EDP begins this week to prepare the return of its employees to the company's facilities and to restore the activity that the pandemic forced to suspend or readjust in recent weeks. The recovery plan - activated with the end of the country's state of emergency and with the expectation of risk reduction associated with Covid-19 - will be global and gradually adjusted in each geography in which EDP operates.

This global plan to return to activity will begin to be carried out in Portugal from the 18th May and is organized in three phases. The first phase will be of 'transition' and the priority is to define the groups of employees who will return in the different phases and create the conditions and protocols of hygiene and safety in order to receive employees in the workplace with a high level of protection.

The second phase of the return plan will prioritize 'monitoring' and is designed for a scenario where there is low risk of contagion. This will make it possible to reduce individual protection measures and create the conditions for a general return of employees to the company's facilities. The third and final phase of the plan aims to reflect the 'new normal' in the life of the company and is defined for a scenario in which the risk of contagion by Covid-19 will already be residual or non-existent, but in which it is still necessary to maintain preventive measures.

Employees divided into three groups

The return of workers to the facilities will be organized in groups, gradually and always in line with the recommendations of public health authorities. In the first phase, the return of around 20% to 50% of the workers is expected to reinforce the teams dedicated to EDP essential services or whose physical presence is essential for the continuity of industrial and commercial operations in the different business areas.

The first group involves employees with no social or health restrictions and whose return to the premises does not cause significant constraints for their personal and family life. The objective of this is to reinforce this number of people in the workplace for various services at different times as the risk of contagion decreases.

In the case of employees who have minors in their care or who are caregivers, with no alternative to ensure care for their household at this stage, the return should be at a later time. Those who are part of risk groups or have specific health problems, even if not directly linked to Covid-19, should be among the last groups to return to the facilities.

Prevention tests and kits among the new measures

To ensure a safe return, EDP will adopt several preventive rules in its workspaces. One of these measures involves the distribution of individual protection kits to all employees, in which disposable masks and alcohol gel will be included, and which will be delivered the moment they return to the company. The company will also make plans for detection and immunity tests to Covid-19 available, free of charge, to all employees.

In the various facilities of the company, workstations will maintain a minimum distance of two meters in all directions and the cleaning and disinfection of the buildings will be more frequent than usual. To reinforce everyone's safety, access and circulation in buildings will also be redefined according to the rules of social distance.

The meetings will have a limited number of participants and the expectation is that a large part will still be done in remote mode - the teleworking regime, in which around 70% of employees have worked and that has guaranteed their normal activity in the last weeks, will continue to be encouraged, even within the company.

EDP therefore hopes, gradually and without compromising the safety of its employees, partners and customers, to return to normal in the multiple business areas and countries in which it has operations.

The execution of this plan of return to the facilities will always be conditioned to the legislation in force and to the decisions of the government as well as those of the national and international public health authorities in the 19 locations where the group has operations. The outlines of this strategy also followed the guidelines presented by the European Commission in the “Common European Roadmap with a view to lifting the Covid-19 Containment measures”.