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Financial difficulties, unemployment and remote work. These are only a few of the Covid-19 consequences. The lockdown ended for the majority of European and Mediterranean countries and citizens are going back to their offices. Although, Coronavirus threat has not been forgotten yet.

Therefore, on June 12^th, Arcenciel (Lebanese NGO and Clima project partner) and the Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) hosted a COVID-19 awareness webinar on June 12th to emphasize the importance of safety while going back to the workplace as the lockdown is being slowly lifted.

The webinar was launched with an introduction on the Lebanese NGO and an overview of the Clima project in order to discuss the main goals and activities that will be implemented and how through the project around eighty thousand citizens will benefit from the reduction of waste production due to the increased treatment of organic waste using innovative technical solutions, awareness campaigns while also developing policy tools.

Mirna Rawas, LRC volunteer, provided the attendees with a back to work safety strategy training, discussing the effects that COVID-19 posed on the world in terms of financial difficulties, unemployment and remote work. The presentation focused mainly on the importance of taking safety measures within the workplace, both on employees and clients level, even if the lockdown was lifted she underlined the importance of safety measures such as wearing masks, washing hands regularly and sanitizing surfaces.

Ministry of Labor’s publications were also discussed, going in depth into each field of work based on its degree of risk, such as those jobs that require more physical attendance and contact and therefore present the highest level of risk on the risk scale. A Covid-19 awareness video was also displayed to ensure the safe disposal of potentially infected waste like masks, gloves and tissues on a household level.

Ramza Kamel, Arcenciel volunteer, showcased the method used to disinfect waste in 3 treatment centers in Lebanon (Jisr El wati, Saida and Zahle) since the Lebanese NGO is the leader in the treatment of infectious waste generated by hospitals and laboratories. Kamel also discussed the protective measures applied to ensure the safety of employees who are in direct contact with infected waste while also explaining the importance of keeping personal face masks clean, that is to say wearing PPEs, sanitizing collected waste bins and trucks.

The famous quote Better safe than sorry was the webinar conclusion, whose goal was to remind the attendees of the importance of personal safety and hygiene. The feedback on this webinar came back positive, with 65 officially registered attendees and 1.9k views on Arcenciel's Facebook page. All of them displayed the willingness to participate in future webinars.