The COVID-19 pandemic has now caused disruption to the personal, professional and family life of all of us, in Greece and around the world.
I am well aware that all the employees of the NTA have had to adjust their daily pace, their personal lives and the way in which the responsibilities that everyone has assumed at both personal and professional level are handled.
With a view to protecting the health and safety of all of us, with ingenuity and methodical work, we managed in just a few 24 hours to transform the way we work. Together, with prudence and sobriety, we must manage our concerns and with a high sense of responsibility and professionalism to contribute to the national effort to limit the negative impact of COVID-19. That is why I call on you, once again, to apply the teleworking instructions and to keep your supervisors regularly informed of the progress of your work.
It is not possible at this time to draw safe conclusions and predict the evolution of the unprecedented situation that we are experiencing. We hope, however, in view of the coordinated efforts and the timely initiatives taken by the competent bodies of the state, to take preventive measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus, to return as soon as possible to the trajectory of our previous daily life.
In this challenge we are all aides, each of us from his position, actively participating with all our forces.
In this context, I would like to inform you of the immediate actions taken by the Authority, primarily on the safety of its employees and then on the fulfilment of its mission to protect public health, directly responding to the visible risk of spreading coronavirus, with asymmetric consequences mainly on human life and then on economic.
Protection and information measures:
- Carrying out specific disinfectations in the buildings of the Authority where workers have identified any case, either due to possible contact with a diagnosed case, or because of contact with a person who was already under house arrest.
- Recommendation for house arrest of these cases in accordance with the instructions of the NPHO (National Public Health Organisation) and the passage of a safe period (14 days) before returning to their workplace.
- Supply of personal protective materials: Initially gloves and antiseptics and then medical masks, in the quantities that were possible due to the high demand of these products.
- Distribution and distribution of these to all buildings of the Authority.
- Direct and continuous information to employees through the human resources portal for all the announcements of the NPHO and the relevant instructions of the Authority’s Management.
- Direct and continuous information to all citizens, with posts on the Authority’s website on: (a) Safe Teleworking (practical advice for employers and employees) and b) Instructions to protect against malicious practices of skill exploiting the particular conditions prevailing as a result of the pandemic.
Organisational and Operational initiatives:
- Integration of the Authority, under special operating conditions with the application of teleworking, following the relevant A.L.C. (Act of Legislative Content), the circulars of the Ministry of Interior and the instructions of the NPHO.
- Adopt detailed instructions on teleworking in order to ensure the best possible monitoring of workflows and agreed deliverables (NCS(Number of Cyber Suspension): ΩΣΟΘ46ΜΙΟΦ-Γ73).
- Operation of the Authority with security personnel alternated between the Authority’s staff.
- Special provision on the Authority’s website for the possibility of submitting complaints electronically (24/7) and posting contact details with the Authority, so that citizens continue to be able to submit complaints and information about their cases.
- Provide guidance for collaborations via telephone meetings and skype.
- All employees have access to their e-mail and from their home and thus are immediately informed and informed of all the Management’s instructions and orders, as well as any responses or data that must be processed for the management of their affairs.
- The Authority, by participating as an audit body in the effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus, immediately set up control teams, providing guidance on the procedure for obtaining movement certificates and informing the competent authorities of the Municipalities, in case of homeless detection, in order to intervene.
- The Inspectors-Auditors involved in carrying out these checks were provided for the possibility of granting individual protection measures while at the same time a handbook of specific instructions was issued on the field of their specificity.
Finally, I would like to wish everyone good strength in the conviction that we will all unitedly respond successfully to this historic challenge.