TO: Campus Community
FR: Garry Mac Pherson, Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services
RE: Announcing Campus Measures to Mitigate COVID-19, including a daily Screening Survey
Consistent with the Office of the President’s recommendations, I want to share a number of measures that are underway to mitigate the impacts to all UC Santa Barbara employees who are required to work onsite. With the exception of some sectors of campus that must ramp up (i.e., certain academic research), employees who have been working remotely should continue to work remotely through the end of the 2020 calendar year. Allowing faculty and staff to continue to work from home reduces the population density on campus, which helps reduce health risks for everyone. Supervisors should ensure that staff employees working remotely have signed a Temporary Remote Work Agreement if they have not already done so. The offices of the Vice Chancellors and Executive Vice Chancellor may issue additional instructions specific to their organization on coordinating such matters.
In accordance with state and local public health orders, employees not performing approved critical/essential on-campus services are not permitted on campus at the present time. For those employees designated as critical/essential for on-campus services and approved to work onsite, we are reinforcing existing safety measures and instituting new measures designed to protect yourself and others. We require all employees designated as essential workers and working onsite to abide by the COVID-19 mitigation measures described below, regardless of whether the employee works onsite full-time or enters their workspace periodically to complete specific approved tasks onsite. The offices of the Vice Chancellors and Executive Vice Chancellor have been authorized to make decisions concerning employees designated as critical/essential workers and to approve special requests to return to the workplace.
- All employees working onsite will be required to pass an online training course to ensure that all of us are informed about how to reduce potential exposures to COVID-19 in the workplace and what steps are necessary to promote a safe workplace. The “COVID-19 Returning to Work Training” is required by Cal/OSHA and the California Department of Public Health. It will be available through the UC Learning Center and will be searchable by title using the Find a Course function. Everyone who is required to complete the course will receive an email notification with a link to the UC Learning Center. All employees currently working on campus should complete this ~20 minute training within one week of receiving it. All employees currently working remotely should complete the training at their earliest possible convenience.
- All individuals on the UC Santa Barbara campus and UCSB-controlled properties are required to wear face coverings (indoors or outside), in compliance with the California Department of Public Health and the County of Santa Barbara Health Officer Order. (This does not apply when (a) in a personal office when alone; (b) while eating or drinking when well separated from others, or (c) if a reasonable accommodation granted by the University exempts the individual from this requirement.)
- All employees working onsite are required to complete a daily COVID-19 screening survey prior to leaving home to report to work onsite as a precaution to limit potential exposures to COVID-19 in the workplace. This includes employees who have received approval to make periodic visits to work onsite. To assist employees in their daily assessment, UC Santa Barbara has launched a daily COVID-19 screening survey that will be sent via an email link. As an alternative to the email web link, the survey can be completed via an automated phone service. Regardless of which option the employee chooses (e.g., email web link or automated phone service), the process takes less than one minute. After completing the daily survey, the employee and their supervisor will receive one of the following responses by email:
o CLEARED TO BE ON-SITE at a UCSB facility, or
o NOT CLEARED TO BE ON-SITE at a UCSB facility
When an employee is NOT cleared to be onsite, the screening survey will provide next steps for the employee to follow. Employees who are not cleared should contact their supervisor by the daily COVID-19 screening survey to determine whether the employee should be placed on leave or whether they can work remotely. The screening survey does not collect health information and will not pass any information collected to the supervisor. Supervisors should not ask employees to disclose any symptoms or personal information. (For more information about privacy practices see: COVID-19 Screening Program Privacy Practices). Employees working onsite must enroll in the COVID-19 Screening program. To enroll and learn more about the screening survey, please use this link: https://ucsb.co1.qualtrics.
Enrolled employees will receive a survey link sent in a daily email reminder that is unique to each individual, and expires in 24 hours. You cannot take the survey more than once in a day. You may be asked by your supervisor or a building monitor to confirm that you completed the daily COVID-19 screening survey and that you have received clearance to report to work onsite. If a supervisor discovers that an employee (who is working onsite) has failed to adhere to the COVID-19 mitigation measures (e.g., complete the online training, wear a face covering, submit their daily COVID-19 screening survey, etc.), the employee shall be asked to comply immediately. Failure to adhere to the COVID-19 mitigation measures will be addressed as appropriate.
- Custodial services for buildings that have been reopened is coordinated through Facilities Management. Any changes to the frequency of cleaning will be directed by campus senior leadership. All buildings that are officially open have hand sanitizers at entryways and by elevators that should be used by all individuals upon entering buildings and elevators.
- Physical distancing guidelines may require building stairwells to allow one-way travel only; elevator capacity may be limited to one, two, or three people at a time; and physical distancing within office spaces may require reconfiguration of work spaces, meeting rooms, common areas, and lobbies to ensure appropriate physical distancing measures. These types of changes will be evaluated and implemented on an on-going basis by appropriate campus officials.
- To report a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis for yourself or a UC Santa Barbara community member, use the phone number or email listed below to report this.
o Email ucsb-covid19@ucsb.edu; or
o Call (805) 893-3113; or
o Use this link to access the campus Reporting COVID-19 webpage.
Campus officials are working closely with the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and with the UC Office of the President to take the most effective precautions regarding the global COVID-19 pandemic. We thank you in advance for adhering to these safety measures intended to protect all members of the UC Santa Barbara community.