Coronavirus staff guidance University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Preserving and protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff is of paramount importance to the Trust. We aim to ensure that our staff are physically and mentally healthy and that we protect our colleagues, families and patients.

The Trust has had in place a COVID-19 Staff Risk Assessment Panel since April 2020, reviewing complex cases where individual staff and their managers have outstanding concerns about the risk of work-related exposure to coronavirus. Our Occupational Health guidance on health conditions and remaining at work during the COVID-19 pandemic has also been available to staff on the Trust’s COVID-specific microsite since April.

We understand that this continues to be a worrying time for staff, and particularly for those who are at increased risk of complications if infected due to ethnicity, pregnancy or underlying health conditions, or who are anxious about the risk posed to vulnerable household members.

To provide assurances about your current working arrangements or work environment, we have extended our risk assessment process to a four-tier process which has you at the core of each tier:

• We encourage all staff to undertake a Tier 1 personal risk assessment using the published Occupational Health Guidance
• If that personal risk assessment raises concerns for you, these should be discussed openly at Tier 2 with your line manager who is encouraged to listen carefully and empathetically to your concerns and to agree a plan of action with you
• If either you or your manager remain concerned about the risks specific to you, an Occupational Health assessment can be provided at Tier 3
• Any risks or concerns that have been unresolved by you, your manager or Occupational Health will be finally assessed at Tier 4 by an Independent Risk Assessment Panel

The purpose of the risk assessment at all tiers is to adjust the work environment wherever necessary to minimise risks to the individual member of staff (or to their household).

The risk assessment forms are available to download from this page.