CIR 03/20 | COVID-19 Precautionary Measures // Update 1

The Council of the Kamra tal-Periti advises all periti and their staff to follow all instructions issued daily by the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate. These can be viewed online here.

 

Below please find additional precautionary measures that can be taken to limit the potential for spread of the virus, including instructions issued by the various Authorities and Departments with which we deal on a daily basis.

The Council will continue to keep you updated regularly through its Facebook page and through the Periti Discussion Board. Circulars will be issued as and when necessary. We will be doing our best to ensure that lines of communication with the profession remain open.

 

You are reminded that any specific queries may be addressed to us through info@kamratalperiti.org.

 

Perit Simone Vella Lenicker

President

 

1. Practise Social Distancing

 

Apart from the restrictions imposed by Government, it is highly recommended that periti employ measures of social distancing. This is a measure that helps to prevent a sharp peak of infections, known as flattening the epidemic curve, and helps avoid healthcare services being overwhelmed.

 

These measures may include:

• Cancellation of non-essential meetings, or seeking alternative means of holding such meetings through digital means;
• Asking clients and others not to visit your office unless absolutely necessary, and in such case to follow any measures put in place by your office;
• Require that any members of staff who experience typical coronavirus symptoms (fatigue, coughing, shortness of breath, and fever) to stay at home until advised by a medical practitioner that they may return to work;
• Observe the recommendations of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority regarding measures to be taken at places of work – see here;
• Consider working remotely for the next week, and limiting your opening hours to the bare essential;
• Communicate with your clients via email or other digital means in order to update them on all the platforms through which you may be contacted (email, social media, digital communication tools, etc).

 

 

2. Observe the measures put in place by various Authorities and Departments

 

Various Authority and Departments with which we interact on a daily basis have put into place a number of measures. These include the Planning Authority, the Building and Construction Agency, the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability. These have been collated into one document which you may easily download and distribute to your colleagues, clients, contractors and other consultants. The content of this document is correct as at 13^th March 2020.

 

You are requested to be on the lookout for subsequent updates on the respective websites and social media pages of the respective Authorities and Departments.

 

With regard to Planning Commission, Planning Board and Environment and Planning Review Tribunal sittings, the Council is in contact with the relevant officials and discussions are under way regarding the possibility for suspension of all sittings – this will require the implementation of legislative measures to also suspend all applicable timeframes.

 

 

 

3. Precautionary measures on construction sites

 

It is recommended that you undertake the following precautionary measures with respect to ongoing works on construction sites:

• Contact the Project Supervisor (in terms of LN 88 of 2018) and request that a risk assessment is carried out to ensure that general protective measures relating to the limitation of spread of the coronavirus are in place;
• Request that the Client, all contractors, and the Project Supervisor confirm in writing that none of their staff and/or representatives present on the site have travelled in the past three weeks, or have been in contact with persons who travelled in the past three weeks – in case of persons who do not meet these criteria, request that these are not allowed to access the site, and that they follow the measures imposed by Government;
• If works are being carried out in confined spaces, and these can be postponed, liaise with the Client and the contractor accordingly in the interest of public health and safety.

 

4. Preparing for additional measures

The situation is developing by the day. So far, all reported cases have been imported through travel, and no cases of local transmission have been detected.

The Kamra tal-Periti will continue to monitor the situation. It is nevertheless recommended that you prepare yourself for potential new and restrictive measures in the coming days. In view of this it is recommended that you:

• Postpone the commencement date of any new works until after the pandemic is declared to be over;
• Keep your workplace clean and hygienic, and ensure good ventilation;
• Avoid travelling;
• Develop a plan of what to do if one of your office colleagues or any one of the people on a construction site becomes ill;
• Promote remote working and ensure that you have the necessary IT support;
• Keep open lines of communication with your clients, appointed contractors and consultants on your projects in order to avoid unnecessary meetings and to ensure that all are remaining vigilant at this time;
• Observe the recommendations of the OHSA on additional measures to be taken at the workplace as outlined here.