Employee Log-In-Danielle-Test

Purpose Statement:

When communicable disease strikes, it impacts the participation of recreation, dining and events and changes the Above & Beyond experience in unanticipated ways. This Communicable Disease Prevention Plan describes strategies that, if utilized, minimize the potential that communicable illness will occur (prevention). It also describes strategies that minimize impact when an outbreak happens (response).

Part One. Prevention: Making It Less Likely that Communicable Disease Occurs

 

The strategies below have the potential to minimize the risk of communicable diseases at Westwood Platea Golf Club. When going through the list, keep in mind that no single strategy will be 100% effective; rather, people will have stronger protection when more prevention strategies are in place.

KEY POINT: Implement as many strategies as possible, then monitor to make sure they are used.

Communicate expectations to the public, members, staff and volunteers:

1. Ask each player, diner or guest of an event to arrive no more than 15 minutes prior to their scheduled arrival time.
2. Ensure all persons on-site are following physical distancing guidelines in place.
3. Ask people to wash their hands or use sanitizer before starting their shift or when returning after breaks.
4. State that the Golf Course reserves the right to deny admission to people who pose a communicable disease threat to others.
5. Direct ill persons to stay home and be prepared to answer questions in relation to cancellation policies, refunds or rescheduling.
6. Describe, in both employee and guest policies, the potential actions taken by Westwood Plateau Golf Club should a communicable disease outbreak occur.
7. Consider making a disease specific safety plan.

Health Screening: Include the notice that screening may be required for entry, and know that emerging disease may not be identified immediately, only to present later. Discuss options should questionable signs/symptoms be identified during the visit.

Determine, implement and monitor practices that minimize potential for communicable disease. Using public health orders, industry research and the Joint Health and Safety Committee, create guidelines that staff, guests, members and volunteers are expected to follow. Ensure staff and volunteer training commences and continues until the communicable disease is eradicated or the risk becomes minimal.

1. Appropriate hand washing and/or hand sanitizing. This assumes adequate soap, sanitizer and access to warm water are at key locations. See appendix A: Hand Washing: Making it Really Effective.
2. Cough and sneeze into your sleeve.
3. Encourage people to not touch their face. Hands may carry various pathogens but those pathogens don’t impact health until they have a route into the body. Strongly push the “Hands off your face” message to minimize transferring hand pathogens into the body.
4. Increase the physical distance between people, especially in dining rooms and other areas with prolonged grouping. See Appendix B: Physical Distancing: A Communicable Disease Control Strategy.
   1. Maintain 6 feet between dining tables, in congregating areas, in power carts and other shared items.
   2. Consider implementing barriers, refusing shared carts, minimizing the number of people that can sit at one table, etc.
5. Inform First Aid Attendants on:
   1. Potential changes to direct contact such as wearing masks and gloves.
   2. Educate First Aid Attendants on the signs and symptoms associated with communicable disease.
   3. Direct First Aid Attendants to isolate people with questionable symptoms.
   4. Provide accessible resources to consult when questions come up.
6. Make certain the staff who prepare and serve food, know and implement safe food handling practices with emphasis on good hand washing.

Isolation: Confirm the isolation room for employees and guests in case on site illness occurs. Prepare the space with first aid equipment, including masks and gloves, and train employees on when and how to use this space.

Train all Staff: Assess the training procedures and identify any areas of weakness or opportunity to implement further strategies. Follow through with daily, weekly or monthly checks of employee knowledge on prevention.

Maintain access to reliable sources about communicable illnesses.

1. Provide a copy of the current BC Public Health Orders.
2. Monitor the CDC website (cdc.gov.bc.ca)

Learn what community support/resources might be available should an outbreak occur and how to access those resources. Examples include:

1. Public, community and Canadian health contact information.
2. Local or provincial leaders that set guidelines and when they announce updates.
3. Local businesses that supply PPE, sanitizer and soap.

Part 2. Response Planning: Minimizing Impact by planning for an outbreak

There is a difference between planning and implementing an outbreak plan. Go into your planning process recognizing that a plan serves to guide, not define all actions. Certain diseases may require further protocols advised by health authorities. These factors of effective disease plans include:

1. The health profile of employees and public
2. The experience and training of staff
3. The ability of all staff to know and apply outbreak control strategies
4. Current provincial and nation health regulations

It is also important to understand the different impacts associated with different diseases. Each outbreak is different with potential to impact things such as supply chain and availability of additional personnel. You may need to ramp up or ramp down the protocols based on the severity of the disease. For example, access to PPE may be different when an outbreak affects only your province apposed to an entire geographic region. Be prepared to scale plans accordingly.

Develop a response team

1. Plan Coordinator: has overall responsibility of the response plan.
2. Communication: This role coordinates and often develops messaging about the outbreak to both internal and external audiences.
3. Facilities: An outbreak can stress various utilities. We may need more sanitizer, more consistent garbage pickup, access to plexi glass barriers, and other supplies may be high in demand. This position is designed to keep an overall inventory on what we need, how often we use things and when we need to order more.
4. Employee Contact: This role focuses on answering any and all protocol, health and safety and disease related questions. This position is also responsible for employee communication and tracking of current illnesses.

The point is to think about how you will respond and what you may need when responding to an outbreak. This means modifying suggested roles to fit the disease specific needs. Some roles may be combined depending on the severity and complexity of the disease.

Once roles are identified, it is time to consider who might fill each of those roles. Talk with prospective team members and determine their interest in the role, sense of responsibility and willingness to work as a team. Once team members are identified, it is time to bring them together to launch the response planning process.

KEY POINT: Involve your Joint Health and Safety Committee members in identifying any areas of concern.

Initiate a planning meeting

Bring team members together for an initial planning meeting. The goal of this meeting is to plan any immediate needs associated with an outbreak and explore how the plan will be implemented. Some topic areas that need attention are listed on the next page.

1. Primary Focus: Respond to the problem.
   1. Collect as much information that is known about the disease and converse about the facts.
   2. Identify symptoms.
2. Support Health, PPE and Barrier Needs:
   1. Stock adequate supplies of masks, gloves and other PPE.
   2. Create an inventory system that allows for easy tracking of PPE.
   3. Consider how the illness is passed from person to person and implement strategies to minimize the potential that employees may get ill.
3. Communication
   1. Determine how and by whom safety protocols will be announced.
   2. Determine when employees are ineligible to work and how they should communicate this information.
   3. Determine how to track sick employees test results and medical time off.
   4. Prepare to handle inquiries regarding co-worker’s health from staff members, volunteers, public and members.
      1. Reminder, a person’s health is confidential and managers are not permitted to give specific information such as names.
   5. Facilities
      1. Determine the best location for an isolation room.
      2. Assess ventilation and climate control options in the isolation room.
      3. Determine how people will be moved in and out of the isolation room.
      4. Discuss hand washing facilities. These should be convenient to entrance areas and accessible during all business hours.
      5. Determine how infectious waste may be discarded. For example, a used mask from someone that is sick.
   6. Record Keeping
      1. Maintain notes of the response teams meetings
      2. Pre-determine what records are required by public health orders, laws or required by the General Manager. This may include contact tracing, sanitization records, employee health check, invoices, employee leaves etc.

Once the plan’s core framework has been developed, ask the questions:

1. What number of management staff are critical to maintain the safety protocols and daily operations?
2. What is the tipping point? Do we have a point to which we will temporarily close the businesses?
3. What conditions might warrant the clubhouses getting closed by an external agency?
4. Which departments may need to scale back and at what point should we make this call?
5. Discuss the possibility of operating outdoors, is it possible? Will it affect the guest experience?

Part Three: Initiating and Sustaining the Response Plan

 

Contact: The point when Communicable Disease has been found in the community. This can also be the point when an employee, guest, member or volunteer has a confirmed case before, during or after their visit to Westwood Plateau Golf Club.

Confirm the Problem: Check with local health officers and online resources for community outbreaks. If communicable disease is suspected on-site, isolate the person and ask to be informed of the test results or follow up with Public Health.

Take Action:

• Evaluate the need for additional resources
• Activate needed response team members, bring them together and launch the plan as soon as possible. Plan for a follow up meeting to asses the current plan’s effectiveness.
• Decide on a way to communicate the plan to guests, employees, members and volunteers.
  • Tell the staff what is happening, whether it be a community outbreak or an outbreak at Westwood Plateau Golf Club. Be prepared to answer direct and difficult questions. Staff may be under immense stress and/or mental stability depending on their situation or health (immunocompromised).
  • Be prepared to communicate to guests. Find an efficient way of communicating Westwood Plateau Golf Club’s expectations of a visitor. Usage of Guest Safety Plans may be relevant and figuring out how to communicate the expectations. Consider posting the Safety Plan on the website, or communicating information to over-the-phone bookings.
  • Be prepared to train the employees on how to keep themselves safe and educate them on what policies and procedures the company has put in place to help keep them safe.
• Note the potential for news to leak of an on-site case. Be prepared to answer employee, guest, member and volunteer questions. Appoint one person as the Contact and ensure they are equipped with the knowledge needed to answer direct questions.
• Understand that some employees and/or volunteers may be immunocompromised and may require special PPE, time off and/or communication.

Sustain the Response Plan

Once a communicable disease outbreak has started, expect that more people will become ill. The severity and contagiousness of the illness will determine how long the employee must be off work. There is also a risk of sick or asymptomatic individuals exposing others while at the clubhouse or on the course. This is where clear protocols and communication will pay off.

Daily, weekly or monthly meetings with the response team will depend on the severity and changing information of the disease. Initially, it is important to meet more often, whereas later when the disease begins to stabilize, there may be more time between meetings. It is important to continue the evaluation of supplies and updated disease information from health authorities, CDC or Fraser Health.

While routine Response Team meetings facilitate communication about the outbreak, the meeting also allows team members to “decompress” by expressing their own emotions in a setting where how they’re feeling won’t impact other volunteers and staff. This emotional decompression is valuable; it allows people to vent in an appropriate place and with supportive individuals. Take note of people who may be over-reacting to the situation; talk one-on-one with them outside the meeting.

Revising the Safety Plan

As the disease progresses in the community, more information will be communicated to us by the CDC, Top Doctor of BC and/or Canada and our government. Symptoms, contagiousness and ways the disease can transfer may change at any time, especially if the disease begins to mutate. It is important to stay updated and revise the safety plan accordingly. Keep updated on the current recommendations for PPE, this can affect what products we will need to source and supply. Furthermore, with more information, we can understand how the disease is transmitted. For example, if the disease is airborne, consider the use of facemasks and social distancing.

Along with transmission, another factor is the illness’ incubation period. This refers to the time between when a susceptible person is exposed and when the illness actually emerges. This period of time can range depending on the illness. Knowing this incubation period can help identify the employees and volunteers that need to stay home and away from the clubhouses and golf courses.

Part Four: Recovery and Mitigation:

 

Assuming control measures were effective, the number of new cases will eventually start to taper off. Consult with the response team to determine how long the safety measures should stay in effect. Do not assume an outbreak is over only to have it re-emerge because controls were terminated too soon.

Process Records: These include injury/disease report forms, receipts for incurred costs and copies of communication with the public and workers.

Evaluate and update the communicable disease response plan and adjust areas that need improvement and look for places where greater efficiency with less effort might exist. Discuss lessons learned and solve the problems for future communicable diseases.

Appendix A: Handwashing: Making It Really Effective

 

Handwashing remains one of our most effective protective behaviors against communicable disease. While handwashing doesn’t guarantee protection and safety, a person can certainly reduce risk of exposure. That protection however, is directly tied to how well a person washes their hands coupled with keeping hands away from the face. Here are tips to make your handwashing most protective.

Key Message: Wash your hands with soap and water and keep your hands away from your face

According to the CDC, handwashing is most effective when done:

• Before putting something in your mouth, eyes or nose.
• After using the washroom
• After coughing and sneezing. Even if you use a Kleenex or your sleeve.
• Before and after coming in contact with someone (first aid, shaking hands etc.)
• Before, during and after preparing food.

Because beneficial and potentially harmful microbes are on our hands, handwashing alone isn’t protective unless we keep our hands AWAY from our faces and other body openings. Yes, germs collect on our hands but they can’t do much there. They become impactful when we delightfully transfer them by bringing our hands to our face (aka: provide a “portal of entry”). Work on keeping your hands from touching your face.

When washing your hands, make sure to get every spot, especially where bacteria would hide:

• Between fingers
• Under rings
• The back of our hands
• Underneath fingernails

Wash your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds. Washed hands should be rinsed with clean, running water. Plunging one’s hands into a basin of used water re-contaminates hand surfaces. In addition, the water’s temperature should be warm. Consider how this may affect remote positions such as on-course.

Air-dryers might be appropriate depending on the dryer’s source of air. Pulling air from the bathroom with its aerosolized microbes is quite different from using air pulled from Mother Nature’s Great Outdoors. Bottom line: go for the paper towels.

Not all hand sanitizers are created equal. Based on the CDC information, washing with soap and water is preferred, but when that’s not possible, hand sanitizers may be useful with these points in mind:

• Sanitizer should contain at least 60% alcohol.
• Sanitizers are meant to be used in large quantities and hands should be rubbed until dry.
• Sanitizers are not good at removing grease and dirt. Grime on hands reduces the sanitizer’s effectiveness.

Pathogens like COVID-19, Norovirus and even the common cold are driving continued research into topics like hand washing. It is important to research as new information is released.

 

Appendix B: Physical Distancing: A Communicable Disease Control Strategy.

 

Physical distancing is a communicable (infectious) disease control measure that’s most useful during an outbreak. It helps by slowing or stopping the spread of the illness. While typically implemented during a pandemic, physical distancing can also be used on a smaller scale – on a golf course – to help break the cycle of communicability for infectious diseases such as norovirus.

The strategy is based on keeping people far enough away from one another to minimize, if not eliminate, the possibility of catching an infected person’s illness when that illness is transmitted via droplet or aerosolized particles. However, physical distancing is most effective when partnered with other control strategies such as effective handwashing and cough/sneeze etiquette.

Have people Maintain Physical Distance:

Some believe that physical distancing is easy to implement; simply tell people to stay “X” distance from others. But our golf deals with children, alcohol, events, dinner tables etc.. These “high touch,” social beings are used to hugs and close interaction. Getting them to stay away from one another often demands consistent supervision.

Hot Spots for Inadequate Physical Space:

Along with getting people to social distance, managers of Westwood Plateau Golf Club should be aware of common areas of gathering. These areas can be challenging to police, and may need special attention to ensure proper physical distancing is being followed.

• Line ups: Many places throughout both locations require line ups. For example, Guest Services, Host Stations, Bar Areas, Entrances and Hallways (Executive Course), Take Out Counters, Washrooms, Driving Range Entrance and more. Prepare to arrange and install markers on the floor to eradicate the risk of transmission.
• Restaurant Seating: At both restaurants, we need to ensure the tables, chairs and floor plans are properly spaced for ideal distancing. This also means communicating with each party the expectations that they will not be moving tables, chairs or combining or visiting with parties.
• Events: Given the nature of certain events, it can be hard to keep the guests from mingling, hugging, dancing and coming into contact with each other in general. More supervision during events may be necessary.