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A GRADUAL RETURN to workplaces can take place from 20 September, under the government’s new reopening roadmap announced this evening.
Guidelines for businesses will be drafted in the coming weeks with the assistance of trade unions and business groups, according to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
Under the current guidelines, remote working is still advised wherever possible.
Currently, the Government’s public health advice for managing offices and other workplaces during the pandemic is contained in the Work Safely Protocol.
Varadkar said this document will be revised with advice on how businesses can return to the office in a safe way.
“We also want flexibility too because every office is different, every business is different.
“One of the things that I think is going to be a permanent change pandemic is the workplace, and most people, I hope, if they want it, are going to embrace blended working.
“We’d really encourage companies and employers that haven’t had that conversation yet with their workforce to do that now because there’s a date, the 2o September.”
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said the return to the workplace will be facilitated by the return of public transport to 100% capacity tomorrow.
“We need our public transport system back,” he said, adding that mask-wearing is still a legal requirement.
Published in May by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Work Safety Protocol document was last updated in June.
Under the current guidelines, employers must, among other things:
Employers are required to ensure that physical distancing is adhered to by using free office space “as much as is reasonably practicable” and organising workers “into teams or pods who consistently work and take breaks together”.
“Proper ventilation, for example open windows, should also be in place,” according to the Protocol.
Where this is not possible, the Protocol also provides detailed information on the use of mechanical systems including local air-cleaning devices Co2 monitors to assess air quality.
Before bringing workers back on the premises, employers are asked to consider determining the quality of air within enclosed workplaces as part of their overall workplace risk assessment.
In response to today’s announcement, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions General Secretary Patricia King said the safety of workers must be the government’s top priority.
“To help prevent the spread of Covid-19 these measures include adequate ventilation systems, including access to fresh air, to reduce the risk of aerosol transmission indoors in situations where workers may be in close contact for long periods of time and working in poorly ventilated areas,” said King.
“However, this suite of measures will only prove effective if employers are required to implement them.”
Vaccination status
As it stands, Irish employers cannot mandate that their staff be vaccinated before returning to the workplace.
However, according to the advice in the Government’s Work Safely Protocol, employers can look to “redeploy” unvaccinated workers within the business if it is “deemed that an unvaccinated worker is not safe to perform certain work tasks”.
Speaking at this evening’s press briefing, Varadkar told reporters he believes it will be unlikely that employers’ will be given the right to know their employee’s vaccination status, describing it as “an invasion of people’s personal privacy”.
“They can volunteer the information, but that’s a different thing to requiring them to given that kind of information,” he said.
“If we make any exceptions, I think it would only be where people are working with very vulnerable people, perhaps in nursing homes and healthcare settings.”
If we make any exceptions, it would be where someone is working in a vulnerable situation,” he said.
Some legal experts have warned that employers could be leaving themselves vulnerable to legal complaint if they follow this advice when workers return the office from next month.
Speaking to The Journal last month, Karen Killalea, partner and head of the employment team at law firm Maples and Calder said public health advice may need to be updated to provide more clarity.
She explained the Protocol “is largely silent, in terms of specific guidance for employers on how they should regard vaccination status… So when you translate that into the workplace, employers are simply not in a position to mandate that somebody takes the vaccine.”
While “employers are absolutely entitled, and in fact, must have regard to public health guidance to drive their decisions on who comes back… at the moment, using vaccination status is not based in any current public health guidance”.
From the 20 of October, masks will only be legally required on public transport, in healthcare settings and in retail premises.
When asked about masking wearing in workplaces from 20 September, Varadkar said mask-wearing in offices won’t be required in the interim period.
“But if it’s a crowded space, or people are walking around it’s advised that you do.”
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I spoke to a parent who was at the concert and I believe the condition of some of the young teenagers at the concert was nothing short of disgraceful. Under age girls falling around getting sick Surely something has to be done about this. Can the gardai not have a holding area where these people can be held for their own safety until a responsible guardian collects them.
The article says the met the men in a night club after the concert as for the holding area it is a way to stop underage drinking seen it enforced at an underage disco worked perfectly
I heard it was 2 members of the jason derulo fellas entourage! Not sure how true that was though. I dont know how girls in there got so drunk. Any time i went there you were properly searched before you went in, turned away if you were pissed and could only by one drink at the bar per time so you couldn’t by loads for teenagers. It’s stupid getting that locked at a concert … ruins it for yourself and everyone around ya!
I believe they have done away with searches. Probably cutbacks so these greedy organisers can squeeze every last penny out of teenagers. Also I believe most of these kids were drunk going in so should have been stopped at the entrance if people were doing their jobs
Searches and people being stopped for being drunk all falls down to who was providing security at the event
Comments should be closed on this article.
Castrate them and put them in a cell with a lifer. Unfortunately this is Ireland so they will be out in time for the next big concert
Stan
No need for a trial?
Yes if they are guilty of course. It is true that some women falsely accuse men of sexual assault but that is most likely not the case
I will hold my powder on this
Stan, a bit early in the morning to be grabbing your lighted torch and pitchfork isn’t it? I thought mob rule only came out after dark.
I doubt very much that we have any lifers in Irish prisons.
Ok I relent. I’ll put the pitchfork down.
So Stan you were the car and saw everything ?
Do you not understand what the word “allegation” means? There’s also a principal in the justice system that people are innocent until they’re proven guilty.
Stan … I think you mean castrate them if they’re guilty
Why so many red thumbs for Stan? 29 people think it’s ok to sexual assault young girls? Castration would be too good for these two perverts. Obviously they are guilty or it wouldn’t have made the news, journalist have good sources in the police, this isn’t just hear say. I wish the girls all the strength in the world to get over this horrible act of perversion.
Ah well if it’s in the news it must be true. Cancel the court case so.
Malcom, if someone made an allegation against you and you were arrested by the police do you think that you should be castrated on the spot? Only this week a woman was jailed for making false allegations against a man who was totally innocent. no doubt you would have had him castrated as well.
Look up “due process” and perhaps that will explain the 29 red thumbs for you.
Malcolm, you’ve forgotten that the employees at “thejournal.ie” aren’t actually journalists.
they engage in journalism’s equivalent of the ‘retweet’.
Yes Stan it is most likely not the case … Still can’t castrate someone based in most likely
Personally I think anyone who is guilty of sexual assault should be put in life behind bars for life, if only it was like America here, and that they would be locked up for 23 hours of the day in their own cell. This way they are left to think of what they done for the rest of their lives and eventually they will go mad. Unfortunately we don’t have laws that hold criminals to 60+ years. I really think we should revise our law system and instead of locking people up for minor things we should lock up the seriously dangerous people up for the rest of their lives. You ruin someone’s life then your life deserves to be ruined.
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