EDP has been monitoring the worldwide evolution of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) and has implemented several prevention and safety measures in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and official health organizations from the various countries where the group operates.
We had to suspend some activities during the most critical period of the Pandemic Situation, but we secured the provision of services to the community with more than 70% of our employees working from home and our operational teams working permanently on the ground and in command centers.
Now that the world is gradually preparing to return to a new normality, we are also preparing for this new phase of the pandemic with our EDP Return to Workplace Plan. The purpose of this plan is to prepare the resumption of our activities and the return of employees to our facilities in a phased manner.
The implementation of this plan will always be subject to the laws in force and to the decisions of governments and national/international health authorities in the 19 regions where the group operates. Portugal is the first country where the plan will be implemented, with some employees set to return to work as soon as May 18.
How will the returning plan be implemented?
The return of employees to the facilities will be organized in three phases and employees will be segmented into groups, in line with the recommendations of public health authorities.
The first phase provides for a progressive and segmented resumption of regular activity. The objective is to resume services, industrial and commercial activity that are strongly limited by teleworking, maintaining a high level of protection for employees, due to the risk of contagion still being moderate.
The second phase will start when most employees are able to return to their usual workplace. This phase includes a phased and progressive return to the company's facilities of the remaining services that are in teleworking, remaining active until there is a reduction in the level of public health risk to very low risk.
The third and last phase corresponds to the resumption of all activity, for all employees. It will be a time when the risk of contagion is residual or non-existent, due to the existence of group population immunization and/or the availability of a vaccine.
The first group includes employees with no social or health restrictions and whose return to the premises does not cause significant constraints for their personal and family life.
These employees are integrated into the facilities from the transition phase.
Employees who have minors under their care or are caregivers, with no alternative to guarantee care for their household, who are therefore unable to be included in group 1.
These employees are integrated into the facilities from the transition phase in case of extreme need for service or if they are available. In the monitoring phase, they will be gradually integrated.
The last group includes employees who are part of risk groups or who have specific health problems, even if not directly linked to Covid-19. These will be the last to return to the facilities.
Return with safety
Ensuring the return of our employees with maximum security is our priority. For this, we will apply security measures on their return.
Upon their return employees will have access to measures such as:
In addition to these measures, we have also reviewed our facilities to allow that:
- the workstations maintain a minimum distance of two meters, at 360º, between them;
- cleaning and disinfection of buildings to be more frequent than usual;
- meetings with a limited number of participants (we will continue to promote meetings remotely).
return plan
EDP in Portugal
Now that the State of Emergency in Portugal has been lifted, and following the guidelines of official authorities, Portugal will be the first country where EDP operates to witness the return to the so-called new normality.
We are preparing our facilities so that our first employees can return to their workplace on May 18.
Get to know EDP group's main markets response to COVID-19:
The purpose of this plan to gradually resume normality in the company's business areas without compromising the safety of its employees, partners, and customers. The implementation of this Return to Workplace plan will always be subject to the laws in force and to the decisions of governments and national/international health authorities in the various countries where the group operates.
This strategy has also followed the guidelines set by the European Commission in the "Joint European Roadmap towards lifting COVID-19 containment measures".
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