Coronavirus update

As the number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Europe grows, we are continuing to closely monitor the latest up to date guidance.

We take the wellbeing of our employees extremely seriously. To keep our guidance for colleagues up to date and reduce any potential impact on individuals, customers and communities, we are currently monitoring information published by the World Health Organisation and Public Health England. 

If there are any changes or updates to how this guidance affects our policy and procedures, we will issue updates via our online channels as well as directly to our Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) business partners.

As with all mail handling and other roles, good hand and personal hygiene should be maintained to minimise the risk of cold and flu infections, which are very common at this time of year. Hands should always be washed before eating and any gloves worn for mail handling should be cleaned frequently.

Disposable gloves can be made available to anyone on request through their line manager and as with our winter health campaigns, are a recommended additional precaution.

As part of good hygiene and ‘housekeeping,’ please remind your teams of the availability of antiseptic wipes for handheld shared items such as PDAs, finger scanners and also multi-use keyboards, ensuring you have an adequate supply of wipes.

Travel advice

The UK Chief Medical Officers are advising anyone who has travelled to the UK from mainland China, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia or Macau in the last 14 days and is experiencing a cough, fever or shortness of breath, to stay indoors and call NHS 111, even if your symptoms are mild.

If you have returned from the below specific areas since 19 February, you should call NHS 111, stay indoors and avoid contact with other people, even if you do not currently have any symptoms:

• Iran
• Specific lockdown areas in Northern Italy as designated by the Italian government
• Special care zones in South Korea as designated by the government of the Republic of South Korea
• Hubei province (returned in the past 14 days).

If you have returned from the below areas since 19 February and develop symptoms, however mild, you should call NHS 111, stay indoors at home and avoid contact with other people. You do not need to follow this advice if you have no symptoms.

• Northern Italy (defined by a line above, and not including, Pisa, Florence and Rimini)
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• Laos
• Myanmar.

If you or any of your team members have returned from the affected areas listed above, they should speak to their line manager before returning to work. Based on the latest information from Public Health England our SHE business partners will advise managers accordingly.

If a colleague has attended work after returning from one of the above areas, but has subsequently been advised to self-isolate as a precautionary measure after calling NHS 111, other colleagues in the workplace should continue with business as usual, maintaining good hand and personal hygiene and using antibacterial wipes where necessary. The risk to others remains low, however, should anyone have concerns, they should contact NHS 111.

In the interests of employee health, we strongly recommend that colleagues on personal visits do not travel to China and also review the latest travel advice from Public Health England before any travel likely to take them to designated areas of higher risk.

Please speak to your line manager if you have any questions or concerns.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and will act on Public Health England advice, which is updated daily. In the meantime, we will continue to share regular updates and information.