Public and Commercial Services Union

Members will have seen guidance on this subject from a variety of sources including The Health Protection Agency, HM Revenue & Customs and United Kingdom Border Agency.

Some may have seen updates provided by organisations such as airport operators. The advice and guidance in all of these has been broadly the same.

TUS Safety representative have been in regular contact with members of the HMRC HASA team throughout and have agreed the content of all updates from that source.

The TUS refrained from adding to the guidance being issued to avoid blurring of the essential message.

Developments

On Tuesday 5 May TUS representatives attended a briefing meeting with UKBA senior management. The meeting was also attended by TUS representatives from legacy BIA.

Some concerns were:

• That the initial response was slow
• That contradictory messages had occurred in at least one case
• That some staff were concerned that they still did not know the likely severity of any out break or the risks to them

It was accepted that the initial response could have been faster and that one leaflet distributed to the public at airports could have been confusing.

The severity of the outbreak would only become apparent in another one to two weeks.

However the current view is that risk is still low and that the disease appears to be no worse than “seasonal influenza”. The HMRC TUS reps queried the lack of infection risk assessments in some areas.

As a result of this hard copies of an existing assessment and supporting paperwork were provided immediately and further material has been provided electronically by the Safety Reps concerned.

The subjects of PPE and enhanced cleaning regimes, including antiseptic hand gels were also discussed. An urgent risk assessment is being undertaken which will deal with these issues.

The benefit of face masks in the present circumstances was discussed and it was considered that they are of little benefit. All parties agreed that the meeting had been beneficial and had allowed vital issues to be aired.

Actions

UKBA have set up regular meetings with the DTUS for the next month to monitor developments. We will of course update members as matters develop.

Members are advised to follow the issued guidance at all times. Any questions regarding this circular should be referred in the first instance to your branch secretary.