MnDOT COVID-19 Update
July 13, 2020
We hope you are doing well as we continue to navigate all the changes that COVID-19 has brought to our personal and professional lives. To ensure MnDOT is doing everything possible to keep each other safe, beginning Wednesday, July 15, any MnDOT employee working at a MnDOT facility or in the field, or employees working from home who go to a MnDOT facility, will be required to complete a daily self-assessed health screening.
Who does this affect?
This will affect any staff currently approved to work in a workplace (such as an office, lab, field or any physical location) or who receives supervisory approval to be in the workplace. It will not affect staff who are continuing to telework.
We recognize that many of our employees have needed to report to a MnDOT workplace since the beginning of the pandemic, and we appreciate that they have been continuing to do so and monitoring their symptoms over the last several months. However, we now have access to tools that will help us more broadly and consistently assess the health of those employees as well as the additional employees who are returning to the workplace.
Important note: Employees returning to a MnDOT workplace have been notified by their supervisor. Again—we are not returning a large number of employees to workplaces yet, but we are taking the next steps to further ensure the health and safety of our workplaces. Additional employees will not be asked to come to work in a building unless it has been certified safe—the safety of everyone comes first.
New daily status and screening form
There are two options for completing the daily health self-assessment. You must successfully answer these questions before you will be approved to enter the workplace.
-
Online: We have revised the previous daily Employee Status form to now include health screening questions. In the new COVID-19 Employee Status and Health Screen Form, if you check “Working in the office/lab/field,” a series of health questions will pop up for you to answer. Please replace any previous bookmark with this new link.
-
Phone: If you prefer, you may call 651-259-3685 to complete your health self-assessment using a touchtone application.
Your responsibilities
We all have a role in keeping ourselves, our co-workers and our workplace safe. Below is a summary checklist of our responsibilities as MnDOT employees.
- Monitor yourself for signs and symptoms of COVID-19, stay home if sick or experiencing symptoms, and report to your supervisor if you are sick.
- Complete the mandatory COVID-19 Awareness and Safe Work Practices e-learning (course number: SFTY00129) and certify that you have taken the training.
- Complete MnDOT’s daily COVID-19 Employee Status and Health Screen Form that all MnDOT employees are already required to submit for COVID-19 planning and reporting purposes. Employees can also take this mandatory health screening by calling 651-259-3685 from remote locations.
- If you indicate that your employment status is working in the office/lab/field, you will be prompted to respond to additional health screening questions.
- The screening tool will notify you whether you are authorized to enter the workplace.
- You must adhere to the response you receive.
- MnDOT’s screening may be in addition to an agency partner-based screening that may already be in place and/or may soon be put into place. You will need to successfully pass all screenings to be admitted to the workplace.
- You will not be admitted to the workplace if you do not complete and pass the screening, or if you refuse to complete the screening.
- If you are assigned to work at the workplace and refuse to complete the screening, you may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including discharge, and may be placed in no-pay status.
- Read and follow MnDOT’s Health Screening Policy about employee expectations and requirements, including what you are expected to do if you are not authorized to come to the office/field/lab. The policy includes a Tennessen Warning, which describes the purpose and intended use of the data that will be collected in the health screening process.
- Read and follow the additional guidance about cleaning and disinfecting your workstation, equipment and protecting yourself and others by maintaining 6 feet of distance from others. The complete list of workplace safety practices can be found in the COVID-19 Return to Workplace Guide.
COVID-19 has transformed the way we, as individuals, as an agency and as a state, approach our daily lives. We understand that at times it can be overwhelming for each of us. But we have also seen the remarkable resiliency and adaptability MnDOT employees have shown during these past four months, and are optimistic about the future of our agency and our MnDOT team.
Thank you for complying with these requirements as we all do our part to safely return employees to workplace. Contact Trent Weber, assistant director, Office of Human Resources, if you have any questions about the Health Screenings.
Nancy Daubenberger, P.E. (she/her)
Deputy Commissioner – Chief Engineer
Scott R. Peterson
Deputy Commissioner – Chief Administrative Officer
Visit: COVID-19 SharePoint Site
|
