The UK government are lifting all legal restrictions from 19 July. This marks a new phase in the UK Government’s response to the pandemic, moving away from stringent restrictions on everyone’s day-to-day lives, towards advising people on how to protect themselves and others, alongside targeted interventions to reduce risk.
Our mission from the outset has been to protect our people and our projects and this remains the case while transmission levels in the wider society are increasing again. Our transmission rates in the workplace have been low and we are confident we have covid secure measures in place. So, to continue to protect you and your colleagues we have decided to keep in place the current covid safe ways of working – this will be reviewed regularly over the coming months.
Covid safe ways of working include regular testing (at least twice a week on projects), booking a desk, wearing masks in communal areas, and keeping in place our internal track ‘n trace system. As the current NHS guidance is that people who have been vaccinated can still catch and transmit covid-19, you’ll have to continue following the testing regime even if you have been double vaccinated. We will, however, keep this under review. We will also keep in place our hygiene measures.
We are planning our move back to the new normal, in line with the UK government's guidelines and dates. The safety of our people and projects will remain our main priority. Aligning our changes to the UK government’s re-opening of society, and putting safety first - it will be a phased transition, ending up with a balanced and flexible /agile working environment that supports our projects and is based on what we’ve learned and achieved together over the past 12 months.
The timetable and more details is available in your project bulletin briefing. Please speak to your site management team
We have hope for the future as the vaccine programme rolls out, however the new strains of covid-19 are spreading more rapidly across all the countries we work in. Our projects remain open with covid-19 secure measures in place but we all have a role to play in protecting our people.
Coming into any of our sites or locations when you have symptoms of covid-19 or are waiting for an NHS test result contravenes our safe working practices. Can you therefore ensure that all your teams visiting or working on a Murphy site are briefed on our health check declaration as soon as possible.
Following covid-19 secure measures is a condition of entry to all our locations. There is a hub on our website that is accessible to all detailing the covid-19 secure measures we all have to take: www.murphygroup.com/coronavirus/social-distancing
We have introduced two new measures over the past few months:
We look forward to your continued support.
We have hope for the future as the vaccine programme rolls out, however the new strains of covid-19 are spreading more rapidly across all the countries we work in.
To protect our people and our future, it is important that everyone acts at all times as if you and your colleagues have covid-19. This means:
Below are guidelines and updates on specific topics. Attached are reminders for project and support employees – please put these up in all sites, depots and offices. We are in the process of reviewing our hubs on Greenspace and our website and all procedures, explainers and posters that are on MIMS (search covid-19).
YOU ARE THE KEY
The vast majority of our colleagues who have tested positive, contracted covid from personal contacts outside of work -so please remember that each unnecessary contact increases the risk of transmission to you, your family and your work colleagues. Please wear face masks over your nose and mouth in public spaces (e.g. shops) – especially if you are wearing branded PPE – and wash your hands regularly.
Finally, our mental wellbeing is very important too. Please ask for support when you need it and keep checking in with colleagues who you don’t see or speak to every day.
We understand that it’s been a long ten months, and hopefully this is the last stretch. Thank you for all you have done already to help protect our people and our future.
STAY AT HOME
You must stay at home and take an NHS test if:
ASYMPTOMATIC TESTING
Most local authorities are now rolling out free asymptomatic testing and prioritising essential workers who can’t work from home. Check your local authority website for how to book a test. Many of our projects are conducting asymptomatic testing on site.
TRAINING
Where possible training should be held virtually. Face-to-face training should only happen if it is safety or work critical and essential for you to continue working.
TRAVEL
Travel is only allowed for essential project delivery. Question yourself and colleagues on what is considered ‘essential’ too.
SHIELDING AND CHILD CARE
If you have been asked to shield by the NHS or you have issues with child care please speak to your People Business Partner as there are a number of options available to support you.
SOCIAL MEDIA
If you are contacted by a journalist please refer them to Chris Mostyn
Hello
Following the announcement that England will be placed in a lockdown from Thursday, 5 November to 2 December 2020, we are pleased that the UK Government has continued to recognise the construction industry’s importance to maintaining essential infrastructure and the UK economy.
Essentially, this means there will be little change to our working practices. If you have any concerns about your personal situation please discuss these with your line manager. Some points to note:
As the situation changes, we will keep you updated.
Stay safe and keep checking in and supporting each other.
The new normal means we have to live and work with Covid-19. As case numbers increase, we have to make sure that we do everything we can to protect our people and our projects, in the same way we did during the height of lockdown.
We already have Covid-19 protocols in place – from one-way systems, increased hygiene and welfare facilities, and mask wearing - and we are confident that those are the right measures to have in place.
To support that, the senior leadership team have developed a STAGED RESPONSE PLAN in line with Government protocols, to help us maintain business continuity in a controlled way and respond to any changes that arise in future. This links closely to changes in case numbers across the country. We can also move up or down the plan to make sure we are keeping our people and projects safe.
What does that mean?
Stage 1 is the lower end of the scale and reflects the ‘new normal’ - where we have basic steps in place like one-way systems, masks, etc. Stage 4 is what we would go to if the government were to put in place a national lockdown again with minimal movements, essential work only, schools closed, reduced public transport, etc.
We will let you know what happens if and when things change.
What stage are we at now and why?
We have now moved to stage 2 – ‘reducing our movements’ - because of the increase in cases around the country. All of our projects, depots and offices remain open for you to carry out your role in accordance with your agreed working pattern. All our established protocols and controls that we have in place will continue, but to further protect our projects we are asking you to only go to your normal site or office and not to travel to other projects or offices unless you need to in order to facilitate project delivery and programme requirements. For further information on what this means for you and your teams, see the below info-graphic.
What you need to do?
As a line manager, look at the info-graphic and think of any questions you have. How will it apply for your specific circumstances? How do you keep your project team safe? Share this with your teams and discuss the possible impacts and things you need to do.
Thank you.
Hello
Yesterday’s announcement from the UK Prime Minister to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic continues to support the role of construction in supporting the economy and protecting jobs. This recognises the commitment by everyone in our business and across the sector who played their part over recent months in working safely.
As we now enter a new phase to tackle Covid-19, the safety of our people and our projects remains our primary aim. Across Murphy, we have made significant investment to protect our people, and we have the systems and safety protocols in place thanks to the excellent response from our colleagues. Thanks to all that hard work, all our offices, project and depots will remain open for essential work.
We recognise the importance of agile working and that a blend of home working and office-based activity is the right approach for this business. Following yesterday’s announcement, some may need to revisit that balance and we encourage you to have this conversation with your line manager in the coming days.
Our priority is ensuring the ongoing safe operations of our projects. To help achieve that, people who are not part of the core project team must only visit project sites if absolutely necessary and with prior approval of the BU MD/Ops Director. We would like people to use the various tools we have for remote working and keep unnecessary travel between office and site locations to an absolute minimum.
As always, we need to continue with our high standards of hygiene and maintain social distance. Across the countries where we work, it is important that we maintain these high standards to protect our projects and our people.
We appreciate that this the pandemic has created a need for us to be agile and dynamic, as information and circumstances may change quickly. Please keep connected to the Greenspace Covid-19 Hub, which is the focal point for our communications on the pandemic.
WHAT NEXT
In the longer term, the new normal means we have to live and work with Covid-19. We have to make sure that as a business, we do everything we can to protect our people and our projects, in the same way we did during the height of lockdown. To help us all adapt quickly to local and national measures, we have developed a Four-stage agile response plan. There will be a briefing to explain this approach for line managers coming soon and information issued for them to cascade and discuss with their teams.
Together, we can protect our people and our projects.
Stay safe.
John Murphy, CEO
To help stop the spread, keep our projects operational and protect our teams on site with immediate effect:
To make sure that we protect our people and projects, remember these three rules:
We are constantly monitoring the covid-19 situation and government guidance. We are confident that we have great measures in place across all our sites, offices and depots to help protect our people and our business. However we are aware that the number of covid-19 cases are rising across the UK and Ireland and, without speculating, we are planning for changes in government’s policies. We are in the process of developing a four stage agile response plan – which will allow our teams to understand what they need to do at a local level, so we can adapt quickly and calmly if new restrictions come in.
For now we should all continue to follow the established safety protocols that have been tried and tested over the last few months. Our offices and projects remain open and you should continue to attend in line with the working rota/pattern agreed with your line manager.
At the forefront of our minds should be the question “What would I say about the last 48 hours, if Track & Trace contacted me today?” Your simple everyday actions – washing your hands, keeping a safe distance and wearing face coverings - at work, in public and at home will protect our people and our business.
If you are contacted by NHS Track & Trace or are diagnosed with covid-19 please follow our reporting processes.
If you have any questions please speak to your line manager or email businesscontinuity@murphygroup.co.uk
More will be out next week and thank you for your hard work and commitment to our safety.
To help keep you safe, unless you are exempt for medical reasons, you must wear a face covering at all of our sites, offices, depots and joint-ventures if you:
If you cannot wear a face covering for medical reasons, please contact your dedicated ER Advisor.
Why? The majority of people who get covid-19 are asymptomatic and the virus can last on smooth surfaces for up to 72 hours. Wearing a face covering will help to protect your colleagues. If you need a face covering please speak to your supervisor, local SHES advisor or receptionist.
Our absolute number one priority is the safety of our employees, suppliers, clients and the communities that we work in. As part of this commitment, we have 500 flu vaccines available to our employees for free.
HOW TO ORDER
To order a free flu jab email occhealth@murphygroup.co.uk. In your email please include
Line managers can also send in an email requesting a flu jab on behalf of any of their team members who do not have an email address of their own.
If you are entitled to a NHS flu vaccine please don’t request one from us. Instead, you should secure one through your local GP, local pharmacy or midwifery service.
Unfortunately, there are some scammers who are using the new UK track and trace system for Covid-19 to try steal information or commit fraud. Click here to view our poster for more guidance. Or, please speak to your Project Leader or SHES advisor for more information.
GENUINE CONTACT TRACERS WILL NOT:
The UK Government announced a new NHS test and trace system. The service will allow us to trace the spread of the virus and isolate new infections and play a vital role in giving us early warning if the virus is increasing again, locally or nationally.
At a high level the process is:
You can find out more on the Gov UK website. At this point in time, this guidance applies to England only.
REPORTING
We are reviewing the government guidance and will have more information out soon about our policies and procedures, including sick pay. In the meantime if you get a NHS alert, then please follow the same reporting process as if you are tested positive for COVID-19:
HOW TO BOOK A TEST
You should book a test yourself through the NHS website. If you don’t have internet access you can call 119
If you are an essential worker you can book priority testing through the Gov UK website
TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT YOUR TEST RESULT
The guidance from the UK government is:
COVID-19 TESTING & SYMPTOMS
Loss of taste and/or smell has been added as a new symptom of COVID-19. Anyone with symptoms of coronavirus can be tested. Essential workers can apply for priority testing.
HOW TO BOOK
NOTES
This test is only if you are showing symptoms – it is not an anti-body test. So it tells you if you have COVID-19 now, not if you have had it in the past
We expect employees to follow our social distancing guidelines. If notwithstanding those guidelines, an employee has been in very close regular contact (eg shared transportation) with someone who has a positive test result for COVID-19, then they should book a test via the NHS and self-isolate whilst awaiting confirmation of the results.
You can access a new range of employee benefits through Salary Finance, a Financial Wellbeing provider. This includes affordable loans repaid through salary, hassle-free savings accounts, as well as financial education including budgeting tips and tools, videos and webinars. Loan product: Representative Rate 7.9% APR (fixed).
Find out more at: murphy.salaryfinance.com
Important: This is an option, not a recommendation. J Murphy & Sons Ltd does not benefit from offering this service and all your communications will be with Salary Finance. Applications will be assessed to ensure the loan is appropriate and affordable for you. For loan products, Salary Finance Limited acts as credit broker exclusively for associated company Salary Finance Loans Limited. References to “Salary Finance” means Salary Finance Limited (acting as loan originator (broker) and servicer) and each of its associated and/or group companies, including Salary Finance Loans Limited (acting as lender).
Essential workers who have symptoms (high fever, new and continuous cough and/or shortness of breath) can be tested for covid-19.
There is more information on the NHS website about the testing process. Please speak to your project management teams for more information.
WHO CAN TAKE THE TEST?
It is great to see the Secretary of State, the RT HON Alock Sharma MP thanking us for our industry’s contribution to society at this difficult time and reinforcing the benefit that the construction sector plays in supporting the economy in this current time.
At Murphy we have always said that our purpose is to improve lives by delivering world-class infrastructure. Now more than ever this is relevant and true.
Thank you to all of our teams for your ongoing hard work and commitment.
Find out more on the UK.Gov website.
Following the increased measures by government to enforce social distancing a number of situations have come up about key worker status. These include:
Please note that the government’s guidelines for key workers are defined as:
We have to be controlled on the issuing of these letters as we have a moral and legal obligation to ensure they are issued to genuine key workers as listed in the government guidelines only.
If you need a key worker status confirmation, then please call our People Shared Services Centre:
0345 040 4040
This line is open until 5.30pm today and from 9.00am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday.
Our team will check your details against Success Factors and our own internal key worker list based on the government guidelines. If you have been identified as a key worker, you will get a personalised confirmation by email. Please have an email address ready, you don’t need to have a company email address.
If you have had a letter issued as part of nursery or schools placements, then you don’t have to call and you can use the one issued earlier as evidence.
We can’t print payslips as the payroll team are working from home. Weekly paid employees got a token in the payslip for w/c 16 March. A guide is in the mid-week SHES pack. Please download it and set it up on your personal phone. Email or call payroll if you need help or don’t have a mobile.
The UK government has directed most UK hotels to close. However some hotels are staying open for key workers, but asking for you to give evidence that you are a key worker. Please ask teams who are relying on this accommodation to phone the People Shared Services team to get a letter emailed to them.
0345 040 4040
This line is open until 5.30pm today and from 9.00am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday.
Our team will check your details against Success Factors and our own internal key worker list based on the government guidelines. If you have been identified as a key worker, you will get a personalised confirmation by email. Please have an email address ready, you don’t need to have a company email address.
Please make sure you get guidance from your site management team and/or SHES advisor on essential travel for work. Personal and environmental factors vary, so please consider and discuss as a team:
We are listening and adapting our policies and procedures quickly. Follow government guidance on their websites or for more on what we are doing:
The UK government have escalated their response to coronavirus through a series of strict measures to stay at home for the next three weeks. The exceptions for exiting the home include:
To help this national effort to combat the biggest threat in decades, we all need to do our part. Many of our teams need to maintain vital infrastructure services across the country and these roles are critically important. As well as continuing to work on essential infrastructure projects for our clients, the government has confirmed that construction sites can remain open. But we need to maintain rigorous hygiene standards and social distancing guidelines as standard on our sites and offices. Some of our clients may want to take a different stance on this and we are working with those clients to understand their needs.
It is important to protect our teams, so we need to focus on social distancing and those who can work from home should do so. There are a range of different personal and environmental factors to consider, so we need to make plans at a local level to ensure we have the right protective measures in place. Please speak to your site management team / line manager, as they have been asked to review, update and revise Risk Assessments and Method statements to comply with social distancing guidelines and talk to each of their teams about their individual circumstances. I appreciate implementing these measures may cause a challenge but we need to work together to implement this, the SHES team will be sharing more information on this over the course of today.
Our mission is to protect our people, our business and our future. Our working groups and project teams are working as quickly as possible to update our working methods and put in place measures to protect you. There will be more guidelines out today.
Following the government’s announcement this morning, we have identified key workers at Murphy and can issue you confirmation for schools and nurseries. Please note that the government’s guidelines for key workers are defined as:
We have to be controlled on the issuing of these letters as we have a moral and legal obligation to ensure they are issued to genuine key workers as listed in the government guidelines only.
It is not a guarantee you will get a school place as the government have confirmed that available places will be allocated to emergency services employees first – police, doctors, nurses, ambulance crews and their children.
FOR ACTION: If you have children in school or nursery and are in a frontline role please call the People Shared Services Centre as soon as possible. They will be able to issue the documents you need to give your child’s school confirmation that you are a key worker.
This line is open until 5.30pm today and from 9.00am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday.
Our team will check your details against Success Factors and our own internal key worker list based on the government guidelines. If you have been identified as a key worker, you will get a personalised confirmation by email. Please have an email address ready, you don’t need to have a company email address.
Please note that at this stage, key worker letters will only be issued to those needing to try and secure an ongoing school or nursery place so that they can physically continue to go to work.
It is important to underline that schools and childcare settings remain safe places for children. But the fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.
There will be guidance out soon for parents who have not been identified as key workers.
UK SCHOOL CLOSURES
The government has released the key workers list. We are working through identifying parents at Murphy who are classified as key workers. More will be sent to individuals soon. Please speak to your line manager in the first instance if you have questions about your personal circumstances.
The NHS are writing to over 1m people, who they have identified as being high risk should they catch COVID-19. They are being asked to remain in their homes in isolation for 12 weeks. If you're at high risk, you will be contacted by the NHS by Sunday 29 March 2020. Do not contact your GP or healthcare team at this stage – wait to be contacted. You can find out more on the NHS website.
If you are contacted by the NHS, please follow their instructions and let your line manager know (by telephone!).
You should follow the advice of the NHS and UK government. At this time their advice is:
Please speak to your line manager about your personal situation. In turn they should get guidance from your People Business Partner.
You may be at high risk from coronavirus if you:
The NHS is your most trusted source of information.
Our absolute number one priority is the safety of our employees, suppliers, clients and the communities that we work in. We are closely monitoring the situation and should the information change please be reassured that we will act quickly to adapt our plans.
We have enacted our strategic response team and are currently carrying out detailed contingency planning across key areas that could affect our business – e.g. people, plant, suppliers and materials, clients and technology.
It is very important that we maintain the highest standards of hygiene. Please ask your line manager for the checklists. Vehicles and Plant should be cleaned down at the start of each shift, upon exchange of daily drivers, and at the end of each working day. The following guidance should be implemented and recorded each day:
We have got updates from CPCS, NOCN and CITB that they are having difficulty updating and renewing cards. Where possible, they are trying to move to online training and tests. We will follow and monitor their contingency planning.
It is vital that our multi-skilled teams can continue to operate our projects. So we have made the decision that for the foreseeable future we will accept cards from both our employees and agencies that have expired in the last 30 days. For example we accept cards that have expired on 19 March to 19 April 2020. We will keep reviewing and updating this policy.
If you have any questions or want to raise an issue please speak to your technical training co-ordinators or SHES advisors.
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UK Government |
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Your project management team E: businesscontinuity@murphygroup.co.uk Speak to your covid-19 marshal or SHES advisor |