Greetings,
We aim to restore the laboratories’ operations to activity that is as broad as possible, while maintaining and meeting all health requirements.
Starting Sunday, April 19, 2020, the rules detailed below will be applied. Developments in government policy may affect the implementation of this plan, and therefore on Thursday, April 16, we will issue an update. We are publicizing the procedure now in order to enable the units and researchers to prepare for the commencement of activities after Passover.
Please read carefully. If you have any questions, please contact the faculty’s associate dean.
A. Preliminary activities to be carried out already now
PI’s are asked to provide the associate dean the following information ASAP, preferably before Sunday, April 12.
1. Entry to the HUJI campus requires prior registration and is conditional upon the limitation according to which only up to 30% of the total number of HUJI employees may be present on campus at any given time. Therefore, the PI should inform the associate dean the names of all those who have not yet received permission to enter the campus, and who are expected to enter the campus for laboratory research activities. Please use the provided EXCEL format.
The list should include the laboratory head, graduate students, research assistants and administrative employees (distinguishing between those who have already received entry permission for the emergency period and those who have not). There is no need to report again on those who have already received permission to enter the campus.
2. The PI should inform the associate dean of the names of administrative staff employees who are not currently employed, whose work is essential to research activities in the laboratories and who have expressed their consent to return to work on campus.
3. The dean and associate dean should set operating procedures for the faculty’s interdepartmental equipment and should ensure that procedures are set for interdepartmental equipment in the various units.
B. Format for laboratory operations
In addition to the standard safety rules, until further notice the following rules apply:
1. Activities in HUJI research labs and interdepartmental equipment (the “Lab”) are limited to such that in any given laboratory, at any given time, no more than four people besides the head of the lab, may be present, a total of up to 5 people.
2. Laboratory operations are conditional upon ensuring that a distance of at least two meters between person to person is maintained at all times.
3. The number of people present in the laboratory should be minimized, and laboratory work should be done remotely to the maximum extent possible.
4. No laboratory employee will be obligated to work during the emergency period and scholarship recipients will not be obligated to come to the laboratory during the emergency period. All persons who are in high risk groups should be instructed to avoid coming to campus.
5. We recommended that each laboratory set at least two fixed shifts, such that the members of each group of people does not encounter the members of the other group at all. The PI must keep precise records of presence in the lab every day, detailing the names of those present and attendance hours in the lab.
6. As far as possible, each person working in the lab will be assigned permanent personal equipment, including keyboard, mouse, phone and the like. Equipment that is used at the laboratory and is not personal will undergo strict disinfection before any transmission from person to person. Disinfection of equipment will be done using disinfectant spray, disinfectant wipes and the like.
7. According to government regulations Mouth and nose masks must be worn in all public spaces, as well as in laboratories and office buildings, unless a person is alone in the room or is sharing the space with only one person and a 1.8 divider separates between them.
8. The PI must require all who work in the lab to adhere strictly to the rules of hygiene, including thorough washing of hands periodically throughout the time that each person is present in the laboratory.
9. The PI must make sure that all work and contact surfaces undergo frequent disinfection with 70% alcohol.
10. Each elevator ride will include one person only (so that at any given time, there will be no more than one person only in any given elevator). As a rule, we recommend avoiding use of the elevators as much as possible.
11. The cafeterias remain closed for the time being. Do not hold meals or physical meetings in common areas. No more than two people may be present at any given time in an office, and a distance of at least two meters between each person must be maintained.
12. All of the above refers to laboratory research work. We reiterate that apart from such work, no meeting may be carried out, including seminars, group sessions, tests and the like.
13. All those working in a laboratory must act according to the standard laboratory safety guidelines. Do not work alone with chemical, biological and physical risk elements. At least one additional employee who is aware of the presence of the person must be there on the same floor at all times.
14. A person must not come to campus if he or she has respiratory symptoms (coughing, sneezing, and shortness of breath) or fever over 38 degrees Celsius. Upon entrance to campus, each person must report that he or she checked his or her body temperature on the day of entry and that the temperature is normal, and that he or she does not have any respiratory symptoms. If one develops respiratory symptoms or a rise in body temperature, he or she is required to immediately leave the campus and immediately report it to the PI and to the associate dean.
15. Consider whether to use public transportation. We are considering the possibility of providing transportation services from the dormitory structures to the various campuses at regular intervals.
16. An information sheet with details of the guidelines listed above will be posted at the entrance of each laboratory.
Best regards,
Barak Medina, Rector