SLO and in the telescope control rooms and kitchens.
  
  
• Emphasize cleaning hands frequently. Use water and soap in the bathrooms and, where available, alcohol-based cleaners. 
  
  
• Maintain a minimum physical separation of 1.5-2 metres with other individuals. 
  
  
• Following advice from the health authorities, the use of masks is not recommended for healthy individuals. 

Travel by ING staff

• ING will limit business-related staff travel to the strictly indispensable. All business-related travel will require special permission from the Director. 
  
  
• Staff are asked to inform their line Manager and Admin if they are planning to travel, for personal reasons, outside the Canary Islands. Admin will provide information about the measures that must be taken upon their return (e.g. self-isolation).

What to do, visiting astronomers

• With immediate effect and until further notice, all visits by visiting observers are cancelled.    

• Astronomy will notify each 20A PI about this development. ING will post a News item and inform the TAC Chairs. 

What to do, external contractors

• Visits from contractors are strongly discouraged. 
  
  
• Visits will be examined case by case. Authorisation will require special permission by the Director. 
  
  
• The ING host of external contractors will communicate the restriction to potential visitors. 

What to do, general-interest visits

• Starting Friday 13 March, and until further notice, all general-interest visits to the ING telescopes by the public are suspended. 
  
  
• The ING hosts of any general-interest visits will notify the visitors, highlighting that the motivation is the goal to protect the health of the visitors and of ING staff. 

Coordination team

• A coronavirus working group has been set. Members are: Don Abrams, Marc Balcells (Chair), Chris Benn, Cecilia Fariña, Juanjo Herrera, Juerg Rey, Neil O'Mahony. Address any concerns to any member of the team. 

Internal communication

• Updates will be given through this page, through email and through the emergency whatsapp group. 
  
  
• Please contact your line manager with any concerns. 
  
  
• A Coronavirus Forum is available to all staff in Confluence for addressing issues regarding coronavirus at ING.