Hygiene Regulations at TU Berlin

Please help to keep the risk of coronavirus infection as low as possible by complying with the following hygiene and protection regulations.

Continue to minimize your physical contact to your colleagues.

Maintain a minimum distance of 2 meters to others at all times as far as operations permit.

This also applies to all examinations, labs and workshops, offices, waiting areas, corridors and pathways, and elevators, etc.

Management and supervisors are required to ensure that these regulations are complied with by, for example, organizing work so that only one member of staff works in an office, or implementing a rotating shift system for areas used by more than one member of staff and where minimum distancing cannot be observed. In areas of the campus where larger numbers of people gather, such as libraries, protective construction measures such as the installation of plexiglass screens are to be implemented in agreement with the building department. 

If it is not possible to avoid more than one person working in an office at the same time, management must ensure that this only occurs in offices with at least 25 square meters. An additional 15 square meters of space must be available for each additional person working in the office.

Periods of overlap are to be kept to a minimum (through the use of staggered starting times in accordance with DV Flex and taking account of individual family situations) and recorded in staff deployment schedules.

Staff belonging to an at-risk group may only work alone in an office. It is essential that offices are sufficiently aired on a regular basis (several times per hour). Ideally, offices should be aired continuously. 

Minimum distances must be maintained between work spaces, by reorganizing furniture or introducing plexiglass if necessary. 

During phase 1 of University operations under pandemic conditions, you are strongly recommended to wear a face mask providing mouth and nose protection, even when observing minimum distancing. During phases 2 and 3, the wearing of a face mask providing mouth and nose protection is mandatory when working in an office occupied by more than one person at the same time.

You should avoid repeatedly swapping teams around. Please contact the Medical Service if you require further advice or clarification. Members of the Staff Councils and the Medical Service can, by prior agreement, enter office spaces if they need to do so to check on arrangements. The Staff Councils may view staff deployment plans as required.

Avoid touching door handles, door knobs and door openers when entering buildings or rooms. Try instead to open doors using your elbows or forearms. 

Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly (minimum 30 seconds) with soap and then apply a cream to your hands to protect the skin.

Federal State of Berlin and until further notice, face masks providing mouth and nose protection are to be worn in all closed spaces where more than one person is present at the same time (e.g. in-presence meetings, job interviews, advising sessions, as well as in libraries (including when seated at a work space).

It is essential that you continue to observe distancing regulations, even when wearing a face mask. Avoid touching your face mask so as not to contaminate it.

Observe the correct procedure when sneezing and coughing. Sneeze and cough into your elbow even if wearing a face mask.

Air rooms regularly (at least every 15 minutes) and thoroughly, opening windows fully. This applies particularly to rooms with more than one person.

A list of participants is to be drawn up and retained for four weeks by the organizer for meetings involving the physical presence of more than one person.

Please ensure that you have the participants' business telephone numbers or email addresses so that they can be traced and contacted if necessary. Such lists are purely to allow the health authority to trace individuals if an infection is subsequently detected in one of the participants.

As far as possible, work spaces should not be used by more than one person. Should this not be possible (for example in workshops with shared equipment, rotating use of shared offices, examinations, etc.), areas such as surfaces and tables and work materials used by more than one person are to be disinfected appropriately.
Example:

• Workshop: Tools must be disinfected after use by the members of staff who have used them.
• Office: Telephones, keyboards, mouses and tables are to be disinfected before and after use. The user screens of multi-function printers should also be cleaned regularly.
• Oral examinations: The table used by the candidate is to be disinfected after each examination. The same applies to any items made available for the purpose of the examination.
• PC labs: Keyboard, mouse and table must be disinfected after every use.

Kitchens are only to be used by one person at a time, particularly if too small to allow minimum distancing to be complied with. It is particularly important that hygiene regulations are observed. Surfaces are to be disinfected after use.

Managers are required to adapt regulations to the circumstances and conditions in their units and to inform their staff of all points (this must be documented pursuant to Section 12 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act).

All supervisors are required to draft and agree an updated staff deployment schedule with their staff. This schedule must be filed or stored appropriately. The Staff Councils may view staff deployment plans as required.

Sanitizer for disinfecting surfaces is to be made available for staff and examination boards as they may be required to disinfect an area several times a day depending on the area or the number of examinations being conducted, etc. 

Disinfectant and cloths used for applying disinfectant are to be collected in person from the Hygiene Storage Facility by staff or students upon presentation of their staff or student ID.

Empty disinfectant containers must be returned.

The Hygiene Storage Facility is open Mon - Fri from 07:00 until 15:00. The Hygiene Storage Facility is located in the EW building in room 001b and can be accessed via the main entrance on the ground floor. Please read signs carefully.

Face masks may also be obtained from the Hygiene Storage Facility. Please note that only restricted quantities of hygiene materials may be issued per person. 

Instructions on how to use disinfectant

Persons exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms (including low-grade fever, symptoms of a cold, shortage of breath) should leave their workplace and/or remain at home until they have been examined by a doctor. They should also contact their supervisor so that they can continue to work from home. We would ask everyone to check their state of health before commencing work so as not to expose colleagues and fellow-commuters to danger.