Despite the current COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are slowly resuming operations in order to recover their loss and to help the local economy.
However, some entrepreneurs are hesitant because that can increase their employees’ exposure and risk to the virus. That said, we have listed down six tips that you can follow to protect your employees’ health:
Develop a response plan
The current pandemic has kept many business owners on their toes. After all, a lot of businesses ‒ big and small ‒ have declared bankruptcy and closed shops.
If you are lucky to resume your business, it is important that you develop a response plan before you bring your employees back.
This will not just help you weather any disaster or pandemic, but you can also come back to this response plan in case the need arises.
If you need help developing a response plan for your company, Sean Peek has a succinct post about it.
Educate your employees
Sure, the local news and health organizations are doing their part to educate everyone about COVID-19. Still, it is important that you educate your employees about it.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, it is important that you talk about the following:
- How the virus spreads
- Signs and symptoms of COVID-19
- Reporting possible cases
- Proper use of Personal Protective Equipment
If you deem that you are unqualified for this task, you can coordinate with your local health office to have a health professional discuss this pandemic with you.
Encourage regular hand washing
The World Health Organization recommends that one of the best ways to lower your risk from getting infected is to wash your hands properly. Hence, it is important that you encourage this practice in your office.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Have enough stock. Make sure that your soap dispensers are always full and that you have a full stock of paper towels.
- Make hand sanitizers available. Aside from soap and paper towels. It is also ideal to have a stock of hand sanitizers. That way, you and your employees can sanitize your hands in case soap and water are unavailable.
- Post Signages. Post signages around your office bathroom and pantry to remind people to always wash their hands.
Clean and disinfect the office
Aside from encouraging your employees to properly wash their hands, it is also important to clean and disinfect your office. Doing so can also reduce the risk of everyone in your company getting infected by COVID-19.
According to the CDC cleaning guidelines, here’s how you should clean and disinfect your office:
- Use disposable gloves, gowns, and masks while cleaning and disinfecting the office.
- Use water and soap or detergent solutions for preliminary cleaning before disinfecting.
- Do not mix cleaning products together.
- Clean one item at a time.
- Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces daily.
- Clean and disinfect shared electronics and equipment.
In relation to this, we always advise our clients at Maid Sailors NYC Office Cleaning to hire professional office cleaners. That’s because these people are equipped and knowledgeable in cleaning and disinfecting an office.
Promote physical distancing
Another way to prevent the spread of coronavirus is to practice physical distancing.
Other than maintaining a distance of two meters, you can also promote physical distancing by implementing the following:
- No hugs and handshakes
- Increase physical space to two meters between employees
- Run on skeletal workforce
- Limit in-person meeting
- Limit the number of people who can gather in the panty or breakroom
- Urge sick employees to stay home
In order to contain the virus, as well as to ensure the health of your employees, it is important to urge your sick employees to stay home.
At the moment, encourage your employees to check and be honest with their conditions. More so if they have signs of fever and symptoms of acute respiratory illness for at least 24 hours.
In relation to this, make sure that your sick leave policies are flexible and in line with your government’s public health guidelines. This includes not requiring your sick employees to provide any medical notice.
Over to You
They always say that the employees are the backbone of a business. Hence, it is important that you take measures as an employer to protect your worker’s health.
In relation to this, prevention and mitigation of COVID-19 in the workplace requires proper risk assessment and management. And one way to do that is by following the tips we have listed above.
