捆绑SM社区

A. Strathcona. It may open as early as the week of May 11, provided plans are submitted and approved, and government directives for Montreal do not indicate otherwise.

A. Provided the pilot goes well, the Life Sciences Complex is scheduled to be next, including the McIntyre, the GCRC and the Bellini Building.

A. Central is working on this with HR and others to confirm the best, most flexible arrangement, taking into consideration availability of personnel, policies and union agreements.

A. Plan with Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in mind. Weekends are only for Facilities at this point. This being said, we will advocate for weekends, where essential, in our meetings with Central.

Important: the intention is not to have everyone present in the first weeks. Prioritize experiments that can be accomplished during standard opening hours. We must also consider union agreements, costs in overtime, and our employees鈥� and staff鈥檚 personal constraints.

A. Investigators will need to coordinate their plans with others in their areas and agree upon cleaning protocols for common equipment.

A. These directives ONLY apply to those with on-campus labs. Each RI has its own policy.

A. Yes. Students will be contacted by Associate Dean Aimee Ryan and asked to complete a webform confirming their consent and/or raising any concerns they may have.

A. Please consult with your HR liaison.

A. Every lab must determine what will work best based on the directives and research, as well as their students鈥� and staff鈥檚 personal constraints and concerns. However, labs sharing space should coordinate their work to ensure social distancing at all times. It is also important to consider overlap of personnel to minimize the individuals with whom a person is in contact.

A. Core facilities, including mouse facilities, are preparing their plans; any movement between core facilities must be coordinated based on the plans. Regarding other buildings, only Strathcona is opening at this time; you can鈥檛 move between buildings until they are open. Movement between buildings will be confirmed based on the pilot outcomes.

A. Animal facilities have continued minimal operations and are aware of the ramp-up. For specifics as the buildings open, please contact CMARC for guidance. Importantly, people need to respect LD schedules in animal facilities. Rooms should not be entered before lights on or after lights off. Researchers must follow the ramp-up directives and physical distancing instructions issued by the animal facility.

A. Yes. Anywhere students or staff spend time.

A. Any work that can be done remotely must be done remotely; only if a project requires a student to remain onsite, for example, while waiting for assays to be completed, should in-office work be considered. In such cases, physical distancing/PPE directives must apply. Additionally, students should not be using work cubicles unless distancing is maintained or plexiglass dividers have been installed.

A. The goal is to get people to the bench; that should be the only place they go, and the plans should work towards that. Consider planning shifts that do not span mealtimes.

A. If a lab deems this research to be priority and makes the decision to include it in the ramp-up, then PPE and other safety measures must be employed. Note that CMARC has protocol for this.

A. Shifts should be defined to accomodate high priority experiments. Wellbeing and safety must come first.

A. Provided cleaning and distancing protocols are respected, this could be an option.

A. This won鈥檛 resume immediately, unless safety of participants can be ensured and PPE available. Consider remote alternatives.

A. No, unless exceptional circumstances apply. (See previous question.)

A. Yes, we are working to ensure emergency access. Please bring emergencies to the attention of the Building Director鈥檚 Office. We will ensure there is an emergency contact who can activate IDs if essential.

A. If there is an essential need, contact your Department Chair or Unit Director and build this need into your ramp-up plan. For the time being, the EOC has indicated that faculty members should not be working in their offices.

A. Central is preparing all the buildings; details need to be worked out for each. So piloting is necessary. It will take several days to get each set of buildings ready, for plans to be finalized, to ensure everything needed is ordered, etc., before they can evaluate and move on to the next set. Keep in mind, Montreal is still very much a hot zone; this has to be done very carefully.

A. Measures will include: no outbreaks, no contamination in the workplace, as smooth a process as possible, proper management of staff, compliance and respect vis-脿-vis security, physical distancing, students not feeling pressured. The responsibility is on everyone鈥檚 shoulders; it is a community effort. Please share feedback with us, so we can improve the process as we go.

A. We expect outcomes of pilots and recommended practices based on findings will be shared in the form of updated guidelines. Joaquin Ortega in Strathcona has also said he would be happy to share the one they are developing for FEMR once piloted and approved.

A. We did not approach it this way. The first consideration is whether work can be done remotely. After that, it is building by building, and then considering physical distancing, and then PPE.

A. We hope, but it is too early to tell.

A. Undergraduate honours courses were cancelled if they were not able to proceed remotely. Undergraduate research students (e.g., NSERC USRA, Summer Bursary program) are expected to work remotely.

A. Provided physical distancing and other safety directives are applied.

A. The pilot is to be monitored using feedback from researchers, students, Security, Facilities, etc. This is everyone鈥檚 responsibility; it is a collective, community effort. Plans must be clear, well thought-out and rigorously implemented, putting safety and wellbeing first, to succeed.

A. No. A more pragmatic approach will be implemented. There will be a health questionnaire at entry and clear instructions about safety directives, i.e., hand washing, physical distancing, etc.

A. When distance is respected or PPE is in place there are no public health guidelines that limit time together. That being said, we are proposing shifts that ideally do not span mealtimes, so less than full days. But each lab and project is different and so this must be decided locally.

A. 捆绑SM社区 Procurement is launching a survey about PPE needs. Please watch for it and complete it; PPE will be procured centrally and individual labs will order from the 捆绑SM社区 central store.

A. Above all, the 2-meter physical distancing directive is priority. The consensus in the medical community is that procedure masks are superior to home-made masks, which are superior to wearing nothing, providing 2-metre distancing is also observed. Safety must first focus on maintaining, without fail, 2-metre physical distancing, with or without masks.

A. This is to be ordered through 捆绑SM社区 FMAS (Luc Roy, Director, Building Operations) for situations in which it is absolutely necessary (e.g., to permit certain face-to-face interactions).

A. In a facility, if physical distancing or implementation of technical controls (such as physical barrier) is impossible, the following protective equipment is required.

• A procedure (surgical) mask and protective eyewear (protective glasses or visor)

or

• A visor alone is possible, as a last resort solution, in case of safety risks.听 For example, if the mask causes fogging in the protective eyewear despite the search for technical solutions to remedy this.听 For example, some coating allow reduction of fogging on protective eyewear and this solution can be deployed quickly.

Wearing protective equipment must not represent an additional risk for the worker's safety in performing tasks.听 Also, as provided in section 5 of the AOHS. "The fact that collective individual means of protection or safety equipment are put at the disposal of workers where necessary to meet their special needs must in no way reduce the effort expended to eliminate, at the source, dangers to the health, safety and physical well-being of workers."

Reference:听 INSPQ, Avis sur le port de la visi猫re et du couvre-visage par les travailleurs (Notice on wearing of a visor and a face covering by workers), May 12, 2020

A. Each lab鈥檚 plan must take into consideration all of these details.

Buildings will be cleaned and secured, and the University is working with HR and Security to establish the required levels of coverage and negotiate flexibility, taking into consideration personnel policies and union agreements. Within each lab, safety and cleaning protocols must be established and rigorously implemented, based on your space, equipment, etc. We will need to clean very thoroughly. All surfaces will need to be wiped down after each shift. So the more shifts, the more cleaning will be needed and the less time you will have for actual research. On the other hand, if people are scheduled to be present all day, they will need to eat, and arrangements will have to made to ensure they can safely do so.

A. There will be general guidelines from EHS, but each PI must consider the particularities of their own lab and equipment and establish additional protocols, as necessary.

A. We have been informed that contracts with laundry services are managed at the department/unit level. Each unit should confirm arrangements to ensure access for pickup/dropoff in coordination with the Building Director鈥檚 office.

A. Physical distancing should be ensured at all times. Avoid more than one person in bathrooms. If impossible, masks and appropriate PPE must be worn. Elevators may only be occupied by one person at a time.

A. Final details are being worked out; this is why Central wants to start slow with only a few buildings, to work out the challenges.

A. Central is procuring these supplies, along with such things as gloves, disinfectant, etc. Labs will have to order from the central 捆绑SM社区 procurement stocks. Details of procedures are to be confirmed.

A. If a student was working in a CHSLD or any other long-term care unit, the Faculty requires them to self-isolate for 14 days for precautionary purposes, prior to accessing on-campus buildings.

Important: change depending on the pandemic status in Montreal or any given region. We encourage all to stay up-to-date with the latest directives. If there is any uncertainty, all should err on the side of caution and self-isolate.
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A. Self-declare as per 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 instructions for or , as the case may be.

A. This is a government- and public health authorities-led procedure conducted in collaboration with the University and those concerned to ensure contacts are traced and notified. .

A. Yes. Immediately. It is for this reason our plans need to be thoroughly thought-out and rigorously implemented. This is a community responsibility with a shared goal to ramp up our Faculty research safely, smoothly and efficiently. (A single case is not considered an outbreak.)

A. Yes. However, once the new resumption form is online and the relevant buildings are opened, those PIs who had staff or trainees with essential work access are asked to fill it out as well, and will need to respect guidelines that are being implemented as buildings reopen. Chairs will need to approve, as with all new resumption requests.

A. All other Faculty buildings remain closed, except where pre-approved essential services are being conducted; only exemptions are authorized until your building reopens. Other activities cannot begin.

A. The University is not currently considering this.

A. Yes at this time, and as activity on campus continues to ramp up, the situation will be re-evaluated.

A. Directives in place at the destination institution will apply.

A. EOC issues University directives and guidelines, based on input from multiple committees that include Faculty representation and expert input, and that are approved by the University鈥檚 Policy Group.
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