Education unions: 'Employers must provide medical masks for staff'
Employers in education must ensure that staff members have access to medical masks. The joint education unions, including the AOb, to employers in basic education, MBO and higher education.
“Employers must ensure that their employees have access to medical mouth masks as part of their occupational health and safety responsibility – the care for the safety, health and well-being of their people,” he said. AObchairman Tamar van Gelder.
All education is open again and teachers and support staff are often happy that they can go back to work on location, says Van Gelder. “But many are also concerned about the health of pupils, students, colleagues, family and themselves.”
At the moment, medical face masks are simply part of ensuring the safety of your staff
This concern is partly due to the low willingness to take the - non-mandatory - self-tests, the lack of clarity about whether or not to wear medical face masks and the difficulty of maintaining the one and a half meters. Also the ventilation in educational buildings and classrooms not always sufficient, the unions write.
“Employers must, as always, take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of their staff,” says Van Gelder. “And at the moment, providing medical face masks is just part of that.”
air quality
Furthermore, according to the unions, improving the air quality in the buildings must have the highest priority. And people who do not feel safe despite all precautions should be given or kept the option to work from home.
“Employers should stand up for the pupils and students, but certainly also for their employees,” says Van Gelder. “Let's work together to ensure that staff throughout education can work as safely as possible.”
Also read: 'Long-term plan needed for corona and keeping schools open'
