COVID-19: 5 Tips on How to Protect Your Employees

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has severely impacted not only people’s health but also the global economy, business, and all sections of society. Public healthcare experts and bioethics assert that the virus keeps evolving and it won’t disappear. So, we all must adapt to the new conditions and do our best to stay safe.

While employees are getting back to their workplaces, employers have already faced a challenge: they must find effective methods to protect workers, visitors, and customers from contamination. The world’s governments promote business owners to use various up-to-date technologies to enhance their preparedness to combat coronavirus and keep people safe. It’s an excellent idea to create COVID-19 Employer's Guide as a part of the company’s policy where an employer can establish some must follow office rules during the ongoing pandemic.

In this post, our experts are going to share several well-tried tips on how to protect employees from coronavirus infection at their workplaces. Simple procedures promise to reduce working days lost because of illness and stop or slow the spreading of coronavirus.

Ways of spreading COVID-19

We should know how coronavirus spreads, then it’ll be easier to avoid cross-contamination. When an infected individual exhales or coughs, he/she releases infected fluids that fall on the nearby objects and surfaces. People can catch coronavirus or other infections by touching these contaminated surfaces, and then touching their mouth, nose, or eyes.

Another way of contamination is when people are standing within less than 1 meter of an individual with coronavirus. This way they can get infected by breathing in exhaled or coughed out droplets. Simple and low-cost office health tips mentioned below will protect your people from the deadly virus. Read on!

COVID-19 guidance for businesses and employers: best tips

1. Provide continuous temperature monitoring

Experts affirm that an elevated body temperature is the first sign of COVID-19 infection. That’s why implementing smart temperature monitoring devices at entrances, checkpoints, and workplaces is a must during the pandemic. Such devices include:

• Thermal cameras and fever detecting cameras - they are capable of monitoring vast groups of people and are suitable for high-traffic areas.
• Smart kiosks and smart sanitizing hubs - these devices come with face recognition features and can be used as employee tracking tools with temperature checking function. Such equipment can be integrated with the company’s existing security system.

Smart temperature monitoring devices will prevent potentially infected individuals from entering the office or notify a thermographer so that he/she can react accordingly. Continuous temperature monitoring is one of the most effective ways to hinder COVID-19.

2. Have a clean workplace and hygiene at the office

Of course, office-cleaners provide regular clean-up at workplaces. However, it’s not enough during the existing virus threat. As we already know, one of the ways for coronavirus to spread is through contaminated surfaces and objects. That’s why all the surfaces (tables, desks, other furniture) and objects (keyboards, phones, etc.) must be wiped with disinfectant several times a day - it’s one of the most important workplace tips for employees protection. Make sure that disinfectant contains sodium hypochlorite (bleach/chlorine) or 70-90% alcohol. At the end of the working day, an office-cleaner must cleanse all the surfaces with soapy water and then wipe them with disinfectant.

3. Promote regular handwashing and sanitizing

The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends washing hands thoroughly for 20 seconds - that’s the best way to kill pathogens and avoid contamination. Another excellent way to kill bacteria on the hands is hand sanitizing. That’s why health tips at work include providing hand sanitizers, running water and soap in the eatery, toilets, and other high-traffic hubs. It would be a brilliant idea to set a smart sanitizing hub at workplaces, waiting areas or halls so that employees and clients can check their temperature while sanitizing the hands. On top of that, this device is contactless, hence, prevents cross-contamination.

4. Provide Conditions For Social Distancing

Nowadays, we have to be physically as far from each other as possible to avoid coronavirus infection. That’s why social distancing should become a part of the company’s policy. So, what can employers do to keep people at a reasonable distance from each other?

• Make shifts if it’s possible. The fewer people at the workplace will lessen the danger of getting ill.
• Position desks at the 1-meter distance from each other. This creates a safer environment for employees.
• Place signs which remind of the social distancing importance on the floors and walls.

5. Create excellent respiratory hygiene at workplaces

Display banners in and outside the office that promote respiratory hygiene and teach to cough & sneeze properly without passing on the virus. Also, employers should insist on wearing masks by workers who are developing a runny nose or cough. In addition, business owners have to envisage all must-have stuff for respiratory hygiene at the office. Here are several good ideas:

• Make sure that paper tissues and masks are available at the high-traffic hubs and workplaces.
• In the office, there must be lots of closed bins for disposed tissues and masks.
• Install anti-virus machines such as smart sanitizing hubs to combat coronavirus and other infections.

Conclusion

Considering new, hazardous circumstances, business owners and employers have to continuously develop their guide on how to protect employees from COVID-19 and hunt for the best methods to hinder this deadly virus. We all want to revert back to our work and normal lives. However, we must all together change our lifestyles, approaches, and ways to organize the working process to stay secure and stop the spread of COVID-19.