What Your Company Needs To Do To Ensure Employee Safety In The Workplace During COVID-19
As a business owner, you want to ensure that your employees are safe in their workplace. This has always been important but it gained new importance with COVID-19.
As you know, COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person. So, in the workplace, where your employees are confined between 4 walls, is extremely important to put into practice some security and safety measures.
How To Prevent And Reduce Transmission Among Employees
#1: Actively Encourage Sick Employees To Stay Home:
Whenever an employee has symptoms, he should immediately notify his supervisor and stay home. While he may not be infected, it is better to play safe. This also applies to employees who have a sick family member with COVID-19.
#2: Encourage Employees To Maintain Social Distancing:
While this may be complicated when the workplace is small, it is crucial to maintain a healthy environment. In addition, you should encourage your employees to use personal protective equipment such as masks or face shields.
#3: The Use Of Alcohol-Gel:
We are sure that you have been listening to the recommendations of the CDC and WHO. However, it is always best to assure that you know how and when to use alcohol-based solutions.
Notice that you should make sure that your employees wash their hands regularly during the day. However, we also know that keep taking breaks isn't good for their productivity. So, you should make sure that you have alcohol-based solutions spread through your office so your employees can hygienize their hands frequently.
#4: Don't Share Equipment:
Whenever it is possible, it is wiser to have employees not sharing equipment. After all, we already know that the coronavirus can be on a surface for hours or even days, depending on the surface. So, your employees should only use their PC, keyboard, mouse, desk, and office chair. In case they need to use different equipment that is shared with more employees, then they should be responsible for disinfecting it after use.
#5: Consider Improving The Engineering Controls Using The Building Ventilation System:
This may include all or some of the following:
Increase ventilation rates.
Ensure ventilation systems operate properly and provide acceptable indoor air quality for the current occupancy level for each space.
Increase outdoor air ventilation, using caution in highly polluted areas. With a lower occupancy level in the building, this increases the effective dilution ventilation per person.
Disable demand-controlled ventilation (DCV).
Further open minimum outdoor air dampers (as high as 100%) to reduce or eliminate recirculation.
Check filters to ensure they are within service life and appropriately installed.
Keep systems running longer hours, 24/7 if possible, to enhance air exchanges in the building space.
#6: Perform Routine Cleaning:
You should make sure that you clean your office frequently, especially touched surfaces such as workstations, keyboards, telephones, handrails, and doorknobs.
In case surfaces are dirty, you can clean them using a detergent or soap and water before you disinfect them. For disinfection, most common, EPA-registered, household disinfectants should be effective.