This page contains Covid-19 related material that we have produced for staff, students and other stakeholders including joint work with the trade unions:
Joint statement on ventilation
A Joint statement on ventilation has been agreed by the HESH Forum (a tripartite structure between UCEA, the trade unions and the HSE to provide strategic oversight on matters of occupational health and safety in HE) in spring 2024. The statement recognises the importance of ventilation as a key part of enabling the health and wellbeing of people across higher education. It highlights the wider benefits of ventilation and indoor air quality in workplaces and acknowledges the lessons learnt during the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to clean air.
The Joint statement on ventilation
Joint work with the trade unions
During the Covid-19 pandemic, UCEA worked constructively with the joint sector trade unions to develop resources that would help the sector with the management of safe campuses. While the pandemic has now ended and there is no longer separate government or other health guidance that relates specifically to Covid-19, the Higher Education Safety and Health (HESH) Forum and Health and Safety Committee agreed there was value in capturing the important lessons learnt from the pandemic. To that end, UCEA has worked together with the joint trade unions through the HESH Forum to develop ‘Joint principles for safe working on campus’. These principles, which have been agreed by UCEA’s Health and Safety Committee, supersede the set of joint principles and statements agreed during the Covid-19 pandemic on working safely, vaccinations and testing - these are available below.
Joint principles for safe working on campus
Raising a Concern - What to do if a health and safety concern is identified
During the pandemic, in response to raising awareness of what staff may do to raise concerns about health and safety, the Universities Safety and Health Association (USHA) developed a template escalation procedure to help HEIs ensure that staff utilise appropriate channels. This template, which remains valid, was endorsed by the HESH Forum and the joint trade unions and can be used as a typical escalation process which allows managers and HEIs to reflect on and remedy issues, whilst ensuring concerns receive due attention. It is hoped that HEIs will find the optional template useful for discussing appropriate processes with their staff and their representatives, and for adapting into their existing H&S procedures if appropriate.
Raising a Concern - What to do if a health and safety concern is identified
Covid-19 resources (now superseded):
Joint statement between UCEA and the HE trade unions on Covid-19 testing for Staff, published on 25 May 2021 and updated in October 2021.
Joint statement between UCEA and the HE trade unions on Covid-19 testing for Staff
Joint statement to encourage the uptake of vaccinations across the Higher Education sector, published on 25 March 2021 and updated in October 2021.
Joint statement between UCEA and the HE trade unions on staff vaccinations
Principles for working safely on campus during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, published on 1 June 2020 and updated in October 2021.
Principles for working safely on campus during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic
Managing staff return to campus, updated in August 2021 to include some updates and additional case study examples.
Managing staff return to campus
