Page 81 - ITM Employee Handbook September 2020

SECTION 7: PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES

Return to work & Response Plan

7.1 INTRODUCTION
This plan is designed to help ITM TECH minimize the risk that PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES pose to
the health and safety of our employees, the stability of business operations, and the financial
performance in the weeks and months following any alert. It is intended to provide the basic
information required in preparing a continuity plan to mitigate the potential effects of PUBLIC HEALTH
EMERGENCIES in our company.

In developing our plan, we are aware that there is no way to predict what may happen in the weeks
and months after a PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES is declared. Our plan includes, in as far as possible,
all the information currently available, and includes the World Health Organisation’s advice that
PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES are an immediate and very real risk to human health for the
foreseeable future until vaccines or other measures are developed.

As with any risk that threatens the viability of our company’s business operations, continuity planning
is critical. In addition to the threat to human health, the economic impacts of Public Health
Emergencies including absenteeism in the workplace, or the possible impacts to supply-chain links in
addition to travel disruptions may be significant and widespread for the foreseeable future of the
emergency.

ITM TECH will take immediate steps to develop continuity plans that protect employees and to
minimize possible disruptions to our customers, our local communities, and the economy. We are
aware that while our decisions and actions cannot stop Public Health Emergency, however proper
preparation may reduce its impact on our employees, our customers, our local communities, and the
economy.
This plan provides need-to-know information from the Health Service Executive, HSE website
https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/ (for Pandemics. Please use this link as the foundation to develop
your understanding of Public Health Emergencies). The Health Service Executive have many links with
information, and we would ask all employees to inform themselves by utilize these links. In addition
to these links, the Health and Safety Authority’s website https://www.hsa.ie/eng/topics/covid-19/ (As
an example provides information to assist our understanding of the impact of Public Health
Emergencies in the workplace) links is also available to everyone. We would ask all employees to use
these resources and familiarise themselves with this information, which demonstrates the need for
individual responsibilities during PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES.

7.2 SCOPE OF THE PLAN
This Return to Work & Response Plan covers all employees of ITM TECH.

7.3 COMMUNICATION
Strong communication and a shared collaborative approach is essential for our company to protect
each other, against the spread of viruses in the workplace when a Public Health Emergency is declared.
In providing these links to the HSE and HSA web sites, it is with the intention of promoting open
communications with our employees, to include up to date information essential in preventing the
spread of viruses in the workplace. This is essential so that we can respond to the planned removal of
restrictions if imposed by the Irish Government in the interest of public health due to any potential
threats to Public Health.

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