Newsletter from the President of Aix-Marseille University
to the entire university community
Dear all,
The national deconfinement date is approaching. As I wrote to you previously, our Business Resumption Plan (BRP) within AMU will be very gradual and voluntary for the vast majority of functions. Remote working remains the rule. Your health and that of your loved ones is the priority.
As a result, our PRA includes maximum health measures to protect us, while at the same time, in gradual stages and for a limited number of staff, resuming our essential missions within a more "normal" framework.
From next week, compliance with barrier gestures and physical distancing measures will be even more important than they are today. Wearing a mask in certain situations will also be necessary.
I would be grateful if you could pay close attention to these instructions, for everyone's sake.
Always take good care of yourself.
1. Disaster recovery plan: the main points
3-phase principles
First of all, let me remind you that working remotely is still the rule.
Only around 10 % of the total AMU workforce have to return to work on site because their activities are impossible or very complicated to carry out remotely. Each team leader identified these colleagues and activities in a survey carried out last week.
These colleagues will be the first to return to the offices and laboratories.
I would remind you that no-one will be allowed on site on 11 May, apart from the staff in charge of the logistics of the recovery plan, who will be on site throughout the week.
So wait for your line manager's instructions; he or she will let you know the date of your return shortly, if you are concerned.
The decontamination, which will be very gradual, will take place in 3 phases leading up to the summer holidays:
- Phase 1 - from 11 May to 18 May - is devoted to preparing for the reopening of the sites. The only presence authorised will therefore be linked to this organisational need: installation of plexiglass protections in the public reception areas, installation of containers of hydro-alcoholic gels, physical distance markings on the ground, installation of signage, posting of sanitary measures. Organisation of the distribution of barrier masks and return schedules (for very few staff, as you will have realised) is already underway.
- Phase 2 - from 18 May to 1 June - will be devoted to consolidating teleworking and organising the partial resumption of face-to-face activities, for a slightly larger number of staff than in phase 1, and on a voluntary basis.
- Phase 3 - from 2 June until further notice - will see a further increase in the number of classroom staff, on a voluntary basis and organised by each component, within reasonable limits in order to comply with health safety rules.
Remote working will therefore continue to be the rule.
2. Disaster recovery plan: criteria
additional
Your return to the site will be organised by your component or department and will depend on a number of factors:
- It depends on the date and the health situation at that time.
- The voluntary nature of your request to your manager, subject to service requirements.
- The resumption of school rhythms and childcare.
- How you get to work. People who travel on foot, by bicycle or by private vehicle will be given priority for the face-to-face sessions.
- The confinement of vulnerable people or people whose state of health is not compatible with the health situation - according to the advice of the health authorities or, failing that, the prevention doctor or the doctor treating them.
- The confinement of anyone experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or in direct contact with people showing these symptoms.
- Compliance with barrier measures and actions, in particular the rule of social distancing between two agents and regular hand washing, requiring sufficient stocks of soap and hydro-alcoholic gel, cleaning of premises between shifts at the same office, etc.
We have set up campus crisis units, led by the Deans responsible for security, to implement and adapt these common measures for our university. The same obviously applies to central services.
As you will have understood, our PRA is prudent and takes into account our public service requirements, your desire to work face-to-face and the health measures that still need to be taken by all of us.
I'm counting on you to keep your thoughts positive and your spirit of solidarity towards our university and our community as a whole.
Take good care of yourself and everyone else.
Éric Berton
Chairman of Aix-Marseille University