Legal Update: Coronavirus safety measures for open businesses

On April 10, 2020, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection approved the Guidance “On General recommendations for business entities that are allowed to conduct their activity after relaxation of measures taken to limit the spread of COVID – 19” (“Guideline”), which contains a set of measures that businesses allowed to open should employ to limit the spread of COVID-19 among employees, as well as to enable business continuity and create a healthy work environment.

We have briefly summarized the general recommendations provided in the Guideline, as follows:

Every entity/employer should:

• Procure at its own expenses sanitization products (i.e. hand sanitization, hand soaps, towels, hand cleaning papers, surface disinfectants). The percentage of alcohol in sanitization products should be at least 60%. They are required to ensure constantly at their own expenses protective equipment (i.e. protective masks, and gloves) and ensure that their employees are using them at all times.
• Display posters with visual signs that encourage hand hygiene as well as discourage physical contact greetings (i.e. hugs, handshakes, etc.).
• Prepare internal policies which make possible the implementation of flexible hours, working from home and if possible, working in shifts. The physical space between employees should be 2 meters from one another.
• Encourage their employees to respect the respiratory ethics practices while sneezing and coughing. Employees should be discouraged to use each-other working tools, as well as to work in each other’s working places, if possible. If not, employees are required to disinfect their colleague’s tools or workplace prior to using them.
• Perform constantly environmental disinfection of desks, counters, telephones in accordance with the instructions of Ministry of Health. Dirty surfaces should be first cleaned with soap and water and then disinfected.
• Minimize the physical contact between their employees as well as between employees and third parties by replacing face-to-face meetings with online ones.
• When there are more than five employees, it is recommended the installation of surveillance cameras, with the aim to observe if the safety measures are respected by their employees.
• Provide a specific area to isolate their employees that shows clinical symptoms of COVID – 19.
• Take appropriate measures to intervene in ventilation systems by increasing the level of ventilation or increase the percentage of natural air which circulates in the system.

Further, every employee is under the obligation to inform the employer in case they have had contact with other persons who have resulted positive with COVID – 19. In such case, the employee should stay in self-quarantine and immediately notify the entity doctor and the administrator, who notifies the Local Heath Care Unit and Public Health Institution. In case any employee has clinical symptoms of COVID – 19, they should immediately notify by calling 127, the entity doctor and the administrator who as previously mentioned, notifies the Local Heath Care Unit and Public Health Institution.

Based on the number of the employees, the entities are categorized as follows regarding the risk level for the transmission of COVID – 19 infection:

• Green Protocol (0 – 25 employees)
• Yellow Protocol (26 – 50 employees)
• Red Protocol (51 employees or more).

Entities that are categorized in the Green level, are required to provide hand sanitization products, respect the distance of 2 meters from each other, display on a visible place the possibility of online shopping and the possibility of booking their meetings online, placing protective glass between the seller and the customer, disinfecting the environment before opening and after closing and provide ventilation at least three times a day.

Meanwhile, entities that are categorized in the Yellow and Red level are required to provide increased ventilation frequency as well as disinfection for every employee at the entrance and the exit of the premises of the entity.

Public Health Institution shall conduct regular inspections to verify the implementation of the measures and in case when entities have not implemented the above measures, they shall be subject of penalties.