Subsea services player DeepOcean has published guidelines and mitigating actions to safeguard its employees against the spread of COVID-19.
The guidelines and mitigating actions enforced by the company are in line with the World Health Organisation’s recommendations and developed in collaboration with International SOS.
DeepOcean is monitoring the Novel Coronavirus development closely and has created an internal SharePoint site to keep all DeepOcean employees up to date on the latest developments.
The company said that travel should be limited as much as possible with emphasis to be placed on telephone and video conferencing whenever possible.
As part of precautionary measures, DeepOcean personnel returning from a ‘Category 1’ areas of Wuhan city and Hubei province, in China, Daegu or Cheongdo, in South Korea, Italy, Iran, and Tirol, in Austria, since February 19, will not be able to access any DeepOcean site, regardless if symptomatic or not. They are advised to self-quarantine for the next 14 day and call their local medical practitioner for advice.
In addition, DeepOcean employees returning from a ‘Category 2 area’, which include China, Japan, South Korea and south-east Asian countries, since February 19, and have developed symptoms, however mild, will not be able to access any DeepOcean site.
DeepOcean-related travel to ‘category 1 & 2’ locations has been restricted until further notice.
Suppliers or clients scheduled to travel directly from any of the ‘category 1 & 2’ locations will not visit any DeepOcean sites until further notice, but this does not include operational personnel coordinated by DeepOcean crewing departments.
Also, all suppliers/clients from other locations than category 1 & 2 that are scheduled to visit a DeepOcean office or worksite will be asked by project managers / area responsible / delegated DeepOcean contact person to confirm, prior to visiting, that they have not been in any of the Category 1 or 2 countries or in direct contact with anyone having visited these locations in the last 14 days.