The Organizing Secretariat Symposia Srl SU has worked over the last months on a detailed safety protocol that intends to adopt as soon as it will be possible to organize on site Conferences in Italy.

In the prospect that, based on the success of the advancement with the vaccine, the pandemic situation will be controlled by the summer of 2021 and that it will be safe to plan and meet in Siracusa in October 2021, we are organizing the ICEP 2021 Conference with a format that foresees the presence of all the speakers and presenters except for those who will be unable to come due to local or international laws.

Participants who have to present neither abstract nor poster will be able to register with the same registration fee and choose whether to participate in the presence or remotely.

The plan of action will be updated when new information is available, following new environmental needs and legislative protocols.

• Pre-Conference procedure
• Accreditation phase at the Conference venue
• GDPR
• Training and information for the Conference staff
• Safety Measures for accessing the venue and all Conference’s spaces and mandatory sanitation norms
• Sanitation procedures inside the venue
• Safety protocol

Pre-congress procedure

To participate at the ICEP 2021 Conference, the on-line pre-registration of the participants, speakers and sponsor and exhibitors’ representatives is required.

This pre-registration allows the collection of personal and contact data.

During the registration, participants, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors must will be asked to choose from the following 4 covid safety options (to this end, the registration form is now being adjusted):

1. upload a copy of a vaccination passport or vaccination certificate;
2. declare that a recent negative swab will be shown upon arrival;
3. pre-purchase a quick swab to be done on-site upon arrival at the Conference venue;
4. declare that a vaccination certificate or vaccination passport will be uploaded at a later time (but at the latest one week before the beginning of the Conference), or declare that you will participate virtually (for non-presenters only).

Accreditation phase at the Conference venue

Upon arrival at the Conference venue, the staff dedicated to the first reception outside the venue will respect the following procedure:

• those who have already uploaded a passport or vaccination certificate will be sent directly to the accreditation desk located at the venue entrance;
• those who have a recent negative swab will show it to the staff at the entrance and will be directed to the accreditation desk located at the venue entrance;
• those who have pre-purchased the rapid swab will be directed to a gazebo outside the headquarters where they can do it and wait about ten minutes for the results. If the result is negative they will be able to access the Conference venue and go to the accreditation desk. In case the swab is positive, all safety procedures will be activated: people with positive swabs will be isolated in a specific room and health authorities will be contacted.

The same procedure will be applied to staff and technical personnel the day before the event. Proof of a vaccine or negative swabs will be asked of every person involved in the conference: participants, speakers, staff, suppliers, sponsors and exhibitors.

At the entrance, body temperature will be measured with a contactless hygienic system and access will be denied to those who have a temperature above 37.5 °.

GDPR

All sensitive data that will be acquired will be managed in compliance with the GDPR legislation and deleted at the end of the event.

Training and information for the Conference staff

The Organizing Secretariat, Symposia Srl., has agreed on a detailed safety protocol together with the venue, sponsors, suppliers, hotels and partners. All staff members will be trained in order to follow the procedures for preventing the spread of the virus and ensuring a safe meeting for every person involved in the Conference.

The staff will be instructed to make every effort to promptly remind participants and others of the general hygiene-sanitary and behavioural rules in case they show a lack of respect for them.

Access to the Conference will take place only with identification for the staff and suppliers’ personnel.

Personnel on duty can be identified through specific badges and will wear FFP2 masks and visors. All staff members must follow the same health control procedures described in the next paragraph as provided for anyone with access to the venue.

Safety measures for accessing the venue and all Conference spaces and mandatory sanitation norms

Hand sanitiser gel and containers for the correct disposal of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that may represent a biological risk will be available in numerous spots inside the venue.

Risk spacing and prevention measures include:

• Obligation to use masks if still advised by the local public health authorities;
• Maintaining the safety distance;
• Absence of fever or flu symptoms;
• Management of entrance slots and internal routes.

Every person inside the venue will be asked to maintain a social distance of at least 1m from every other person.

A “safety kit” will be available to participants in case of need.

FFP2 masks are mandatory for staff members, and PPE is mandatory for speakers, sponsors and participants in general.

At the ICEP 2021 Conference, an Event manager (Covid manager) will be present. They will supervise the application of the protocol and all anti-contagion procedures.

Together with the indications of staff members, signage inside the venue will help guarantee social distancing, one-way passages and the respect of every regulation.

Sanitation procedures inside the venue

• All Conference spaces will be sanitized before and during the Conference.
• The surfaces and common areas used by guests and staff will be sanitized before and after each session. Likewise, any information desks, rooms, stairs, escalators, restrooms and high touch points will be periodically cleaned.
• The air-conditioning will be checked before the Conference in order to guarantee a change of air proportionate to the number of people inside every area of the venue.

Safety protocol

If you want to read the safety measures of the Organizing Secretariat and know how we prepare our events, please click here. By clicking on the link below you will find the Protocol for the containment of the spread of the virus SARS-COV-2.