safepod covid-19 guidelines

These guidelines are for organisations that host a SafePod.

Opening hours and access to SafePods
Opening hours and access to SafePods must follow your own organisation's COVID-19 guidelines for the building your SafePod is situated in.  

Intervals between SafePod bookings
As the SafePod is an enclosed workspace there is the potential for concentration of contaminated aerosol to accumulate.  Therefore, it is strongly recommended that there should be half an hour between morning and afternoon bookings to allow the SafePod to complete necessary air changes.

You can either change the opening hours of your SafePod by contacting the SPN or set your SafePod for day only bookings through the portal on the SPN website.  Go to ‘SafePod availability’ and tick ‘Check to only allow all day bookings’.  This will restrict access to one Researcher per day to your SafePod.

Cleaning of the SafePod workstation
Your organisation will have in place measures for minimising risk of indirect transmission from shared workstations and meeting rooms.  These should be extended to include the SafePod workstation.  It is recommended that you provide suitable cleaning materials (i.e. alcohol wipes) inside a SafePod and advise a Researcher on their arrival to conduct ‘before’ and ‘after’ use cleaning of the main contact points of a SafePod, these being:

  • Keyboard;
  • Mouse;
  • Screen power button;
  • Touch points of chair;
  • Front of workstation desk and height adjustable buttons; and
  • Door handles and light switch.

Hand sanitiser
It is also recommended that your organisation puts an alcohol gel dispenser at the entrance of the SafePod with Researchers being encouraged to sanitise hands on entry of the SafePod.

Attending a SafePod when a Researcher is inside
Do not enter a SafePod when a Researcher is inside.  If you need to speak to a Researcher then you can do so from the vestibule area of a SafePod (door can be open) ensuring a minimum 2m apart and masks are worn. 

If you need to attend inside a SafePod to look or assist with something quickly, you can do so but ensure that masks are worn and that the Researcher has left prior to entering the Researcher Area of a SafePod.  You may wish to wait a few minutes first for air to circulate.  Contact the SPN for any further guidance on the above.

For any further questions or clarification about COVID-19 and SafePods contact the SafePod Network.