Mikael on adapting work place activities

Dear colleagues,

Many of us are wondering what autumn 2020 will look like in terms of workplace placement at KTH. In light of the government's announcement that universities and colleges can return to teaching on campus, the president has decided to adapt workplace-based activities at KTH, in the autumn semester 2020.

President’s decision V-2020-0450

The decision is valid through 15^th January 2021, at the latest. Changes may have to be made during this time in response to information and recommendations from the government and other government agencies.

The CBH School has developed an implementation of the president’s decision for the autumn term 2020.

The main objectives are to prevent the spread of infection in society and to create a safe working environment. Careful planning of operations is required by responsible managers so that physical close contact and congestion are avoided. In order to ensure social distance, a limitation of attendance at the workplace is necessary. Our assessment is that a large part of the CBH School staff can, in an effective way, continue to work remotely. In addition, our assessment is that digital meetings have worked well and are an effective way to limit physical presence.

The following clarification applies to the working environment at the CBH School:

• All staff who can work from home should primarily continue to work remotely. Physical presence at KTH must be anchored with the nearest manager. The goal is that everyone who is dependent on physical attendance at KTH for their activities should be able to work on site in safe forms. The Head of School instructs the Heads of Department and the Head of Administration to make the necessary risk assessments regarding the work environment to determine which employees should work on site.
• Meetings and seminars should be held digitally for the time being unless the nature of the meeting or other rules require physical attendance (eg campus-based teaching). Smaller meetings (eg research groups or tutoring groups) can be conducted physically if necessary, provided that the requirements for social distance can be met.
• The Head of School instructs the Head of Administration to coordinate the adaptation of the school's premises in order to facilitate safety distances and reduce the spread of infection.

The above has been discussed and developed in consultation with the CBH management group (17/6).

President's decision V-2020-0410

I want to thank everyone for all the work you have done to make sure that the CBH School continues to function in our core areas, education and research. There are still many questions and we at CBH work in different groups, together with GVS, to try to sort these out before the holiday.

Now I hope that everyone gets a nice and restful midsummer weekend so that we can make our way to a well-deserved holiday.

Micke