AUGC has spent several weeks officially requesting more means of protection against SANITARY EMERGENCY and better organization of work shifts without obtaining any response to our demands.
In the face of the Health Emergency and subsequently the statement of the State of Alarm motivated by CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) only two weeks have passed, but for the civil guards they are being chaotic and difficult.
AUGC from the first moment attends daily to the civil guards, it has been made available to the Headquarters of the Murcia Area and the Traffic Sector and has sent them various incidents without having been addressed so far.
MEANS OF SANITARY PROTECTION.
On March 10, the General Directorate of the Civil Guard gave instructions for the distribution of the protection material among the different units of the Corps as follows
The Basic Protection and Disinfection Kit for use by the corresponding Body component, consists of the following elements:
Disinfectant gel or soap solution dispenser.
Nitrile gloves (1 pair).
FFP2 or higher mask
Disposable bag.
We do not know whether due to lack of material or due to faulty distribution in many units of the Cieza, Cartagena and Murcia Companies, such as Archena, Toreagüera, Albujon, Cartagena, etc.
Instead of assigning it individually, they have opted for a pack in each vehicle.
Not all masks have the same level of protection, there are those with a basic level and those with the appropriate level FPP2 or FPP3.
In the case of the colleagues from the Traffic Sector, they were NOT given masks and instead they were assigned paper masks that, in addition to not protecting anything, broke with sweat or saliva.
Motivated by complaints and denunciations in the media on Monday 23, they began distributing masks with adequate protection.
LIMITATION OF THE USE OF SANITARY MATERIAL.
-
Another controversial issue is when civil guards can or should use the awarded protection material.
The only existing instructions are dated March 13 ordering the following
The action with "ASYMPTOMATIC" citizens does not demand the use of additional protection means, beyond the observance of a minimum separation of 2 m, for safety, and frequent hand washing.
If it is necessary to use protection material (mask, gloves, gel and disposable bag) with SYMPTOMATIC personnel, it will be ensured that it is only used by the agent who interacts directly with the symptomatic citizen, the other agent will keep at a distance from security, supporting the performance of your partner.
Initially, the use of protection material, mainly masks, before the population could cause "social alarm", but this situation has evolved rapidly and now what causes "social alarm" and perplexity is that a civil guard identifies or attends to a citizen and it is not duly protected to avoid infecting it or the civil guard itself is contagious.
What at first might seem sufficient at the moment has become archaic and although the vast majority of commanders have understood this and advise the use of protective material, however, there have been incidents in some units where the use of masks, discourage and even reprimand components when using them.
It is urgent to update the instructions on the use of protective material and above all to order the different levels of command to make their use mandatory for citizens
CONSIDERATION OF HIGH RISK PERSONNEL.
-
The Ministry of Health initially stated that the Security Corps were at a low level of contagion and therefore with a low risk.
This situation has radically changed and now the civil guards are on the front line with a high risk of contagion that we will unfortunately spread to our families.
For this reason, from AUGC we request to be declared high-risk personnel so that agents undergo rapid tests against the coronavirus since if the number of infections continues to increase, the service potential will be drastically reduced, with the risk of collapse of the public security system.
ORGANIZATION OF WORK SHIFT.
-
The suppression of vacations, permits and certain breaks, in addition to the fact that fellow citizens who were engaged in bureaucratic or support tasks have been incorporated into citizen security tasks, has caused work shifts with twice the number of personnel living in the same units and changing in the same changing rooms and at the same times
This situation multiplies the risk of contagion between colleagues, so the organization of work shifts is essential to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the civil guards themselves.
In addition, it would improve family reconciliation since many civil guards have to take care of their children at home.
Thus we have requested it from the Colonel Chief of the 5th Zone and the Commander of the Traffic Sector, without obtaining a response from any of them.
In the National Police they have been applying the 6x6 shift for several days (six days of work for six days of rest) with watertight shifts (always the same components), however, in the Civil Guard they continue with the traditional 5-day shifts worked by 2 breaks and rotating mixing of different components.
From AUGC we denounce the urgency to change the organization of work shifts either with the 6x6 adopted by CNP, either with 12-hour shifts (3 days worked for 4 breaks) requested by many civil guards or with other types of shifts that limit contact between the civil guards themselves, preventing contagion between us and maintaining the operation of the Corps
AUGC.
Civil Guard Unified Association.
Murcia Delegation
