Teachers’ Union of Ireland calls for Covid-19 risk assessment of classrooms for full campus return
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland has expressed “serious concern” about the “failure” of some higher education institutions to properly ensure the safe return to campus this academic year.
The TUI said it was worried that adequate risk assessments may not have been carried out for all teaching spaces, and called on the government to ensure “nationwide adherence to key protective measures”.
“As staff and students return to campuses around the country, there is understandable anxiety around the continuing risks and challenges posed by Covid-19, particularly in relation to the more transmissible Delta variant,” said TUI president Martin Marjoram.
The union said risk assessments should take place for all classrooms, practical rooms, lecture halls, communal areas and staff offices. This follows a spike in Covid-19 infections in Ireland, which currently has among the highest number of infections per 100,000 people in Europe.
“In this regard, we are seriously concerned by the failure to date of some managements to engage and communicate with employees in a meaningful and timely manner,” Marjoram said.
The union called for “clear and consistent messaging” to ensure that people with suspected infection do not attend campus, and encouraged its members to walk away from classrooms if they do not feel safe.
Students and staff return to Irish campuses this month. Higher education bodies published their plan for a safe return to campus at the beginning of August. But the plan provided general principles rather than detailed guidelines, and left individual institutions with significant autonomy as to how they manage efforts to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.